OAR 860-086-0030: Electric Company Transfer of Data

(1) This rule applies only to customers with usage less than one average megawatt (aMW) and those customers who elect to opt-in as described in Section (11). (2) An electric company must transfer to the Administrator the following proprietary customer information for electric company customers, if available. (a) Customer name; (b) Service address (including apartment/unit/suite number); (c) Mailing address; (d) In-service or activation date; (e) Building type (for example, multifamily); (f) Business type (identified using a Standard Industrial Classification (SIC code) or U.S. Census Bureau NAICS code); (g) Initially, 18 months of the most recent historical usage data on a per-billing month basis (total billed kilowatt hours and kW); (h) Meter number and other point-of-delivery identification numbers; (i) Rate schedule identifier for each customer account; (j) Whether the customer is applying self-direct credits against its energy efficiency and renewable public purpose charge during each billing period; (k) Information about any energy efficiency program participation and type of space heat used by the customer; (l) Updates for all of the usage data and revisions to the underlying database information on a periodic basis under subsection (6)(d) of this rule. (m) For unmetered accounts (for example, street lights, cellular towers, telephone booths, and electric utility service buildings), electric companies must transfer contracted kilowatt-hour consumption rather than actual billed consumption. (3) An electric company may not transfer to the Administrator: (a) Social security numbers, (b) Billing and payment history, (c) Credit information, (d) Tax identification numbers, (e) Driver license numbers, (f) Life support information, (g) Any medical information, (h) Proprietary customer information protected by the password provision required under OAR 860-021-0009(6), or (i) Proprietary customer information for customers who have requested that their information not be shared with third parties. (4) The Administrator must transfer to the electric company information, if available, regarding electric company customer participation in electric efficiency programs where electric company funding has been applied. At a minimum, the Administrator must provide: (a) Service address (including apartment, unit, or suite number); (b) Meter number and other point-of-delivery identification numbers; (c) Information about electric efficiency program participation, such as measures installed since the inception of the Administrator’s delivery of the efficiency programs; and (d) Whether a customer has agreed to the electric company’s transfer of its proprietary customer information to the Administrator as a result of its participation in an electric efficiency program, and the term during which the Administrator has the right to see such information. (5) The information provided by the Administrator to the electric company may be used by the electric company solely for utility business, may not be shared with third parties (except for those providing utility services for the electric company under contracts requiring that the information be treated confidentially and used only for providing such services for the electric company), and if used for direct marketing, such use will be made only after notice to and coordination with the Administrator. (6) The manner by which the required information is transferred will be governed by an Information Transfer Agreement, which is executed and maintained by an electric company and the Administrator. An Information Transfer Agreement must acknowledge the Administrator’s obligations to protect proprietary customer information per this rule and the Administrator’s policy or policies adopted under section 15 of this rule and must specify: (a) The database format to be used for the transfer of information; (b) The billing period, payment arrangements, and estimates of incremental costs incurred by an electric company or, for information in section 4, by the Administrator, for the transfer of the information; (c) Timelines for information transfer; (d) Timelines for updates for all of the data and revisions to the underlying database information; (e) That proprietary customer information may be used by the Administrator to implement, administer, and evaluate energy efficiency and renewable energy programs and may not be used for telemarketing; and if the Administrator intends to use the information for other direct marketing activities, the Administrator must notify the electric company whose customers are likely to be affected and coordinate such activities with the electric company; (f) That the release of proprietary customer information by the Administrator for any other purpose or to any party (other than the electric company) who has not signed an agreement to treat such information confidentially under subsection 15(b) of this rule may not be made without consent of the customer; and (g) Provisions for modification of the Information Transfer Agreement. (7) If the Administrator and an electric company cannot agree on the terms and conditions of an Information Transfer Agreement, the Commission may set the terms and conditions based upon input from the Administrator and electric company. (8) If the Administrator or an electric company notifies the other that the information supplied by the other is insufficient, incomplete, or not usable, the Administrator and electric company will attempt to resolve the issue and if necessary, modify the Information Transfer Agreement. If the Administrator and electric company cannot resolve the issue, the electric company or the Administrator may promptly seek Commission resolution of the dispute. (9) An electric