| (a) Purpose. The purpose of this section is to define
the responsibilities of the Low-Income List Administrator (LILA) to
establish and maintain a list of eligible low-income customers and
to specify the process for a retail electric provider (REP) who voluntarily
seeks to obtain the low-income customer identification service from
the LILA pursuant to Public Utility Regulatory Act (PURA) §17.007.
(b) Application. This section applies to the LILA,
which has been contracted by the commission to administer aspects
of the low-income customer identification process established under
PURA §17.007 in cooperation with the Texas Health and Human Services
Commission (HHSC). This section also applies to REPs that provide
retail electric service in an area that has been opened to customer
choice and that voluntarily seek to obtain the low-income customer
identification service from the LILA.
(c) Customer identification process. The LILA must
identify eligible low-income customers through a monthly automatic
identification process in cooperation with the HHSC.
(1) Automatic identification is an electronic process
to identify customers eligible for the low-income list by matching
client data from the HHSC with residential customer-specific data
from participating REPs.
(A) The HHSC must provide client information to the
LILA in accordance with subsection (d)(1) of this section.
(B) REPs must provide customer information to the LILA
in accordance with subsection (d)(3) of this section.
(C) The LILA shall compare the customer information
from the HHSC and REPs, create files of matching customers and notify
the REPs of their eligible customers.
(2) Automatically identified customers shall continue
to be included on the LILA's list of eligible low-income customers
as long as the customers receive qualifying HHSC benefits. Once a
customer no longer receives qualifying HHSC benefits, the customer
will no longer be identified by the LILA's process as an eligible
low-income customer that is sent to the customer's REP.
(d) Responsibilities. In addition to the requirements
established in this section, program responsibilities for the LILA
may be established in the commission's contract with the LILA; program
responsibilities for tasks undertaken by the HHSC may be established
in the memorandum of understanding between the commission and the
HHSC.
(1) HHSC's responsibilities. The HHSC must assist in
the implementation and maintenance of the automatic enrollment process
by providing a database of customers receiving qualifying HHSC benefits
as detailed in the memorandum of understanding between the HHSC and
the commission.
(2) The LILA's responsibilities. The LILA must:
(A) receive customer lists from participating REPs
on at least a monthly basis through data transfer;
(B) retrieve the database of clients from the HHSC
on at least a monthly basis;
(C) establish a list of eligible customers, by comparing
customer lists from the REPs with HHSC databases and identifying customer
records that reasonably match;
(D) make available to each participating REP, on a
date prescribed by the commission on at least a monthly basis, a list
of eligible low-income customers; and
(E) protect the confidentiality of the customer information
provided by the REPs and the client information provided by the HHSC.
(3) A participating REP's responsibilities. A REP that
voluntarily seeks to obtain a list of eligible low-income customers
must:
(A) provide residential customer information to the
LILA through data transfer on a date prescribed by the commission
on at least a monthly basis. The customer information shall include,
to the greatest extent possible, each full name of the primary and
secondary customer on each account, billing and service addresses,
primary and secondary social security numbers, primary and secondary
telephone numbers, Electric Service Identifier (ESI ID), service provider
account number, and premise code;
(B) retrieve from the LILA the list of eligible low-income
customers; and
(C) assist the LILA in working to resolve issues concerning
customer eligibility.
(e) Confidentiality of information.
(1) The data acquired from HHSC pursuant to this section
is subject to a HHSC confidentiality agreement.
(2) All data transfers from REPs to the LILA pursuant
to this section shall be conducted under the terms and conditions
of a standard confidentiality agreement to protect customer privacy
and REPs' competitively sensitive information.
(3) The LILA may use information obtained pursuant
to this section only for purposes prescribed by commission rule.
(f) Delegation of authority. The commission may delegate
to the executive director the authority to contract with a third-party
vendor to administer aspects of the low-income customer identification
process established under PURA §17.007 in cooperation with HHSC,
and to negotiate the LILA's annual fee for the provision of the low-income
customer identification service.
(g) REP annual election process. REPs may elect to
obtain the low-income customer identification service from the LILA
on an annual basis.
(1) Not later than May 1 of each year, commission staff
must open a project in which a REP may request the low-income customer
identification service for the upcoming fiscal year beginning September
1. Commission staff must file notice in the project of the total annual
cost of the service at the time the project is opened or as soon as
practicable.
(2) Not later than July 31 of each year, a REP must
file its request for the low-income customer identification service
in the project opened for that purpose. The filing must include the
REP's certificate number. In its filing, the REP must state that it
agrees to reimburse the commission for its allocated share of the
total cost of providing the service.
(3) Not later than August 31 of each year, if the commission
has received a request from one or more REPs under paragraph (2) of
this subsection, the commission will enter an order listing the name
of each REP that filed a request, and establishing the amount that
each REP will pay as determined under paragraph (4) of this subsection.
(4) The total cost of the low-income customer identification
service will be allocated equally among the REPs that have filed a
request under paragraph (2) of this subsection unless otherwise provided
by the commission based on the agreement of REPs requesting the low-income
customer identification service.
(5) Provided that at least one REP requests the low-income
customer identification service in a program year in accordance with
paragraph (2) of this subsection, a REP that is newly certificated
after July 31 may obtain the low-income customer identification service
at no cost to the REP until the next program year, when the REP has
the opportunity to submit a timely request under paragraph (2) of
this subsection. To obtain the low-income customer identification
service, the newly-certificated REP must file a request in the project
opened under paragraph (1) of this subsection.
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