| (G) The plan must state that a customer's electric
service may be disconnected if the customer does not fulfill the terms
of the deferred payment plan, or if the customer's current balance
falls below the disconnection balance, excluding the remaining deferred
amount.
(10) The REP must not charge the customer a fee for
placing the customer on a deferred payment plan.
(11) The REP, through a standard market process, must
submit a request to remove the switch-hold, pursuant to §25.480(m)(2)
of this title if the customer pays the deferred balance owed to the
REP. On the day the REP submits the request to remove the switch-hold,
the REP must notify the customer that the customer has satisfied the
deferred payment plan and that the switch-hold is being removed.
(j) Disconnection of service. As provided by subsection
(a)(4) of this section, §25.483 (b)(2)(A) and (B), (d), (e)(1)
- (6), and the definition of extreme weather in §25.483(j)(1)
of this title apply to prepaid service. In addition to those provisions,
this subsection applies to disconnection of a customer receiving prepaid
service.
(1) Prohibition on disconnection. A REP must not initiate
disconnection for a customer's failure to maintain a current balance
above the disconnection balance on a weekend day or during any period
during which the mechanisms used for payments specified in the customer's
PDS are unavailable; or during an extreme weather emergency, as this
term is defined in §25.483 of this title, in the county in which
the service is provided.
(2) Initiation of disconnection. A REP may initiate
disconnection of service when the current balance falls below the
disconnection balance, but only if the REP provided the customer a
timely warning pursuant to subsection (c)(7)(D) of this section; or
when a customer fails to comply with a deferred payment plan, but
only if the REP provided the customer a timely warning pursuant to
subsection (i)(7) of this section. A REP may initiate disconnection
if the customer's current balance falls below the disconnection balance
due to reversal of a payment found to have insufficient funds available
or is otherwise rejected by a bank, credit card company, or other
payor.
(3) Pledge from electric assistance agencies. If a
REP receives a pledge, letter of intent, purchase order, or other
commitment from an energy assistance agency to make a payment for
a customer, the REP must immediately credit the customer's current
balance with the amount of the pledge.
(A) The REP must not initiate disconnection of service
if the pledge from the energy assistance agency (or energy assistance
agencies) establishes a current balance above the customer's disconnection
balance or, if the customer has been disconnected, must request reconnection
of service if the pledge from the energy assistance agency establishes
a current balance for the customer that is at or above the customer's
connection balance required for reconnection.
(B) The REP may initiate disconnection of service if
payment from the energy assistance agency is not received within 45
days of the REP's receipt of the commitment or if the payment is not
sufficient to satisfy the customer's disconnection balance in the
case of a currently energized customer, or the customer's connection
balance if the customer has been disconnected for falling below the
disconnection balance.
(4) Reconnection of service. Within one hour of a customer
establishing a connection balance or any otherwise satisfactory correction
of the reasons for disconnection, the REP must request that the TDU
reconnect service or, if the REP disconnected service using its CPDS,
reconnect service. The REP's payment mechanism may include a requirement
that the customer verify the payment using a card, code, or other
similar method in order to establish a connection balance or current
balance above the disconnection balance when payment is made to a
third-party processor acting as an agent of the REP.
(k) Service to Critical Care Residential Customers
and Chronic Condition Residential Customers. A REP must not knowingly
provide prepaid service to a customer who is a critical care residential
customer or chronic condition residential customer as those terms
are defined in §25.497 of this title. In addition, a REP must
not enroll an applicant who states that the applicant is a critical
care residential customer or chronic condition residential customer.
(1) If the REP is notified by the TDU that a customer
receiving prepaid service is designated as a critical care residential
customer or chronic condition residential customer, the REP must diligently
work with the customer to promptly transition the customer to postpaid
service or another REP in a manner that avoids a service disruption.
The REP must not charge the customer a fee for the transition, including
an early termination or disconnection fee.
(2) If the customer is unresponsive, the REP must transfer
the customer to a competitively offered, month-to-month postpaid product
at a rate no higher than the rate calculated pursuant to §25.43(l)(2)(A)
of this title. The REP must provide the customer notice that the customer
has been transferred to a new product and must provide the customer
the new product's Terms of Service and EFL.
(l) Compliance period. No later than October 1, 2011,
prepaid service offered by a REP pursuant to a new contract to a customer
being served using a "settlement provisioned meter," as that term
is defined in Chapter 1 of the TDU's tariff for retail delivery service,
or using a REP-controlled collar or meter must comply with this section.
Before October 1, 2011, prepaid service offered by a REP to a customer
served using a settlement provisioned meter or REP-controlled collar
or meter must comply with this section as it currently exists or as
it existed in 2010, except as provided in subsection (m) of this section.
(m) Transition of Financial Prepaid Service Customers.
A REP may continue to provide a financial prepaid service (i.e., one that does not use a settlement
provisioned meter or REP-controlled collar or meter) only to its customer
that was receiving financial prepaid service at a particular location
on October 1, 2011. A customer who is served by a financial prepaid
service must be transitioned to a service that complies with the other
subsections of this section by the later of October 1, 2011 or sixty
days after the customer begins to be served using either a settlement
provisioned meter or a REP-controlled collar or meter. The customer
must be notified by the REP that the customer's current prepaid service
will no longer be offered as of a date specified by the REP by the
later of either October 1, 2011 or sixty days after the customer begins
to be served using either a settlement provisioned meter or REP-controlled
collar or meter, as applicable. The REP must provide the notification
no sooner than 60 days and not less than 30 days prior to the termination
of the customer's current prepaid service. The customer must be notified
that the customer will be moved to a new prepaid service, and the
REP must transmit an EFL and PDS to the customer with the notification,
if the customer does not choose another service or REP.
|
| Source Note: The provisions of this §25.498 adopted to be effective May 17, 2011, 36 TexReg 3079; amended to be effective August 19, 2012, 37 TexReg 6006; amended to be effective May 13, 2018, 43 TexReg 3001; amended to be effective January 6, 2022, 46 TexReg 9242 |
