Amend CSSB 408 by adding the following new appropriately
numbered sections and renumbering remaining sections
appropriately:
SECTION . Sections 39.353(a), (c), and (d), Utilities
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(a) A person may not provide aggregation services in the
state unless the person is registered with the commission as an
aggregator. The commission shall register a municipality under this
section pursuing citizen aggregation upon filing by a municipality
of a resolution creating the municipal aggregation program passed
by the governing body of the municipality.
(c) A person registering under this section shall comply
with all customer protection provisions, all disclosure
requirements, and all marketing guidelines established by the
commission and by this title. A municipality pursuing citizen
aggregation is free to negotiate customer protection provisions
that exceed those imposed by the commission or by this title.
(d) The commission shall establish terms and conditions it
determines necessary to regulate the reliability and integrity of
aggregators, other than municipal citizen aggregators, in the state
[by June 1, 2000].
SECTION . Chapter 39, Utilities Code, is amended by
adding a new Section 39.3536 to read as follows:
(a) In order to register with the commission under Section
39.353 that a municipality is pursuing citizen aggregation, the
governing body of a municipality shall adopt an ordinance or
resolution providing for automatic enrollment of citizens of the
political subdivision in aggregation services. Upon registration
with the commission under Section 39.353, the commission shall
require the municipality to send to each citizen by mail a 60 day
written notice that citizens served by an affiliated retail
electric provider will be automatically enrolled unless a citizen
expressly requests to not be enrolled.
(b) Upon registration of a municipality by the commission
under Section 39.353, a municipality may require an affiliated
retail electric provider and the transmission and distribution
utility to provide to the municipality any information the
municipality considers necessary to solicit or administer an
aggregation program under this section, including the name,
address, electric service identifier, and monthly usage of each
residential customer who resides in the municipality. The consent
of a customer may not be required as a condition of providing
information to a municipality under this subsection. The
municipality may provide to a third party or an aggregator
information received under this subsection, but only for the
purpose of bidding on, implementing, and administering the
aggregation program.
(c) This section is not intended to abrogate an electric
service contract between a citizen of any municipality and a
competitive retail electric provider. Residential customers who
have previously switched from the affiliated retail electric
provider may opt-in to the aggregation program upon expiration of
their existing contract.
(d) Any savings attributable to the aggregation program
shall be directed to citizen participants except that the political
subdivision may recover its actual administrative costs.
(e) The authority granted to municipalities under this
section applies only to municipalities with populations of 125,000
or less.