Customer information

(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.