16 Tex. Admin. Code § 25.346 - Separation of Electric Utility Metering and Billing Service Costs and Activities
(a) Purpose.
The purpose of this section is to identify and separate electric utility
metering and billing service activities and costs for the purposes of
unbundling.
(b) Application. This
section shall apply to electric utilities as defined in Public Utility
Regulatory Act (PURA) §31.002 in areas where customer choice is in
effect.
(c) Separation of
transmission and distribution utility billing system service costs.
(1) Transmission and distribution utility
billing system services shall include costs related to the billing services
described in §
25.341(15) of
this title (relating to Definitions).
(2) Charges for transmission and distribution
utility billing system services shall not include any additional capital costs,
operation and maintenance expenses, and any other expenses associated with
billing services as prescribed by PURA §39.107(e).
(d) Separation of transmission and
distribution utility billing system service activities.
(1) Transmission and distribution utility
billing system services as defined in §
25.341 of this title shall be
provided by the transmission and distribution utility.
(2) The transmission and distribution utility
may provide additional retail billing services pursuant to PURA
§39.107(e).
(3) Additional
retail billing services pursuant to PURA §39.107(e) shall be provided on
an unbundled discretionary basis pursuant to a commission-approved embedded
cost-based tariff.
(4) The
transmission and distribution utility may not directly bill an end-use retail
customer for services that the transmission and distribution utility provides
except when the billing is incidental to providing retail billing services at
the request of a retail electric provider pursuant to PURA
§39.107(e).
(e)
Uncollectibles and customer deposits.
(1) The
retail electric provider is responsible for collection of its charges from
retail customers and measures to secure payment.
(f)
Separation of transmission and distribution utility metering system service
costs. Transmission and distribution utility metering system services shall
include costs related to the transmission and distribution utility metering
system services as defined in §
25.341 of this title.
(g) Separation of transmission and
distribution utility metering system service activities.
(1) Prior to the introduction of customer
choice, metering service shall be provided in accordance with Subchapter F of
this chapter (relating to Metering). An electric utility shall continue to
provide metering services pursuant to commission rules and regulations, but
shall not engage in the provision of competitive energy services as defined by
§
25.341 of this title and
prescribed by §
25.343 of this title (relating to
Competitive Energy Services).
(2)
On the introduction of customer choice in a service area, metering services as
described by §
25.341(17) of
this title for the area shall continue to be provided by the transmission and
distribution utility affiliate (or successor in interest) of the electric
utility that was serving the area before the introduction of customer choice,
but the transmission and distribution utility shall not engage in the provision
of competitive energy services as defined by §
25.341 of this title and
prescribed by §
25.343 of this title.
(A) Standard meter service shall be provided
in accordance with this subparagraph. Advanced meter service shall be provided
in accordance with §
25.130 of this title (relating to
Advanced Metering).
(i) The standard meter
shall be owned, installed, and maintained by the transmission and distribution
utility except as prescribed by §
25.311 of this title (relating to
Competitive Metering Services).
(ii) The transmission and distribution
utility shall bill a retail electric provider for non-bypassable charges based
upon the measurements obtained from each end-use customer's standard
meter.
(iii) If the retail electric
provider requests the replacement of the standard meter with an advanced meter,
the transmission and distribution utility shall charge the retail electric
provider the incremental cost for the replacement of the standard meter with an
advanced meter owned, operated, and maintained by the transmission and
distribution utility.
(iv) Without
authorization from the retail electric provider, the transmission and
distribution utility's use of advanced meter data shall be limited to that
energy usage information necessary for the calculation of transmission and
distribution charges in accordance with that end-use customer's transmission
and distribution rate schedule.
(B) Nothing in this section precludes the
retail electric provider from accessing the transmission and distribution
utility's standard meter for the purposes of determining an end-use customer's
energy usage.
(C) Nothing in this
section precludes the end-use customer or the retail electric provider from
owning, installing, and maintaining metering equipment in addition to the
standard meter.
(h) Competitive energy services.
(1) Nothing in this section is intended to
affect the provision of competitive energy services, including those that
require access to the customer's meter.
(i) Electronic data interchange.
(1) All transmission and distribution
utilities, retail electric providers, power generation companies, power
marketers, and electric utilities shall transmit data in accordance with
standards and procedures adopted by the commission or the independent
organization.
(2) All transmission
and distribution utilities, retail electric providers, power generation
companies, power marketers, and electric utilities shall abide by the
settlement procedures adopted by the commission or the independent
organization.
(3) Transmission and
distribution utilities shall be allowed to recover such costs as prudently
incurred in abiding by this subsection, to the extent not collected elsewhere,
such as through the administrative fee of an independent
organization.
Notes
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