Amends TCA Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 45; Title 47, Chapter 18 and Title 65.

Generally under present law, utilities and utility districts are authorized to accept and distribute voluntary contributions for bona fide charitable purposes, or, in the case of entities under the Municipal Energy Authority Act, for a bona fide economic development or community assistance purpose. The programs may include programs in which bills to customers are rounded up to the next dollar when such contribution is shown as a separate line on the bill. <br /> <br /> This bill adds the following, which will apply to utilities that have a program as described above: <br /> <br /> (1) A utility that utilizes an authorized program on or after January 1, 2020, must not enroll any new customer, or any existing customer who is not a current participant in the program as of January 1, 2020, into the program without the express consent of the customer;<br /> (2) A customer who on January 1, 2020, is an existing participant in, or who on or after January 1, 2020, becomes a participant in an authorized program may opt out of the program by providing notice to the utility of the customer's desire to cease participation in the program;<br /> (3) Upon receiving an opt out notice from a customer, the utility must remove the customer from enrollment in the program no later than the first day of the customer's next regular billing cycle that begins no less than 30 days after the date of the customer's opt out notice;<br /> (4) A utility that on the effective date of this bill utilizes an authorized program must send a written notice to each municipal utility system customer no later than November 1, 2019, that contains, but is not limited to, the following information:<br /> (A) A statement that the municipal utility system utilizes the program and a description of the program;<br /> (B) Notification that a customer whose bill is currently rounded up by the utility has the right to opt out of participation in the program;<br /> (C) Notification that a customer whose bill is not currently rounded up by the utility may opt into participation in the program; and<br /> (D) Contact information for the utility and instructions on how the customer may contact the utility to opt into or out of participation in the program;<br /> (5) The written notice may be provided to the customer by electronic means and may accompany a regular billing statement, at the discretion of the utility; and<br /> (6) A utility that utilizes a program and that maintains a website that is accessible by the general public must publish the information required by (4)(A)-(D) in a conspicuous location on the website by November 1, 2019, and throughout the duration of the utility's utilization of the program.<br /> <br /> ON APRIL 4, 2019, THE HOUSE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED HOUSE BILL 377, AS AMENDED.<br /> <br /> AMENDMENT #1 revises various provisions of this bill, as follows:<br /> <br /> (1) Clarifies that programs established on or after January 1, 2021, must have the express consent of the customer and that customers enrolled in a program (regardless of the date) may opt out as described above in the bill summary;<br /> (2) Revises the provisions governing notice to require that by November 1, 2020, to require a utility that operates the program on an opt-out basis to send written notice to customers informing them that the program is an opt-out program and informing them how to opt out. This amendment adds that a utility that operates an opt-out program as of this bill's effective date that fails to send this notice must, on and after January 1, 2021, cease operating the programs on an opt out basis and must operate the program in compliance with requirement to have express consent to enroll the customer in the program; and<br /> (3) Clarifies that information that must be included on the website, including information on how to contact the utility to opt into or out of participation in the program.<br /> <br />