(a) Except with the
informed consent of the customer and in compliance with all applicable consumer
protection statutes and regulations, a gas company shall not disclose or make
available to its affiliates any customer lists or other specific customer
information.
(b) Except as
otherwise allowed under this Gas Code of Conduct, no gas company or affiliate
shall not disclose customer information to any person or company, without the
customer's consent, and then only to the extent specified by the customer.
Consent to disclosure of customer information to affiliates may be obtained by
means of written authorization, electronic authorization or recorded verbal
authorization. Each gas company and affiliate shall retain such authorization
for verification purposes for as long as the authorization remains in effect.
Each customer information disclosure authorization form shall either be
pre-approved by the Department or contain the following language:
"CUSTOMER INFORMATION DISCLOSURE AUTHORIZATION
[The Gas Company]'s affiliates offer goods and services that
are separate from the regulated services provided by the gas company. These
goods and services are not regulated by the Department of Public Utility
Control. These goods and services may be available from other competitive
sources.
The customer authorizes [the Gas Company] to provide any data
associated with the customer account(s) residing in any [the Gas Company]
files, systems or databases [or specify specific types of data] to the
following Affiliate(s)_______________. [The Gas Company] will provide this data
on a non-discriminatory basis to any other person or entity upon the Customer's
authorization."
(c) If the
customer allows or directs a gas company to provide customer information to an
affiliate, the gas company shall ask the customer if he, she or it would like
the customer information to be provided to one or more non-affiliates. If the
customer directs the gas company to provide customer information to one or more
non-affiliates, the customer information shall be disclosed to all entities
designated by the customer contemporaneously and in the same manner.
(d) Each gas company shall permanently post
Subsections (b) and (c) of this section on its website.
(e) No gas company employee who is
transferred to, or being shared with, an affiliate of the gas company shall
share any customer information for use by such affiliate except pursuant to
written permission from the customer, as reflected by a signed data disclosure
authorization consistent with subsection (b) of this section. A gas company
shall not transfer any personnel to, or share any personnel with, any affiliate
for the purpose of disclosing or providing customer information to such
affiliate.
(f) Notwithstanding the
prohibitions established in this section, a gas company may disclose customer
information to an affiliate (including a CSC) or non-affiliated third party
each without customer consent, but only to the extent necessary for the
affiliate or non-affiliated third party to provide goods or services (including
shared corporate support services such as customer service, billing and
collection services) to the gas company and upon their explicit agreement to
protect the confidentiality of such customer information.
(g) Each gas company shall take steps to
prevent inappropriate disclosure of customer information.
(h) Each gas company shall establish
guidelines for its employees to follow with regard to complying with this
section.
(i) Each gas company shall
make general or aggregated customer information available to affiliated or
unaffiliated entities upon similar terms and conditions. A gas company may set
reasonable charges for costs incurred in producing customer
information.
