Current through Reg. 50, No. 13; March 28, 2025
(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.
