Bill Text: NH HB297 | 2015 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Protecting individual customer data from disclosure by a public utility.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 2-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-07-08 - Minority Committee Report: Ought to Pass with Amendment #2015-2360h (NT) [HB297 Detail]
Download: New_Hampshire-2015-HB297-Introduced.html
HB 297 - AS INTRODUCED
2015 SESSION
06/09
HOUSE BILL 297
AN ACT protecting individual customer data from disclosure by a public utility.
SPONSORS: Rep. Kurk, Hills 2; Rep. Borden, Rock 24; Sen. Bradley, Dist 3
COMMITTEE: Science, Technology and Energy
This bill protects individual customer data from disclosure by a service provider that receives such data as a result of electric, natural gas, or water consumption.
This bill also requires the public utilities commission to make certain information available in a confidential manner to the consumer advocate when complaints are filed.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
15-0659
06/09
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Fifteen
AN ACT protecting individual customer data from disclosure by a public utility.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 New Subdivisions; Public Utilities Commission; Privacy Policies for Individual Customer Data; Confidential Data Filed at Public Utilities Commission. Amend RSA 363 by inserting after section 36 the following new subdivisions:
Privacy Policies for Individual Customer Data
363:37 Definitions.
I. “Individual customer data” means information that is collected as part of providing electric, natural gas, water, or related services to a customer that can identify, singly or in combination, that specific customer, including the name, address, account number, quantity, characteristics, or time of consumption by the customer.
II. “Service provider” means a public utility, as defined by RSA 362:2; a competitive electricity supplier, under RSA 374-F:7; an aggregator as defined by RSA 53-E:2, II; a rural electric cooperative, as defined by RSA 301:57, suppliers of natural gas under RSA 362:4-b, and any other service provider that receives individual customer data from electric, natural gas, or water consumption.
III. “Primary purpose” means the main reason for the collection, storage, use, or disclosure of individual customer data which is limited to:
(a) Providing or billing for electrical or gas service.
(b) Meeting system, grid, or operational needs.
(c) Implementing demand response, energy management, or energy efficiency programs.
363:38 Duties and Responsibilities of Service Providers:
I. No service provider shall:
(a) Share, disclose, or otherwise make accessible to any third party a customer’s individual customer data, except as provided in paragraph V or upon the express consent of the customer.
(b) Sell individual customer data for any purpose without the express consent of the customer.
(c) Provide an incentive or discount to the customer for accessing individual customer data.
II. Service providers shall:
(a) Collect, store, use, and disclose only as much individual customer data as is necessary to accomplish a specific primary purpose.
(b) Use individual customer data solely for specified primary purposes.
(c) Maintain individual customer data only for as long as necessary to accomplish a specific primary purpose.
III. A service provider that allows customer access to electric, natural gas, or water consumption data shall allow customer access to that data without requiring disclosure of that customer’s individual customer data to third parties.
IV. A service provider shall use reasonable security procedures and practices to protect individual customer data from unauthorized access, use, destruction, modification, or disclosure.
V.(a) Nothing in this section shall preclude a service provider from using aggregate customer data for analysis, reporting, or program management after information that identifies an individual customer is removed.
(b) Nothing in this section shall preclude a service provider from disclosing a customer’s individual data to a third party for system, grid, or operational needs, or the implementation of demand response, energy management, or energy efficiency programs, provided that the service provider for contracts entered into after January 1, 2015, has required by contract that the third party implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices appropriate to the nature of the information, to protect the personal information from unauthorized access, use, destruction, modification, or disclosure, and prohibit the use of the data for a secondary commercial purpose not related to the primary purpose of the contract without the express consent of the customer.
(c) Nothing in this section shall preclude a service provider from disclosing electric, natural gas, or water consumption data required under state or federal law, or which is identified as information subject to warrant or subpoena or by an order of the commission.
Confidential Data Filed at the Public Utilities Commission
363:39 Complaints to the Commission.
I. When complaints to the public utilities commission are initiated by residential customers, the commission shall provide to the consumer advocate access to the complaint, by paper or electronically, with the customer name blocked out, at the same time as the commission forwards the complaint to the utility in compliance with commission rules.
II. When reports are filed with the public utilities commission in compliance with commission rules or other reporting requirements, the commission shall make such data electronically available to the consumer advocate, as soon as technologically feasible.
2 New Paragraph; Access to Governmental Records and Meetings; Exemptions. Amend RSA 91-A:5 by inserting after paragraph IX the following new paragraph:
X. Utility reporting data released by the public utilities commission to the office of the consumer advocate.
3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
