A billing utility must quickly address unauthorized charges: stop the charge, remove it, refund or credit the customer, provide records on request, and keep a record of affected customers.
Sec. 17.152. RESPONSIBILITIES OF BILLING UTILITY. (a) If a customer's telephone or retail electric bill is charged for any product or service without proper customer consent or verification, the billing utility, on its knowledge or notification of any unauthorized charge, shall promptly, not later than 45 days after the date of knowledge or notification of the charge: (1) notify the service provider to cease charging the customer for the unauthorized product or service; (2) remove any unauthorized charge from the customer's bill; (3) refund or credit to the customer all money that has been paid by the customer for any unauthorized charge, and if the unauthorized charge is not adjusted within three billing cycles, shall pay interest on the amount of the unauthorized charge; (4) on the customer's request, provide the customer with all billing records under its control related to any unauthorized charge within 15 business days after the date of the removal of the unauthorized charge from the customer's bill; and (5) maintain for at least 24 months a record of every customer who has experienced any unauthorized charge for a product or service on the customer's telephone or electric bill and who has notified the billing utility of the unauthorized charge. (b) A record required by Subsection (a)(5) shall contain for each unauthorized charge: (1) the name of the service provider that offered the product or service; (2) any affected telephone numbers or addresses; (3) the date the customer requested that the billing utility remove the unauthorized charge; (4) the date the unauthorized charge was removed from the customer's telephone or electric bill; and (5) the date any money that the customer paid for the unauthorized charges was refunded or credited to the customer. (c) A billing utility may not: (1) disconnect or terminate telecommunications or electric service to any customer for nonpayment of an unauthorized charge; or (2) file an unfavorable credit report against a customer who has not paid charges the customer has alleged were unauthorized unless the dispute regarding the unauthorized charge is ultimately resolved against the customer, except that the customer shall remain obligated to pay any charges that are not in dispute, and this subsection does not apply to those undisputed charges. Added by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1579, Sec. 3, eff. Aug. 30, 1999.