Texas REP To Pay $72,000 Under Settlement With PUC Staff

June 13, 2023

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Copyright 2010-23 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

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Pogo Energy, LLC would pay $72,438 under a settlement with Staff of the Public Utility Commission of Texas to resolve alleged violations of 16 TAC § 25.498, related to its use of estimated billing, and similar provisions of PURA

Pogo Energy provided the following statement concerning the matter:

"Pogo Energy takes our PUCT compliance measures seriously. We align all processes to be in full compliance with the rules and regulations that are required."

-- Statement from Pogo Energy

The settlement states, "Pogo offers prepaid plans for which Pogo utilizes meter data from the Smart Meter Texas (SMT) web portal for billing purposes."

The settlement states, "On December 24, 2022, Pogo’s certificate with SMT expired, restricting Pogo from accessing SMT usage data."

The settlement states, "Pogo was not able to renew its certificate with SMT until January 3, 2023, after which it resumed billing based on SMT usage data."

The settlement states, "From December 24, 2022, until January 3, 2023, Pogo estimated the billing for 12,073 customers that resulted in overbilling for many of its customers."

The settlement states, "According to 16 TAC § 25.498(c)(11)(E), a REP must not base charges on estimated usage other than usage estimated by the transmission or distribution utility (TDU) or estimated by the REP in a reasonable manner for a time period in which the TDU has not provided actual or estimated usage data on a web portal within the time prescribed by § 25.130(g) and in which the TDU-provided portal does not provide the REP the ability to obtain on-demand usage data."

The settlement states, "Pogo violated 16 TAC § 25.498(c)(11)(E) 12,073 times by basing charges on estimated usage during a period when the TDU had provided actual usage data on a web portal within the time prescribed by 16 TAC § 25.130(g) and in which the web portal did provide the REP the ability to obtain on-demand usage data."

The settlement states, "Because Pogo issued bills using estimated consumption data, Pogo violated PURA §§ 17.004(a)(7) and 39.101(a)(6) by denying customers accuracy of metering and billing."

The settlement states, "Pogo asserts 100% of the overcharges were credited back to customers based on the true up process."

Pogo asserts it has implemented the following measures to prevent future violations of 16 TAC § 25.498(c)(11)(E) from occurring, and will continue to implement such measures going forward: Pogo has conducted a thorough review of the 3rd party vendor’s role related to receiving SMT usage readings and sought remedies to prevent future occurrences. In addition, Pogo assigned new resources and internal processes to ensure all SMT communications and recertifications are handled responsibly. This process is now live with the REP's 3rd party vendor and internally within Pogo Energy, the settlement states

Docket No. 55104

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