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Senate Bill 769 |
Senate Author: Williams et al. |
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Effective: 4-16-09 |
House Sponsor: Thompson |
Senate Bill 769 amends the Utilities Code to enable an electric utility, by means of securitization or surcharges, to achieve a timely recovery of system restoration costs following outages caused by a tropical storm or hurricane, ice or snow storm, flood, or other weather‑related event or natural disaster occurring in calendar year 2008 or thereafter. The bill establishes various details, including the relation of such cost recovery to subsequent rate proceedings, and requires that insurance proceeds, governmental grants, or any other sources of funding that compensate a utility for its system restoration costs, to the extent that a utility receives them, be used to reduce the costs recoverable from customers. A financing order by the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) to authorize the recovery of eligible system restoration costs does not require a rate proceeding. It is not subject to rehearing and may be reviewed by appeal only to a Travis County district court by a party to the proceeding. A utility is entitled to recover system restoration costs consistent with the bill's provisions, notwithstanding a rate freeze or limitation on rate charges, and a previous PUC determination does not preclude a utility from requesting the recovery of additional system restoration costs that are eligible for recovery but have not been previously authorized by the PUC.