1. (a) Application. This section applies to a retail electric provider (REP) that is responsible for issuing electric service bills to retail customers, unless the REP is issuing a consolidated bill (both energy services and transmission and distribution services) on behalf of an electric cooperative or municipally owned utility. This section does not apply to a municipally owned utility or electric cooperative issuing bills to its customers in its own service territory.

2. (b) Frequency and delivery of bills.

   1. (1) Until January 1, 2004, a REP shall issue a bill monthly to each customer, unless service is provided for a period of less than one month. Beginning January 1, 2004, a REP may issue a bill less frequently than monthly if both the customer and the REP agree to such an arrangement.
   2. (2) Bills shall be issued as promptly as practicable after reading meters or obtaining the meter usage and other billing determinants from the transmission and distribution utility, the municipally owned utility or the electric cooperative.
   3. (3) Bills shall be issued to residential customers in writing and delivered via the United States Postal Service (U.S. mail). REPs may provide bills to a customer electronically if both the customer and the REP agree to such an arrangement. An affiliate REP or a provider of last resort shall not require a customer to agree to such an arrangement as a condition of receiving electric service.
   4. (4) In no event shall a REP charge a customer a fee for receiving a bill.

3. (c) Bill content.

   1. (1) Each customer's bill shall include the following information:

      1. (A) The certified name and address of the REP and the number of the license issued to the REP by the commission;
      2. (B) A toll-free telephone number, in bold-face type, that the customer can call during specified hours for inquiries and to make complaints about the bill;
      3. (C) A toll-free telephone number that the customer may call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to report power outages and concerns about the safety of the electric power system;
      4. (D) The service address, electric service identifier (ESI), and account number of the customer;
      5. (E) The service period for which the bill is rendered;
      6. (F) The date on which the bill was issued;
      7. (G) The payment due date of the bill and, if different, the date by which payment from the customer must be received by the REP to avoid a late charge or other collection action;
      8. (H) The current charges for electric service as disclosed in the customer's terms of service document, exclusive of applicable taxes, and a separate calculation of the average unit price of the current charge for electric service for the current billing period, labeled, "The average price you paid for electric service this month." This calculation shall reflect all fixed and variable recurring charges, but not include any nonrecurring charges or credits, which is expressed as a cents per kilowatt-hour rounded to the nearest one-tenth of one cent. If the customer is on a level or average payment plan, the level or average payment should be clearly shown in addition to the usage-based rate;
      9. (I) The identification and itemization of recurring charges other than for electric service as disclosed in the customer's terms of service document;
      10. (J) The itemization and amount included in the amount due for any other non-recurring charge, including late fees, returned check fees, restoration of service fees, or other fees disclosed in the REP's terms of service document provided to the customer;
      11. (K) The total current charges, balances from the preceding bill, payments made by the customer since the preceding bill, the total amount due and a checkbox for the customer to voluntarily donate money to the bill payment assistance program;
      12. (L) The beginning and ending meter readings; the kind and number of units measured, whether the bill was issued based on estimated usage, and any conversions from meter reading units to billing units, or any other calculations to determine billing units from recording or other devices, or any other factors used in determining the bill, unless the customer is provided conversion charts;
      13. (M) Any amount owed under a written guarantee contract provided the guarantor was previously notified in writing by the REP as required by §25.478 of this title (relating to Credit Requirements and Deposits);
      14. (N) A conspicuous notice of any services or products being provided to the customer that have been added since the previous bill;
      15. (O) Notification of any changes in the customer's rates or charges due to the operation of a variable rate feature previously disclosed by the REP in the customer's terms of service document;
      16. (P) The notice required by §25.481(d) of this title (relating to Unauthorized Charges); and
      17. (Q) If the REP has presented its electric service charges in an unbundled fashion, it shall use the following terms as defined by the commission: "transmission and distribution service"; "generation service"; "System Benefit Fund"; and, where applicable, "transition charge," and "nuclear decommissioning fee."
   2. (2) If the REP bundles its electric service charges, the REP shall provide an itemization to the customer upon the customer's request.
   3. (3) In no event may a customer's electric bill contain charges from a service provider other than the customer's designated REP.
4. (d) Public service notices. A REP shall, as required by the commission, provide brief public service notices to its customers. The REP shall provide these public service notices to its customers on its billing statements, as an insert in its billing statement, or by electronic communication, as required by the commission.
5. (e) Estimated bills. If a REP is unable to issue a bill based on actual meter reading due to the failure of the transmission and distribution utility, municipally owned utility or electric cooperative to obtain or transmit a meter reading to the REP on a timely basis, the REP may issue a bill based on an estimated reading and inform the customer of the reason for the issuance of the estimated bill.
6. (f) Record retention. A REP shall maintain monthly billing and payment records for each account for at least 24 months after the date the bill is mailed. The billing records shall contain sufficient data to reconstruct a customer's billing for a given period. A copy of a customer's billing records may be obtained by that customer on request, and may be obtained once per year, at no charge.
7. (g) Transfer of delinquent balances or credits. If the customer has an outstanding balance or credit owed to the customer's current REP that is due from a previous account in the same customer class, then the customer's current REP may transfer that balance to the customer's current account. The delinquent balance and specific account or address shall be identified as such on the bill. There shall be no balance transfers between REPs, other than transfer of a deposit, as specified in §25.478(k)(1)(C) of this title.

Source Note:The provisions of this §25.479 adopted to be effective January 15, 2001, 26 TexReg 125.