| (a) Application. This section applies to electing companies,
as defined in the Public Utility Regulatory Act (PURA) §59.002(1).
(b) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to establish
the substantive and procedural requirements for an electing company
that chooses to provide an informational notice to introduce new services
and/or to exercise pricing and packaging flexibility, including customer
promotional offerings, and for complaints regarding service offerings
introduced by informational notice offerings.
(c) New services. The term "new services" has the meaning
assigned in §26.5 of this title (relating to Definitions) and
shall include services for which no rate was in effect on September
1, 1999. An electing company may file an informational notice to introduce
a new service. An electing company filing an informational notice
pursuant to this subsection shall file the appropriate information
in accordance with subsection (g)(2) of this section.
(1) Pricing standards.
(A) An electing company shall price each new service
at or above the service's long run incremental cost (LRIC).
(B) The price of a new service may not be preferential,
prejudicial, discriminatory, predatory, or anticompetitive.
(C) A price that is set at or above the service's LRIC
is presumed not to be predatory.
(2) LRIC studies. An electing company may establish
a service's LRIC by submitting a LRIC study, as specified in subsection
(g)(2)(D)(ix) of this section, that conforms to the requirements of §26.214
of this title (relating to Long Run Incremental Cost (LRIC) Methodology
for Services Provided by Certain Incumbent Local Exchange Companies
(ILECs)).
(3) LRIC adoption. An electing company serving fewer
than one million access lines in Texas may establish a service's LRIC
by adopting the commission-approved cost studies of a larger company
for the same service.
(4) Rate adoption. In lieu of filing a LRIC study or
adopting the LRIC studies of a larger company, an electing company
with less than one million access lines may adopt a rate that is identical
to or higher than a larger company's tariffed rate for the same service.
(5) Packaging of new services. If an electing company
offers a new service as a component of a package, the electing company
shall also offer the new service as a separately tariffed service.
(d) Pricing and packaging flexibility. An electing
company may file an informational notice to exercise pricing and packaging
flexibility by filing the appropriate information in accordance with
subsection (g)(2) of this section.
(1) General requirements.
(A) Pricing flexibility includes:
(i) customer specific contracts;
(ii) packaging of services;
(iii) volume, term, and discount pricing;
(iv) zone density pricing, with a zone defined as an
exchange; and
(v) other promotional pricing.
(B) A discount or other form of pricing flexibility
may not be preferential, prejudicial, discriminatory, predatory, or
anticompetitive.
(C) An electing company may exercise pricing flexibility,
including the packaging or joint marketing of any regulated service
with any other regulated or unregulated service or any service of
an affiliate.
(2) Pricing standards.
(A) An electing company shall price each regulated
service offered separately or as part of a package at either the service's
tariffed rate or at a rate not lower than the service's LRIC.
(B) An electing company shall price each service at
or above the service's LRIC.
(C) A price that is set at or above the service's LRIC
is presumed not to be predatory.
(D) The price of a package that combines regulated
products or services with unregulated products or services shall recover
the cost to the electing company of acquiring and providing the unregulated
products or services. In this section, unregulated products or services
are products or services provided by an entity that is unaffiliated
with the electing company.
(E) The price of a package that combines regulated
products or services with the products or services of an affiliate
shall recover the cost to the electing company of acquiring and providing
its affiliate's products or services, which shall be greater than
or equal to the cost to the affiliate of acquiring and/or providing
the products or services. The cost to an electing company of acquiring
or providing the affiliate's products or services shall be valued
in a manner consistent with Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
requirements, to the extent such requirements are applicable to the
electing company, and with subparagraph (F) of this paragraph. A group
of products or services that are jointly marketed by an electing company
in conjunction with one or more of its affiliates shall be priced
in a manner consistent with FCC requirements, to the extent such requirements
are applicable to the electing company, and with subparagraph (F)
of this paragraph.
(F) Consistent with PURA §52.051(1)(C), an electing
company shall not use revenues from regulated monopoly services to
subsidize services subject to competition.
(3) LRIC studies. An electing company may establish
a service's LRIC by submitting a LRIC study, as specified in subsection
(g)(2)(D)(ix) of this section, that conforms to the requirements of §26.214
of this title.
(4) LRIC adoption. An electing company serving fewer
than one million access lines in Texas may establish a service's LRIC
by adopting the commission-approved cost studies of a larger company
for the same services.
(5) Rate adoption. In lieu of filing a LRIC study or
adopting the LRIC studies of a larger company, an electing company
with less than one million access lines may adopt a rate that is identical
to or higher than a larger company's tariffed rate for the same service.
(e) Customer promotional offerings. An electing company
may file an informational notice to offer customer promotional offerings
by filing the appropriate information in accordance with subsection
(g)(2) of this section.
(1) An electing company may offer a promotion for a
regulated service for not more than 90 days in any 12-month period.
(2) Customer promotional offerings may consist of:
(A) a waiver of installation charges or service order
charges, or both, for not more than 90 days in a 12-month period;
or
(B) a temporary discount of not more than 25% from
the tariffed rate for not more than 60 days in a 12-month period.
(3) Although electing companies are not required to
file LRIC studies with informational notices regarding these customer
promotional offerings, the offerings are subject to the standards
for pricing flexibility in subsection (d) of this section, in the
event of a complaint.
(f) Requirements for customer specific contracts. An
electing company may enter into customer-specific contracts for certain
services as provided in §26.211 of this title (relating to Rate-Setting
Flexibility for Services Subject to Significant Competitive Challenges).
For all services not addressed in §26.211 of this title, an electing
company must offer customer specific contracts pursuant to this section.
(g) Procedures related to the filing of informational
notices and associated tariffs. The provisions of this subsection
apply to electing companies choosing to introduce new services and
exercise pricing and packaging flexibility including customer promotional
offerings through informational notice filings.
(1) Notice requirements.
(A) An electing company shall provide the informational
notice in compliance with this section to the commission, to the Office
of Public Utility Counsel (OPC), and to any person who holds a certificate
of operating authority in the electing company's certificated area
or areas, or who has an effective interconnection agreement with the
electing company.
(B) Unless an interconnection agreement contract specifies
otherwise, an incumbent local exchange carrier shall continue to provide
to affected resellers of retail services the same notice of rate changes
or withdrawal of detariffed services that it was required to provide
prior to detariffing.
(2) Filing requirements.
(A) Filing of informational notice and confidential
information. At the time the informational notice is filed in Central
Records, a copy of the informational notice, including confidential
information, shall be delivered to OPC. In addition to the record
copy, an additional copy of any confidential information shall be
filed in Central Records for use by the commission staff.
(i) The commission shall assign each informational
notice a unique control number and shall stamp the tariff sheets "received".
Cont'd... |
