House Bill 16 amends the Utilities Code to prohibit an aggregator, a broker, or a retail electric provider from offering to a residential or small commercial customer a wholesale indexed product and to require an aggregator, a broker, or a retail electric provider, before enrolling a customer other than a residential or small commercial customer in such a product, to obtain an acknowledgment signed by the customer that they accept the potential price risks associated with the product.

House Bill 16 revises provisions relating to a notice of expiration and price change of a fixed rate retail electric product to increase the number of written notices that a retail electric provider must provide and to provide for the dissemination of the notices through means other than postal mail. Among other provisions, the bill requires a retail electric provider to automatically serve a residential customer who does not select another retail electric product before the expiration of their contract term through a month‑to‑month default renewal product that the customer may cancel at any time without a fee. The bill requires a retail electric provider that does not provide notice of the expiration of a customer's contract in accordance with state law to continue to serve a customer who does not select another retail electric product before the expiration of their contract term under the pricing terms of the fixed rate product contract until the provider provides notice of the expiration of the contract or the customer selects another product.

House Bill 16	House Author: Hernandez et al.
Effective: 9-1-21	Senate Sponsor: Hancock