Or. Admin. R. 860-038-0600 - Joint Marketing and Referral Arrangements

(1) For joint marketing, advertising, and promotional activities an electric company shall not:

(a) Provide or acquire leads on behalf of its Oregon affiliates;

(b) Solicit business or acquire information on behalf of its Oregon affiliates;

(c) Give the appearance of speaking or acting on behalf of its Oregon affiliates except that an electric company, pursuant to a customer request, may provide information about electricity services or directly related products offered by the electric company's Oregon affiliates. Prior to providing the information, the electric company must inform the customer that:

(A) Other providers may exist; and

(B) The customer does not have to purchase these electricity services or directly related products from the electric company's Oregon affiliate in order for the customer to continue to receive the customer's current electricity service from the electric company;

(d) Represent to consumers or potential consumers that it can offer electricity services or directly related products from the electric company's Oregon affiliates bundled or packaged with its tariffed services; or

(e) Request authorization from its consumers to pass on proprietary consumer information exclusively to its Oregon affiliates.

(2) An electric company shall not engage in joint marketing, advertising, or promotion of its electricity services or directly related products with those of its Oregon affiliates in a manner that favors the electricity services or directly related products of the Oregon affiliate. Such joint marketing, advertising, or promotion includes, but is not limited to, the following:

(a) Acting or appearing to act on behalf of its Oregon affiliates in any communications and contacts with any existing or potential consumers, subject to the exception in (1)(c) above;

(b) Joint sales calls;

(c) Joint proposals, either as requests for proposals or responses to requests for proposals;

(d) Joint promotional communications or correspondence, except that an electric company may allow its Oregon affiliates access to consumer bill advertising inserts according to the terms of a Commission approved tariff, so long as access to such inserts is made available on the same terms and conditions to unaffiliated entities offering similar services as the Oregon affiliates that use bill inserts; or

(e) Joint presentations at trade shows, conferences, or other marketing events within the state of Oregon.

(3) An electric company may participate in meetings with its Oregon affiliates to discuss technical or operational subjects regarding the electric company's provision of transmission or distribution services to the consumer; but only in the same manner and to the same extent the electric company participates in such meetings with unaffiliated entities and their consumers.

Notes

Or. Admin. R. 860-038-0600

PUC 2-2001, f. & cert. ef. 1-5-01; PUC 6-2006, f. & cert. ef. 5-11-06

Stat. Auth.: ORS 183, 756 & 757

Stats. Implemented: ORS 756.040 & 757.600 - 757.667