(a) Application. Any person, municipality, political subdivision, or political subdivision corporation that aggregates the loads of two or more electric service customers for purposes of purchasing electricity services shall register with the Public Utility Commission of Texas (commission) pursuant to this section. A single electricity customer, including a municipality or political subdivision, negotiating service in multiple locations for its own use, does not need to register with the commission.
(b) Purpose statement. The role of an aggregator in the restructured electric market is to be a buyer's agent for customer groups. An entity that joins customers together as a single purchasing unit and negotiates on their behalf for the purchase of electricity service in Texas is considered an aggregator and must register pursuant to this section. In contrast, an entity that sells electricity is a retail electric provider (REP) and is subject to other commission rules. This section sets out conditions for registering and operating as an aggregator, including the condition that the aggregator, a buyer's agent, may not be affiliated with a REP or other seller's agent representing the REP.
(c) Definitions. The following words and terms, when used in this section, shall have the following meanings, unless the context indicates otherwise:
(1) Aggregation - to join two or more electricity customers into a purchasing unit to negotiate the purchase of electricity by the electricity customer as part of a voluntary association of electricity customers, provided that an electricity customer may not avoid any non-bypassable charges or fees as a result of aggregating its load.
(2) Aggregator - An entity is an aggregator, as opposed to a consultant, if it conducts any activity that joins two or more customers into a purchasing unit to negotiate the purchase of electricity from retail electric providers (REPs). If an entity conducts activities only in the capacity of advisor to a customer or set of customers, without contact with REPs specific to that customer or customer group, then it is a consultant that does not need to register pursuant to this section. An aggregator that provides aggregation services to Texas electricity customers must meet one of the following definitions:
(3) Person - an individual, a partnership of two or more persons having a joint or common interest, a mutual or cooperative association, or a corporation, but not including a municipal corporation or an electric cooperative. For purposes of this section, a political subdivision or political subdivision corporation is not a person.
(4) Political subdivision - a county, municipality, hospital district, or any other political subdivision receiving electric service from an entity that has implemented customer choice.
(5) Political subdivision corporation - an entity consisting of two or more political subdivisions created to act as an agent, or otherwise, to negotiate the purchase of electricity for the use of the respective public facilities in accordance with Local Government Code §303.001.
(6) Proprietary customer information - any information compiled by an aggregator on a customer in the normal course of aggregating electric service that makes possible the identification of any individual customer by matching such information with the customer's name, address, account number, type or classification of service, historical electricity usage, expected patterns of use, types of facilities used in providing service, individual contract terms and conditions, price, current charges, billing records, or any other information that the customer has expressly requested not be disclosed. Information that is redacted or organized in such a way as to make it impossible to identify the customer to whom the information relates does not constitute propriety customer information.
(7) Revocation - the cessation of all aggregation business operations in the state of Texas, pursuant to commission order.
(8) Suspension - the cessation of all aggregation business operations in the state of Texas associated with obtaining new customers, pursuant to commission order.
(d) Types of aggregator registrations required.
(1) Entities seeking to aggregate electricity customers may not provide aggregation services in the state unless they have registered with the commission. Such registration may be sought after September 1, 2000.
(2) There are two types of registration available to aggregators. An entity seeking to aggregate under the terms and conditions set forth in the Public Utility Regulatory Act (PURA) §39.353 shall register as a "Class I aggregator." An entity seeking to aggregate under the terms and conditions set forth in PURA §39.354 or §39.3545, or both, shall register as a "Class II aggregator." The Class II category of registration has four subclasses, A through D. The terms of eligibility and operational requirements for each type of aggregator are specified in paragraphs (3) and (4) of this subsection. The registering party must indicate the Class and subclass, if any, under which it wishes to register. If a person is eligible and wishes to perform aggregation services under more than one class of registration, it shall obtain all applicable registrations.
(3) Registration of Class I aggregators. A Class I aggregator may join at least two voluntary customers into a single purchasing unit to negotiate the purchase of electricity from REPs. A Class I aggregator shall:
(4) Registration of Class II aggregators. A Class II aggregator shall not be a REP or an affiliate of a REP and shall register pursuant to at least one of the following sets of eligibility and operational requirements:
(e) Requirements for public bodies seeking to register as Class II.B or II.C aggregators. A municipality, other political subdivision, or political subdivision corporation seeking to register and operate as a Class II.B or Class II.C aggregator in accordance with this section shall provide the following information on a registration form approved by the commission. This subsection does not apply to registering parties who are persons, as defined in this section.
(1) The legal name of the registering party as well as any trade or commercial name(s) under which the registering party intends to operate;
(2) The registering party's Texas business address and principal place of business;
(3) The names and business addresses of the registering party's principal officers;
(4) The names of the registering party's affiliates and subsidiaries, if applicable;
(5) Telephone number of the customer service department or the name, title and telephone number of the customer service contact person;
(6) Name, physical business address, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address for a regulatory contact person and for an agent for service of process, if a different person;
(7) The types of electricity customers that the registering party intends to aggregate; and
(8) Any other information required of public bodies on a registration form approved by the commission.
(f) Requirements for persons seeking to register as a Class I or Class II.A or Class II.D aggregator. A person seeking any registration under this section shall provide evidence of competency and experience in providing the scope and nature of its proposed services by providing the information listed in either paragraph (1) or (2) of this subsection on a registration form approved by the commission. This subsection does not apply to registering parties who are municipalities, other political subdivisions, or political subdivision corporations.
(1) Standard registration. Cont'd...