| (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 |
