By Danburg                                      H.B. No. 1983

      75R5117 JJT-F                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to consumer information about pricing and production of

 1-3     electricity.

 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-5           SECTION 1.  Subtitle A, Title II, Public Utility Regulatory

 1-6     Act of 1995 (Article 1446c-0, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), is

 1-7     amended by adding Section 2.004 to read as follows:

 1-8           Sec. 2.004.  CONSUMER INFORMATION.  (a)  Each seller of

 1-9     electricity shall disclose information regarding the price and

1-10     production of the seller's electricity:

1-11                 (1)  at the time the seller first begins to provide

1-12     electricity to a consumer; and

1-13                 (2)  at least once during each subsequent calendar

1-14     quarter.

1-15           (b)  A seller of electricity shall make a disclosure under

1-16     this section in accordance with commission rules developed in

1-17     cooperation with the governing boards of municipally owned

1-18     utilities and electric cooperative corporations.  The rules must

1-19     provide a simple, comprehensible format for the disclosure.  At a

1-20     minimum, the disclosure must include:

1-21                 (1)  the price of the electricity, including price

1-22     variability;

1-23                 (2)  the percentages of the electricity generated by

1-24     different means or fuel sources, organized according to means of

 2-1     generation and fuel sources;

 2-2                 (3)  the amount of water consumed by each type of

 2-3     generation; and

 2-4                 (4)  the amount of emissions during power generation

 2-5     of:

 2-6                       (A)  nitrogen oxides;

 2-7                       (B)  sulfur dioxide;

 2-8                       (C)  carbon dioxide;

 2-9                       (D)  particulates; and

2-10                       (E)  heavy metals.

2-11           (c)  The commission shall review and analyze the costs and

2-12     benefits of the required disclosures, in cooperation with the

2-13     governing boards of municipally owned utilities and electric

2-14     cooperative corporations.  The commission shall report the results

2-15     of the analysis to the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the

2-16     speaker of the house of representatives not later than November 1

2-17     of each even-numbered year.  The report may contain specific

2-18     legislative recommendations.

2-19           SECTION 2.  (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

2-20           (b)  Section 2.004, Public Utility Regulatory Act of 1995

2-21     (Article 1446c-0, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), as added by this

2-22     Act, applies to a person who sells electricity on or after January

2-23     1, 1998.  The Public Utility Commission of Texas shall adopt rules

2-24     under that section not later than December 31, 1997.

2-25           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the

2-26     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

2-27     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

 3-1     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

 3-2     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.