CenterPoint TDU Funds for REP Reimbursements Under Low-Income In-Home Device Provisioning Program Nearly Exhausted

CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric filed a further update concerning the program under which Texas retail electric providers are reimbursed for providing no-cost programmable communicating thermostats (PCT) and in-home displays (IHD) to eligible low-income customers.

Under the program launched in January 2015, 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.

CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric (CEHE) reported that as of September 15, approximately $100,000 remains available for reimbursement to participating REPs. Originally, $7.5 million was available for reimbursement at CEHE at program start.

With funds near exhaustion, pursuant to the program mechanics, CEHE will reimburse REPs for the distribution of in-home devices to low-income customers on a "first come, first served basis." The received date and time on the email by which a REP submits its invoice to CEHE will be used to determine the order of reimbursement

Based upon CEHE reimbursement payment data to date, all CEHE designated funds are expected to be exhausted when the reimbursements are made for the invoices associated with the September device deployments. CEHE will begin accepting invoices for the September deployments on October 1, 2016.