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Senate Bill 1492 |
Senate Author: Williams |
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Effective: 6-19-09 |
House Sponsor: Ritter |
In 2005, the legislature delayed retail electric deregulation in a portion of southeast Texas operating outside the territory of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and included in the neighboring Southeastern Electric Reliability Council (SERC). However, associated provisions require an electric utility operating solely in the SERC area to propose a competitive generation tariff to allow eligible customers to contract for competitive electricity generation from sources other than the utility. Senate Bill 1492 amends the Utilities Code to require the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) to approve, reject, or modify the proposed tariff not later than September 1, 2010. The bill provides that, pursuant to such a tariff, the utility must purchase competitive generation service selected by the customer, provide it at retail to the customer, and provide and price retail transmission service to a customer receiving the tariff at a rate that is unbundled from the utility's cost of service. In awarding a certificate of convenience and necessity or allowing cost recovery for purchased power by the utility, the PUC must ensure that environmental integrity factors, as well as factors regarding probable improvement of service or consumer cost reduction, are met and that the generating facility or the purchased power agreement satisfies the identified reliability needs of the utility. The PUC must ensure also that tariff implementation does not harm manufacturers that do not opt for competitive generation. The bill prohibits any PUC decision that is contrary to an applicable decision, rule, or policy statement of a federal regulatory authority.
An electric utility operating solely in the SERC area must cease all activities relating to the transition to competition if the PUC has not approved a transition to competition plan as of January 1, 2009. The bill sets related deadlines for plan withdrawal and the required cessation. It establishes procedures under which the PUC may initiate actions reviving such transition plans, potentially leading to plan approval.
Senate Bill 1492 authorizes the PUC, on a declaration of a natural disaster or other emergency by the governor, to require an electric utility, municipally owned utility, electric cooperative, qualifying facility, power generation company, exempt wholesale generator, or power marketer to sell electricity to an electric utility, municipally owned utility, or electric cooperative that is unable to supply power to meet customer demand due to the disaster or emergency. The bill authorizes the PUC to order an electric utility, municipally owned utility, or electric cooperative to provide interconnection service to another electric utility, municipally owned utility, or electric cooperative to facilitate a sale of electricity to address such a situation. The bill requires the PUC, if it does not order the sale of electricity during a declared emergency, to promptly submit to the legislature a report describing why not. The receiving entity must reimburse the supplying entity for the actual cost of providing the electricity. The bill authorizes an entity that pays for such electricity and is regulated by the PUC to fully recover the cost of the electricity by including the cost in its fuel cost or imposing a surcharge. The bill requires the PUC, not later than November 1, 2009, to conduct and complete a related study of locations in Texas that are most likely to experience a natural disaster or other emergency.