company must notify in writing customers whose usage is 1 aMW or greater (over 1 aMW customer) of the opportunity to opt in to the information transfer. (a) Customers are considered an over 1 aMW customer under criteria established by an electric company through its billing process. (b) For customers without a usage history, usage may be estimated by an electric company for the purpose of this rule and those customers projected to meet the 1aMW or greater threshold must be included. (c) An electric company may choose to treat customers having multiple accounts over 1 aMW as a group for the purpose of this rule and may include or exclude those accounts through one notification process. (10) The notice required in section (9) of this rule must, at a minimum: (a) Identify and explain the role of the Administrator, (b) Identify the type of proprietary customer information to be transferred by an electric company; and (c) Describe the nature and use of the proprietary customer information by the Administrator. (11) An electric company must also provide periodic opt-in notification for the over 1 aMW customers either as a part of a standard customer contact discussion or in writing under the timelines in the Information Transfer Agreement and set forth in section (6) of this rule. (a) If the over 1 aMW customer does not opt in to the information transfer, all accounts over 1 aMW must be excluded from the information sharing process, and the electric company must transfer to the Administrator only the name, service address, and whether customer is applying self-direct credits against its energy efficiency and renewable public purpose charge during each billing period, if known. (b) The over 1 aMW customer may at any time authorize transfer by the electric company to the Administrator of other proprietary customer information described in section (2), in which case the electric company must promptly transfer to the Administrator the specified information and provide updates. (c) If a customer opts in, it may subsequently opt out by providing written notice to the electric company, except that such notice is not effective as to information the customer previously agreed may be transferred by the electric company to the Administrator under the terms of an agreement under which the Administrator has provided an incentive to the customer. (d) The transfer of proprietary customer information must be in accordance with the Information Transfer Agreement. (12) Each electric company must send a notice to its customers prior to the Administrator’s receipt of their proprietary customer information: (a) Informing them of the requirements of these new rules; (b) Explaining that the purpose of transferring customer data to the Administrator is to help ensure that the Administrator is better prepared to assist a customer who is interested in participating in customer-funded efficiency and renewable energy programs; (c) Asking customers if they wish to be on a “do not contact” list, in which case they will receive no unsolicited contact from the Administrator, or its contractors; and (d) For the over 1 aMW customer, explaining that absent the customer’s consent, only the limited customer information listed in subsection (11)(a) of this rule will be transferred to the Administrator. (13) If an electric company receives an unsolicited request from a customer to not provide their proprietary customer information to the Administrator, or if the customer has previously opted out of transfer of their proprietary information prior to the implementation of this rule, and the customer has not agreed otherwise with the Administrator, the electric company must honor that request unless the electric company subsequently receives written customer consent to transfer the proprietary customer information to the Administrator. A customer’s request to opt out in response to a notice from the electric company explaining the customer’s rights is also considered an unsolicited request for the purpose of this section. (14) When an electric company has provided proprietary customer information to the Administrator under this rule, an electric company may not be charged with at-fault complaints filed with the Commission's Consumer Services Division with respect to the provision of proprietary customer information if the Commission finds that the electric company did not violate its tariff, Oregon Administrative Rules, Oregon Revised Statutes, or a Commission Order. (15) Before an electric company provides the Administrator with proprietary customer information under this rule, the Administrator must: (a) Develop and adopt in an open process a policy or policies ensuring that the confidentiality of the proprietary customer information it receives from an electric company is protected in a manner that meets the requirements of all federal, state, and local laws regarding protection for this type of information; (b) Agree to require its employees and contractors to commit to specific non-disclosure requirements in order to gain access to proprietary customer information which, at a minimum, require that the proprietary customer information: (A) Be used only for the purposes of a particular project or contract; (B) Be shared with a subcontractor only under similar conditions and requirements and only upon approval of the Administrator; and (C) Be returned to the Administrator or destroyed at the completion of the project or termination of the contract; (c) Agree to honor any do-not-contact-customer requests; and (d) Establish a process by which customers may require the Administrator not to use the proprietary customer information to make unsolicited contact with the customer, including, but not limited to, responding to the electric company notice in section (12) of this rule.