Competitive Retailers protested the draft form s up front affirmation that a REP will collect deposits to protect customer, arguing that the requirement involves business-sensitive marketing information that competitors could use to their advantage, and furthermore, is not needed because the rule establishes rigorous standards for assessing and safeguarding such deposits, and reporting the collected amount on a yearly basis. Staff disagrees with Competitive Retailers that it is not necessary to evaluate the Applicant s ability to comply with the rules financial standards for customer protection during the certification process. However, staff modifies the request away from being a stated intention to charge customer deposits to an option of being allowed to charge deposits. An Applicant s affirmative or negative reply will provide information the Financial Review Division needs to fully evaluate the Applicant s capability to meet its financial resource requirements. Competitive retailers stressed that it was the Applicant s capabilities to meet those requirements that was at issue, and not to describe the Applicant s prospective services per se, as the draft form required.
Staff amends the requirement accordingly.
Staff restructures this section of the form to create a standard way for Applicants organize the required information. Staff agrees and alters the form . Other project team members participating in the development of this form includes Tom Best, Melene Dodson, Sid Guermouche, Brian Lloyd, and Ray Murray. Request Policy Copyright 1998-2001 Public Utility Commission of Texas.