Amend HB 2129 (Senate committee report) by adding the 
following appropriately numbered sections:
	SECTION __.  Section 39.107, Utilities Code, is amended by 
amending Subsections (a) and (b) and by adding Subsection (h) to 
read as follows:
	(a)  On introduction of customer choice in a service area, 
metering services for the area shall continue to be provided by the 
transmission and distribution utility affiliate of the electric 
utility that was serving the area before the introduction of 
customer choice.  Metering services provided to commercial and 
industrial customers that are required by the independent system 
operator to have an interval data recorder meter may [shall] be 
provided on a competitive basis [beginning on January 1, 2004].
	(b)  Metering services provided to residential customers and 
to nonresidential customers other than those required by the 
independent system operator to have an interval data recorder meter
shall continue to be provided by the transmission and distribution 
utility affiliate of the electric utility that was serving the area 
before the introduction of customer choice [until the later of 
September 1, 2005, or the date on which at least 40 percent of those 
residential customers are taking service from unaffiliated retail 
electric providers].  Retail electric providers serving 
residential and nonresidential customers other than those required 
by the independent system operator to have an interval data 
recorder meter may request that the transmission and distribution 
utility provide specialized meters, meter features, or add-on 
accessories so long as they are technically feasible and generally 
available in the market and provided that the retail electric 
provider pays the differential cost of such a meter or accessory.
Metering and billing services provided to residential customers 
shall be governed by the customer safeguards adopted by the 
commission under Section 39.101.  All meter data, including all 
data generated, provided, or otherwise made available, by advanced 
meters and meter information networks, shall belong to a customer, 
including data used to calculate charges for service, historical 
load data, and any other proprietary customer information.  A 
customer may authorize its data to be provided to one or more retail 
electric providers under rules and charges established by the 
commission.
	(h)  The commission shall establish a nonbypassable 
surcharge for an electric utility or transmission and distribution 
utility to use to recover reasonable and necessary costs incurred 
in deploying advanced metering and meter information networks to 
residential customers and nonresidential customers other than 
those required by the independent system operator to have an 
interval data recorder meter.  The commission shall ensure that the 
nonbypassable surcharge reflects a deployment of advanced meters 
that is no more than one-third of the utility's total meters over 
each calendar year, and shall ensure that the nonbypassable 
surcharge does not result in the utility recovering more than its 
actual, fully allocated meter and meter information network costs.  
The expenses must be allocated to the customer classes receiving 
the services, based on the electric utility's most recently 
approved tariffs.
	SECTION __.  (a) In recognition that advances in digital and 
communications equipment and technologies, including new metering 
and meter information technologies, have the potential to increase 
the reliability of the regional electrical network, encourage 
dynamic pricing and demand response, make better use of generation 
assets and transmission and generation assets, and provide more 
choices for consumers, the legislature encourages the adoption of 
these technologies by electric utilities in this state.
	(b)  The Public Utility Commission of Texas shall study the 
efforts of electric utilities to benefit from the use of advanced 
metering and metering information networks.  The commission shall 
present to the legislature on or before September 30, of each 
even-numbered year a report detailing those efforts and identifying 
changes in this state's policies that may be necessary to remove 
barriers to the use of advanced metering and metering information 
networks or of other advanced transmission and distribution 
technologies.  On or before September 30, 2010, the commission 
shall:
		(1)  evaluate whether advances in technology, changes 
in the market, or other unanticipated factors, would allow meters 
or various meter-related products or services to be provided more 
efficiently or more effectively through competition; and
		(2)  make recommendations for legislation the 
commission considers appropriate.