County Withdraws Complaint Against Texas REP That Had Sought Refund of GRT Charges From 10 Years Ago

Victoria County has withdrawn a formal complaint at the Public Utility Commission of Texas that had originally been seeking a refund of certain charges levied by its then-retail electric provider, which were originally billed from September 2005 through February 2007 (Docket 44562).

In the now-withdrawn complaints, a third-party billing auditor retained by Victoria County in 2014 had alleged that it found that 36 of Victoria County's electric service locations were located outside of city boundaries and erroneously charged Gross Receipts Tax (GRT) during the 2005-07 period, when the accounts took service from Sempra Energy Solutions, whose accounts were later assumed by Noble Americas Energy Solutions

Victoria County had been seeking in the now withdrawn complaint a total refund of $5,200, including interest.

The complaint, had it been litigated, could have established precedent to similar claims resulting from third-party audits of years-old electric bills, addressing issues such as the doctrine of laches, and whether, as the PUCT once ruled in a similar telecom complaint resulting from an audit of 15-year old bills, customers are partially responsible for a prolonged accrual of overcharges in certain situations.