Texas Staff Recommend Denying Petition For Extended Customer Protections For Hurricane Harvey Victims

Staff of the Public Utility Commission of Texas have recommended that the Commission deny a petition from consumer advocates to adopt enhanced customer protections for Hurricane Harvey victims for a period of 12 months

As previously reported, the petitioners, which include Texas Legal Services Center (TLSC) and Texas Ratepayers' Organization to Save Energy (Texas ROSE), among others, requested that the PUCT adopt an emergency rule that:

• Provides waivers of disconnections for non-payment, security deposit rules and fees as provided in the prior PUCT Order supporting the Governor's Disaster Declaration and related memoranda

• Provides requirements for REPs to provide deferred payment plans to hurricane victims as provided in the PUCT Order supporting the Governor's Disaster Declaration

• Specifies conditions to be taken into account when estimating the bills of Harvey victims

• Clarifies and assures that all emergency rules are applied to all residential customers, including prepaid customers

The petitioners also specifically said in their filing that, "The emergency rules being proposed would codify the short term agreement announced on September 7th to discontinue disconnection of service for nonpayment and to charge no fees through September 29."

The consumer advocates had specifically requested that such protections be extended for a period of 12 months

See more details on the original petition here

Staff initially noted that the Commission cannot grant the requested relief for a period of 12 months

"[T]he Commission cannot grant relief for an emergency rule for the period of one year after its adoption because Section 2001.034(c) of the Texas Government Code states that emergency rules can be effective for not longer than 120 days, with an ability for an agency to renew the rule for an additional 60 days," Staff said

"Furthermore, even if TLSC et al. had requested that the emergency rule only be in effect for a period of 120 days Staff would still recommend that the Petition be denied," Staff said

Staff wrote, "The Commission has taken many appropriate actions to ameliorate the immediate impacts of Hurricane Harvey by: (1) issuing orders to require retail electric providers (REPs) and electric utilities (whichever is applicable) to provide deferred payment plans to all customers through October 12, 2017; (2) suspending certain rules/statutes; (3) issuing a number of announcements of enforcement discretion through September, and (4) establishing an advisory committee that included electric utilities, REPs, and consumer groups to collaboratively address restoration activities, billing and market transaction issues, policy responses, and voluntary electric industry responses to Hurricane Harvey."

A proposed recommended order attached to Staff's comments further stated, "as some commenters noted, the Commission, REPs, and affected utilities have taken many steps to expedite the restoration of utility service and to assist customers who were affected by Hurricane Harvey. Immediately after Hurricane Harvey made landfall, Governor Abbott suspended certain statutes and rules in order to expedite restoration of utility service. The Commission also delegated authority to its Executive Director to issue cease and desist orders, emergency orders, and to form advisory committees. Governor Abbott's office granted the Commission's request to suspend these statutes and rules. The Commission's Executive Director issued memorandum's identifying certain rules for which the Commission would use discretionary enforcement action of such rules. In addition, Commission Staff held Advisory Committee meetings with REPs, affected utilities, and consumer groups to facilitate discussions regarding ongoing restoration efforts, receive regular market updates from industry participants and address concerns of consumer advocates as well as REPs and the affected utilities."

The recommended order continues, "The electric industry has also taken steps to quickly restore service and provide relief to affected customers. As of October 31, 2017, the affected utilities reported that service to all premises that could take power in affected areas served by Entergy Texas, CenterPoint, and Texas-New Mexico Power (TNMP) had been completely restored and all meters were currently functioning. American Electric Power Texas (AEP) reported that they had 185 unresponsive meters remaining. In addition to the affected utilities efforts, many REPs addressed customer concerns by providing funds to assist their customers, waived late fees and deposits, and suspended disconnections for non-payment for the month following the storm."

Staff noted that the Commission may choose from several possible courses of action with respect to the Petition: (1) deny the Petition and reject the proposed rule or (2) initiate a rulemaking to address the issues raised in the Petition. Of these choices, Staff recommended that the Commission select the first option and deny the Petition for the reasons stated above.

Project 47674