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NOTICE DATE: March 5, 2021

NOTICE TYPE: M-A030121-03 Legal

SHORT DESCRIPTION: Notice of Confidential Filing of Certain Protected Information  

INTENDED AUDIENCE: Resource Entities, TDSPs

DAYS AFFECTED: March 8, 2021

LONG DESCRIPTION: As described in Market Notices sent out on March 1 and 2, 2021, ERCOT has filed a request with the Texas Attorney General’s (OAG) Open Records Division to determine whether the Texas Public Information Act (PIA) applies to ERCOT.  ERCOT further requested that, if the OAG determines the PIA applies, any Protected Information in the requested documents be deemed confidential.  

ERCOT is under a very short timeline to file certain documents with the OAG to preserve confidentiality of Protected Information that was requested by the public.  Among other things, ERCOT's Outage Scheduler, Operator Logs, and ERCOT documents reflecting weatherization spot checks performed on Resources are within the scope of the documents requested by the public (the "documents").  ERCOT will assert that the OAG should find that the documents are Protected Information as provided under the Protocols.  However, to preserve this objection, ERCOT must file sample documents for confidential review by the OAG. ERCOT will be filing the following as examples of Protected Information for the OAG's consideration: sample excerpt pages from the Outage Scheduler for February 15, 2021; sample excerpt pages from the Operator Logs for February 15 and 16, 2021, and ERCOT spreadsheets regarding weatherization spot checks.

Per Texas Government Code section 552.3035 (text below), sample documents filed with OAG for the purpose of reviewing confidentiality must be kept confidential by the OAG.  They do not become public information as a result of the confidential filing. 

Texas Government Code Section 552.3035

DISCLOSURE OF REQUESTED INFORMATION BY ATTORNEY GENERAL. The attorney general may not disclose to the requestor or the public any information submitted to the attorney general under Section 552.301(e)(1)(D).

As mentioned in the previous Market Notices regarding ERCOT's OAG filing, any affected Market Participants have the right to file their own letters with the OAG conveying their positions and arguments on these issues.

ERCOT must file the above- mentioned documents on Monday. 

ACTION REQUIRED: If you would like more specific information about the documents described above, including times of Outage Scheduler entries and Operator Logs, please contact your Account Manager. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Please review the ERCOT website for previous Market Notices related to this subject.

CONTACT: If you have any questions, please contact your ERCOT Account Manager. You may also call the general ERCOT Client Services phone number at (512) 248-3900 or contact ERCOT Client Services via email at [log in to unmask].

If you are receiving email from a public ERCOT distribution list that you no longer wish to receive, please follow this link in order to unsubscribe from this list: http://lists.ercot.com.

 

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