Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 9, September 1, 2024
(1) A gas utility
that offers energy conservation programs through the Administrator must
transfer to the Administrator proprietary customer information for gas utility
company customers as follows:
(a) If such
information is available for its residential and commercial customers in the
gas utility's records:
(A) Customer
name;
(B) Service address
(including apartment, unit, or suite number);
(C) Mailing address;
(D) Building type (for example,
multifamily);
(E) Business type
(identified using a Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code or a U.S.
Census Bureau NAICS code);
(F)
Initially, 18 months of the most recent historical usage data;
(G) Meter and other point-of-delivery
identification number;
(H) Rate
schedules for each customer;
(I)
Information about energy efficiency program participation,
(J) Type of space heat used by the customer;
and
(K) Updates for all of the
usage data and revisions to the underlying database information on a periodic
basis under subsection (4)(d) of this rule; and
(b) If such information is available for its
industrial sales customers or other customers not included in section (1)(a)
and not subject under the applicable utility tariff to pay a public purpose
charge:
(A) Customer name;
(B) Service address;
(C) Rate schedules; and
(D) Account numbers.
(2) A gas utility may not transfer
to the Administrator the following customer information:
(a) Social security numbers;
(b) Billing and payment history;
(c) Credit information;
(d) Tax identification numbers;
(e) Driver license numbers;
(f) Life support information;
(g) Medical information;
(h) Proprietary customer information
protected by the password provision required per OAR 860-021-0009(6);
(i) Proprietary customer information for
customers who have requested that their information not be shared with third
parties; or
(j) Proprietary
customer information including usage data for the gas utility's transportation
customers.
(3) The
Administrator must transfer to the gas utility information available in the
Administrator's records regarding gas utility customer participation in gas
conservation programs where gas utility funding has been applied. At a minimum,
the Administrator must provide:
(a) Customer
name,
(b) Service address
(including apartment, unit, or suite number),
(c) Meter number; and
(d) Information about gas efficiency program
participation, such as gas measures installed since the inception of the
Administrator's delivery of the gas efficiency programs.
(4) The manner by which such information is
transferred and used will be governed by an Information Transfer Agreement,
which is executed and maintained by a gas utility and the Administrator. An
Information Transfer Agreement must:
(a)
Specify the necessary database format for information that will be transferred
between the gas utility and the Administrator;
(b) Specify the billing period, payment
arrangements, and estimates of incremental costs incurred by either the gas
utility or the Administrator for the transfer of the information;
(c) Identify timelines for the transfer of
information;
(d) Identify timelines
for providing updates for data and revisions to the underlying database
information;
(e) Acknowledge the
Administrator's obligations to protect proprietary customer information per
this rule and the Administrator's policy or policies adopted under section 10
of this rule;
(f) Acknowledge that
the proprietary customer information will be used by the Administrator to
implement, administer and evaluate gas efficiency programs, and the
Administrator must regularly notify the gas utility of these
activities;
(g) Acknowledge that
the proprietary customer information provided to the Administrator will not be
used for telemarketing to gas utility customers;
(h) Acknowledge that the Administrator may
use proprietary customer information for the purpose of direct marketing of the
Administrator's gas efficiency programs, provided:
(A) The Administrator has given prior
notification to the gas utility whose customers are likely to be
affected;
(B) The Administrator has
coordinated the direct marketing activities with the utility; and
(C) Disputes regarding the direct marketing
activities may be addressed under section (6) of this rule.
(i) Acknowledge that the release
of proprietary customer information by the Administrator for any other purpose
or to any other third party who has not signed an agreement to treat such
information confidentially under subsection 10(b) of this rule may not be made
without consent of the customer; and
(j) Acknowledge that the information provided
by the Administrator to the gas utility may be used by the gas utility solely
for utility business, may not be shared with other parties, and if used for
direct marketing, such use will be made only after notice to and in
coordination with the Administrator.
(k) Provide for modification of the
Information Transfer Agreement.
(5) If the Administrator and a gas utility
company cannot agree on the terms and conditions of an Information Transfer
Agreement, the Commission may set the terms and conditions based upon input
from the Administrator and the gas utility company.
(6) If the Administrator or the gas utility
notifies the other that the proprietary customer information supplied by the
other is insufficient, incomplete, not usable, or is not being used in
compliance with this rule, the Administrator and gas utility company will
attempt to resolve the issue and, if necessary, modify the Information Transfer
Agreement. If the Administrator and gas utility company cannot resolve the
issue, either party may seek Commission resolution of the dispute.
(7) Each gas utility must send a notice to
its customers prior to the Administrator's receipt of their proprietary
customer information:
(a) Informing them of
the requirements of this rule;
(b)
Explaining that the purpose of transferring customer data to the Administrator
is to ensure that the Administrator is better prepared to assist a customer who
is interested in participating in customer-funded energy efficiency and
renewable energy programs; and
(c)
Asking customers if they wish to be on a "do not contact" list, in which case
they will receive no unsolicited contact from the Administrator, or its
contractors.
(8) If a
gas utility company receives an unsolicited request from a customer to not
provide their proprietary customer information to the Administrator, and the
customer has not agreed otherwise with the Administrator, the gas utility must
honor that request unless the gas utility subsequently receives written consent
from its customer to transfer their proprietary customer information to the
Administrator. An unsolicited request includes a customer's response to a
notice from the gas utility explaining the customer's rights.
(9) When a gas utility has provided
proprietary customer information to the Administrator under this rule, the gas
utility may not be charged with at-fault complaints filed with Commission's
Consumer Services Division for the Administrator's or the Administrator's
sub-contractors' access to, use or mishandling of proprietary customer
information.
(10) The
Administrator must:
(a) Develop and adopt in
an open process a policy or policies ensuring that the confidentiality of the
proprietary customer information it receives from gas utilities is protected in
a manner that meets the requirements of all federal, state and local laws
regarding protection for this type of information;
(b) Agree to require its employees and
contractors to commit to specific non-disclosure requirements in order to gain
access to proprietary customer information which, at a minimum, require that
the proprietary customer information:
(A) Be
used only for the purposes of particular programs, projects or
contracts;
(B) Be shared with a
subcontractor only under similar conditions and requirements and only upon
approval of the Administrator; and
(C) Be returned to the Administrator or
destroyed at the completion of the project or termination of the contract;
and
(c) Establish a
process by which customers may require the Administrator not to use the
proprietary customer information to make unsolicited contact with the
customer.
Stat. Auth.: ORS 183, 756 & 757
Stats. Implemented: ORS
756.040
