81R14719 T
 
  By: Coleman H.B. No. 3706
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the creation of a Tex Sun solar energy system rebate
  program.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 39.905.  GOAL FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY.  
  (a)  It is the goal of the legislature that:
               (1)  electric utilities will administer energy savings
  incentive programs in a market-neutral, nondiscriminatory manner
  but will not offer underlying competitive services;
               (2)  all customers, in all customer classes, have a
  choice of access to energy efficiency alternatives, solar electric
  incentives, and other choices from the market that allow each
  customer to reduce energy consumption, peak demand, or energy
  costs; and
               (3)  each electric utility and retail energy provider
  shall provide through targeted market transformation programs
  solar electric incentives to customers of retail electric providers
  and competitive energy service providers, including providers of
  solar electric systems, that are sufficient to acquire on-site
  solar electric generation systems under the TEXSUN Solar Electric
  Rebate Program.  (a)  In this section, "solar electric system" means
  a device that:
               (1)  uses solar resources to generate electricity;
               (2)  has a generating capacity of not more than 1,000
  kilowatts; and
               (3)  is installed with a five-year warranty against
  breakdown or undue degradation.
         (b)  The commission shall ensure timely and reasonable cost
  recovery through a nonbypassable distribution fee of 35 cents per
  megawatt hour in year one of the program; 35 cents per megawatt hour
  in year two of the program; 45 cents per megawatt hour in year three
  of the program; 55 cents per megawatt hour in year four of the
  program; and 65 cents per megawatt hour in year five of the program
  for utility expenditures made to provide customer solar electric
  rebates to meet the market transformation objectives of the TEXSUN
  Solar Electric Rebate Program under 39.905.
         (c)  For the purposes of this section, a "low-income electric
  customer" is an electric customer:
               (1)  whose household income is not more than 125
  percent of the federal poverty guidelines; or
               (2)  in whose household resides a person who:
                     (A)  receives food stamps from the Health and
  Human Services Commission or medical assistance from a state agency
  administering a part of the medical assistance program;
                     (B)  receives federal housing assistance;
                     (C)  has a child enrolled in the national school
  lunch program for free or reduced-price lunches; or
                     (D)  receives lifeline telephone service.
         (d)  The commission shall not impose the fee for the TEXSUN
  program on a low-income electric customer, as defined by Subsection
  (c) of this section.
         (e)  The commission shall not impose the fee for the TEXSUN
  program on customers who receive service at transmission level, as
  defined by the commission.
         (f)  The commission shall not impose a fee on the retail
  electric customers of an electric cooperative or a municipally
  owned utility regardless of whether the electric cooperative or
  municipally owned utility has implemented customer choice.
         (g)  The commission shall provide oversight and adopt rules
  and procedures to ensure a transmission and distribution utility
  provides a market transformation incentive to a customer that
  interconnects an eligible solar electric system to the utility's
  transmission and distribution system.  The program shall begin on
  or before January 1, 2008, and the initial incentive offer shall be:
               (1)  $4.50 per watt for a residential customer;
               (2)  $4.00 per watt for a nonresidential customer that
  installs a solar electric system with a generating capacity of not
  more than 200 kilowatts; and
               (3)  $3.50 per watt for a non-residential customer that
  installs a solar electric system with a generating capacity of
  greater than 200 kilowatts.
         (h)  The Commission shall calculate the amount of each
  incentive offer based on the direct current rating of the system's
  photovoltaic module multiplied by the efficiency of the direct
  current to alternative current inverter.  The Commission by rule
  shall provide for the incentive offer to decline by an average rate
  of 10 per cent each year of the market transformation incentive
  program.
         (i)  The Commission by rule shall adopt mechanisms to ensure
  that money allocated for this section is efficiently used. Each
  fiscal biennium, the Commission shall attempt to allocate to the
  TEXSUN program all amounts collected for purposes of this Section
  under Section 39.905.  Funds collected from the program under
  Section 39.905 that are not used for market transformation purposes
  shall be used for purposes of this section in the following fiscal
  year.
         (j)  The commission shall hold a workshop twice a year for
  interested parties for the purposes of determining if the incentive
  offers are set at a level that encourages an efficient and steady
  flow of customer investments in, and rate of interconnections of,
  solar electric systems in Texas.
         (k)  The commission may increase or decrease the amount of
  the incentive offers based on existing market conditions, including
  changes to or the expiration of the federal solar investment tax
  credit.  The commission shall immediately reduce the amount of the
  incentive offer by 10 percent if more than 50 percent of the money
  projected to be collected under Section 39.905 for this section
  during a program year is allocated in the first three months of that
  program year.  After the reduction of the incentive offer, the
  commission shall initiate a meeting of stakeholders to determine if
  an efficient and steady rate of installations of solar electric
  systems is being maintained.  A previous reduction of the incentive
  offer must be considered when determining additional reductions of
  the incentive offer.
