Millions Still Available For Reimbursement to Retail Providers Under Texas Low-Income Smart Device Program

Millions of dollars are still available for Texas retail electric providers to be reimbursed for providing no-cost programmable communicating thermostats and in-home displays to eligible low-income customers.

Under the program launched in January, for providing an eligible low-income customer with an eligible programmable communicating thermostat (PCT) or in-home display (IHD) at no cost to the customer, a TDU reimburses the REP for the cost of a device up to a cap of $250, with an additional 25% for administrative costs, for a total reimbursement cap of $300 per device. For PCTs only, an additional $125 is reimbursed to cover the cost of installation.

Oncor reported that it had $8.5 million remaining in the reimbursement fund as of the end of May, having paid about $1.2 million to REPs through May. REPs have been reimbursed for providing 1,445 PCTs and 1,656 IHDs at Oncor through April 30.

CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, LLC reported that it had $5.8 million remaining in the reimbursement fund as of April 30, having paid about $925,000 to REPs. REPs have been reimbursed for providing 1,562 PCTs and 1,191 IHDs at CenterPoint.

AEP Texas Central and AEP Texas North also filed reports as of April 30, but had previously provided EnergyChoiceMatters.com with more recent information (as of mid-June) regarding amounts remaining in the funds and the number of devices provided to customers, click here for our prior story to view this more recent info from the AEP companies.

As previously reported, all of the reimbursement funds at Texas-New Mexico Power have essentially been exhausted.

The TDUs also reported the REPs participating in the low-income program as follows:

At Oncor

• Acacia Energy (Brooklet Energy)

• Amigo Energy

• Champion Energy

• Direct Energy

• Entrust Energy

• First Choice Power

• Frontier Utilities

• Just Energy

• Now Power (Brooklet Energy)

• Snap Energy (Brooklet Energy)

• Tara Energy

• TruSmart Energy

• Vital Power (Brooklet Energy)

At CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric

• Champion Energy Services LLC

• Direct Energy Marketing Inc. DBA First Choice Power LP

• dPi Energy LLC dba TruSmart Energy LLC

• Entrust Energy

• Frontier Utilities

• Fulcrum Retail Energy, LLC d/b/a Amigo Energy

• Just Energy Texas, LP d/b/a Just Energy

• Nueces Electric Cooperative Inc.

• Reliant Energy Retail Services LLC DBA Reliant Energy

• Tara Energy, LLC

• Tara Energy DBA Smart Prepaid Electric

At AEP Texas Central

• Amigo Energy

• Brooklet Energy Distribution LLC

• Champion Energy Services LLC

• CPL Retail Energy

• First Choice Power

• Just Energy Texas I Corp

• Nueces Electric Coop Inc.

• Tara Energy LLC

At AEP Texas North

• Brooklet Energy Distribution LLC

• Champion Energy Services LLC

• First Choice Power

• WTU Retail Energy