April 5, 2010

Mr. Ronald J. Bounds

Assistant City Attorney

City of Corpus Christi

P.O. Box 9277

Corpus Christi, Texas 78469-9277

OR2010-04731

Dear Mr. Bounds:

You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Public Information Act (the "Act"), chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 374863.

The City of Corpus Christi (the "city") received a request for the gas bills of a named individual for a specified location during a specified time period. You claim that the requested information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. This section encompasses information protected by other statutes. Section 182.052 of the Utilities Code provides in relevant part the following:

(a) Except as provided by Section 182.054, a government-operated utility may not disclose personal information in a customer's account record, or any information relating to the volume or units of utility usage or the amounts billed to or collected from the individual for utility usage, if the customer requests that the government-operated utility keep the information confidential. However, a government-operated utility may disclose information related to the customer's volume or units of utility usage or amounts billed to or collected from the individual for utility usage if the primary source of water for such utility was a sole-source designated aquifer.

(b) A customer may request confidentiality by delivering to the government-operated utility an appropriately marked form provided under Subsection (c)(3) or any other written request for confidentiality.

Util. Code § 182.052(a)-(b). ⁽¹⁾ Gas service is included in the scope of utility services covered by section 182.052. Id. § 182.051(3). "Personal information" under section 182.052(a) means an individual's address, telephone number, or social security number. See id. § 182.051(4); see also Open Records Decision No. 625 (1994) (construing statutory predecessor). We note that a customer's name is not included in the definition of personal information and therefore is not confidential under section 182.052 of the Utilities Code.

You state that the utility customer whose account information is at issue has requested confidentiality for her "personal information," volumes or units of utility usage, and the amounts billed to or collected from her for utility usage prior to the date the city received this request. You further state that none of the exceptions to confidentiality under section 182.054 apply in this instance. See Util. Code § 182.054. Therefore, the city must withhold the personal information of the customer at issue, as well as any information relating to the volume or units of utility usage and the amounts billed to or collected for utility usage for this customer, which we have marked, under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with section 182.052 of the Utilities Code. The remaining information must be released.

This letter ruling is limited to the particular information at issue in this request and limited to the facts as presented to us; therefore, this ruling must not be relied upon as a previous determination regarding any other information or any other circumstances.

This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For more information concerning those rights and responsibilities, please visit our website at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/open/index_orl.php, or call the Office of the Attorney General's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at (877) 673-6839. Questions concerning the allowable charges for providing public information under the Act must be directed to the Cost Rules Administrator of the Office of the Attorney General, toll free, at (888) 672-6787.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Miles

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JM/cc

Ref: ID# 374863

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Section 182.051(3) of the Utilities Code defines a government-operated utility as "a governmental body or an entity governed by a governmental body that, for compensation, provides water, wastewater, sewer, gas, garbage, electricity, or drainage service." Util. Code § 182.051(3).

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