|
House Bill 2129 |
House Author: Bonnen |
|
Effective: 9-1-05 |
Senate Sponsor: Armbrister |
House Bill 2129 amends provisions of the Health and Safety Code, the Government Code, and the Utilities Code related to reducing emission of air contaminants.
The bill requires the Energy Systems Laboratory at the Texas Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) of The Texas A&M University System to develop at least three alternative methods for achieving a 15 percent greater potential energy savings in residential, commercial, and industrial construction than the potential energy savings of certain energy-efficient construction. It also requires the State Energy Conservation Office to determine the feasibility and cost-benefit to consumers of setting appliance standards for appliances that are not currently regulated for energy efficiency in this state, if the office determines that the new standards would reduce the emission of air contaminants.
House Bill 2129 defines "regulated entity" and redefines "emissions event" to mean an event that comes from a common cause resulting in the unauthorized emissions of air contaminants from one or more emissions points at a regulated industry. The bill allows operators of pipelines, gathering lines, and flow lines to treat all such facilities under common ownership or control in a particular county as a single regulated entity for the purpose of assessment and regulation of emissions events. The bill provides additional Texas Emissions Reduction Program funding to TEES from the Texas Environmental Research Consortium funds and provides for securing emission reduction credits for the Houston-Galveston nonattainment area through energy efficiencies in connection with the eight-hour State Improvement Plan.
House Bill 2129 requires certain electric utility providers to consider establishing certain consumer-option programs that encourage the reduction of air contaminant emissions. The bill clarifies that regulated electric distribution utilities have the responsibility for metering services for residential and small commercial customers and requires the Public Utility Commission (PUC) to develop a plan for deployment of smart meter-data networks that includes a surcharge to recover net costs associated with the deployment of such networks. The PUC must conduct a biennial study on the efforts of electric utilities to benefit from the use of advanced metering and metering information networks and must present the study to the legislature.