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TITLE 16ECONOMIC REGULATION
PART 2PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION OF TEXAS
CHAPTER 25SUBSTANTIVE RULES APPLICABLE TO ELECTRIC SERVICE PROVIDERS
SUBCHAPTER RCUSTOMER PROTECTION RULES FOR RETAIL ELECTRIC SERVICE PROVIDERS
RULE §25.479Issuance and Format of Bills

  (4) Reducing electricity use at times when involuntary load shedding events may be implemented.

(e) Estimated bills. If a REP is unable to issue a bill based on actual meter reading due to the failure of the TDU, the registration agent, municipally owned utility or electric cooperative to obtain or transmit a meter reading or an invoice for non-bypassable charges to the REP on a timely basis, the REP may issue a bill based on the customer's estimated usage and inform the customer of the reason for the issuance of the estimated bill.

(f) Non-recurring charges. A REP may pass through to its customers all applicable non-recurring charges billed to the REP by a TDU, municipally owned utility, or electric cooperative as a result of establishing, switching, disconnecting, reconnecting, or maintaining service to an applicant or customer. In the event of a meter test, the TDU, municipally owned utility, electric cooperative, and REP must comply with the requirements of §25.124 of this title (relating to Meter Testing) or with the requirements of the tariffs of a TDU, municipally owned utility, or electric cooperative, as applicable. The TDU, municipally owned utility, or electric cooperative must maintain a record of all meter tests performed at the request of a REP or a REP's customers.

(g) Record retention. A REP must maintain monthly billing and payment records for each account for at least 24 months after the date the bill is mailed. The billing records must contain sufficient data to reconstruct a customer's billing for a given period. A copy of a customer's billing records may be obtained by that customer on request, and may be obtained once per 12-month period, at no charge.

(h) Transfer of delinquent balances or credits. If the customer has an outstanding balance or credit owed to the customer's current REP that is due from a previous account in the same customer class, then the customer's current REP may transfer that balance to the customer's current account. The delinquent balance and specific account or address must be identified as such on the bill. There must be no balance transfers between REPs, other than transfer of a deposit, as specified in §25.478(j)(2) of this title.


Source Note: The provisions of this §25.479 adopted to be effective January 15, 2001, 26 TexReg 125; amended to be effective June 1, 2004, 29 TexReg 4756; amended to be effective January 6, 2010, 35 TexReg 78; amended to be effective May 13, 2018, 43 TexReg 3001; amended to be effective January 6, 2022, 46 TexReg 9242

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