(a) Mass customer lists. Prior to the commencement of retail competition, an electric utility shall release a mass customer list to certificated retail electric providers (REPs) and registered aggregators.
(1) A mass customer list shall consist of the name, billing address, rate classification, monthly kilowatt-hour usage for the most recent 12-month period, meter type, and account number or electric service identifier (ESI-ID). All customers eligible for the price to beat pursuant to the Public Utility Regulatory Act (PURA) §39.202 shall be included on the mass customer list, except a customer who opts not to be included on the list pursuant to paragraph (2) of this subsection.
(2) Prior to the release of a mass customer list, an electric utility shall mail a notice to all customers who may be included on the list. The notice shall:
(3) The commission will require the electric utility to release a mass customer list no later than 120 days before the commencement of customer choice.
(4) The mass customer list shall be issued, at no charge, to all REPs certified by, and aggregators registered with, the commission that will be providing retail electric or aggregation services to residential or small commercial customers.
(5) A REP shall not use the list for any purpose other than marketing electric service and verifying a customer's authorized selection of a REP prior to submission of the customer's enrollment to the registration agent.
(b) Individual customer and premise information.
(1) A REP or aggregator shall not release proprietary customer information, as defined in §25.272(c)(5) of this title (relating to Code of Conduct for Electric Utilities and Their Affiliates), to any other person, including an affiliate of the REP, without obtaining the customer's or applicant's verifiable authorization by means of one of the methods authorized in §25.474 of this title (relating to Selection of Retail Electric Provider). This prohibition shall not apply to the release of such information by a REP or aggregator to:
(2) Under no circumstances shall a REP or aggregator sell, make available for sale, or authorize the sale of any customer-specific information or data obtained.
(3) Upon receiving authorization from a customer or applicant, a REP shall request from the TDU the monthly usage of the customer's or applicant's premise for the previous 12 months. The TDU, upon receipt of a written request or other proof of authorization, shall provide the requested information to the requesting REP or to the customer or applicant no later than three business days after the request or proof of authorization is submitted.
(4) A REP shall, upon the request of an energy assistance agency, provide a 12-month billing history free of charge that includes both usage data and the dollar amount of each monthly billing. If 12 months of billing data are not available from the REP, the REP shall estimate the amount billed using the REP's residential rate. The history shall also clearly designate estimated amounts. A residential billing history requested by an energy assistance agency shall be provided by the end of the next business day after the request is made. A residential billing history requested by a customer shall be provided within five business days of the customer request.
(5) Upon the request of a customer, a REP shall notify a third person chosen by the customer of any pending disconnection of electric service with respect to the customer's account.
Source Note: The provisions of this §25.472 adopted to be effective January 15, 2001, 26 TexReg 125; amended to be effective December 17, 2002, 27 TexReg 11742; amended to be effective June 1, 2004, 29 TexReg 4756; amended to be effective December 8, 2005, 30 TexReg 8059; amended to be effective March 8, 2007, 32 TexReg 1286