         (l)  A transmission and distribution utility shall determine
  the amounts allocated to provide incentives to residential and
  nonresidential customers based on the percentage of funds collected
  for this section under Section 39.905 from each class of customer.  
  Amounts allocated for incentives to one class of customers may not
  be reallocated for incentives for another class of customers.
         (m)  A transmission and distribution utility may not
  allocate more than five percent of the money collected under
  Section 39.905 for this section to administer the TEXSUN incentive
  program.
         (n)  The commission by rule shall adopt procedures for
  requiring a transmission and distribution utility to submit an
  annual report to the commission regarding the actions taken by the
  transmission and distribution utility to comply with the rules
  adopted by the commission under Subsection (f).  The report must
  include:
               (1)  the total amount of money available to the utility
  under this section;
               (2)  the number of solar rebates allocated by the
  utility;
               (3)  the total amount of money allocated by the utility
  for solar rebates; and
               (4)  the cumulative generation capacity from installed
  solar energy systems.
         (o)  This section expires December 31, 2012
               (4)  (3) each electric utility will provide, through
  market-based standard offer programs or limited, targeted,
  market-transformation programs, incentives sufficient for retail
  electric providers and competitive energy service providers to
  acquire additional cost-effective energy efficiency equivalent to
  at least 10 percent of the electric utility's annual growth in
  demand.
         SECTION 2_.  Sec. 39.9032.  INTERCONNECTION OF DISTRIBUTED
  RENEWABLE GENERATION.  (a)  In this section:
               (1)  "Distributed renewable generation" means electric
  generation with a capacity of not more than 2,000 kilowatts
  provided by a renewable energy technology, as defined by Section
  39.904, that is installed on a retail electric customer's side of
  the meter.
               (2)  "Distributed renewable generation owner" means
  the owner of distributed renewable generation.
               (3)  "Interconnection" means the right of a distributed
  renewable generation owner to physically connect distributed
  renewable generation to an electricity distribution system, and the
  technical requirements, rules, or processes for the connection.
               (4)  "Net electricity" means the difference in meter
  registration between in-flowing and out-flowing electricity moving
  across a bidirectional meter, or an equivalent meter, during a
  billing period.
         (b)  A transmission and distribution utility or electric
  utility shall allow interconnection if:
               (1)  the distributed renewable generation to be
  interconnected has a five-year warranty against breakdown or undue
  degradation; and
               (2)  the rated capacity of the distributed renewable
  generation does not exceed the service entrance capacity.
         (c)  A customer may request interconnection by filing an
  application for interconnection with the transmission and
  distribution utility or electric utility.  Procedures of a
  transmission and distribution utility or electric utility for the
  submission and processing of a customer's application for
  interconnection shall be consistent with rules adopted by the
  commission regarding interconnection.
         (d)  The commission by rule shall establish safety,
  technical, and performance standards for distributed renewable
  generation that may be interconnected.  In adopting the rules, the
  commission shall consider standards published by the Underwriters
  Laboratories, the National Electric Code, the National Electric
  Safety Code, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
  Engineers.
         (e)  A transmission and distribution utility, electric
  utility, or retail electric provider may not require a distributed
  renewable generation owner whose distributed renewable generation
  meets the standards established by rule under Subsection (d) to
  purchase an amount, type, or classification of liability insurance
  the distributed renewable generation owner would not have in the
  absence of the distributed renewable generation.
         (f)  A transmission and distribution utility or electric
  utility shall offer interconnection of distributed renewable
  generation with a single bidirectional meter.  An alternative meter
  that has an outcome equivalent of a single bidirectional meter may
  be installed if a bidirectional meter is unavailable or if the
  transmission and distribution utility or electric utility and the
  distributed renewable generation owner agree to the installation of
  the alternative meter.  A transmission and distribution utility or
  electric utility shall supply and install the meter at no cost to
  the distributed renewable generation owner.  The distributed
  renewable generation owner is responsible for the cost of any meter
  changes made subsequently.
         (g)  A transmission and distribution utility, electric
  utility, or retail electric provider shall credit to the account of
  the distributed renewable generation owner the retail value of the
  kilowatt-hours of electricity generated in excess of the amount of
  kilowatt-hours of electricity supplied to a distributed renewable
  generation owner during the billing period.  A credit applied to an
  account during a billing period may be carried over to subsequent
  billing periods until the credit has been redeemed.  A credit
  applied to an account may not be redeemed for cash and expires on
  the date a distributed renewable generation owner terminates an
  agreement for electric service with the transmission and
  distribution utility, electric utility, or retail electric
  provider, but only in relation to the account terminated.
         (h)  A transmission and distribution utility, electric
  utility, or retail electric provider may charge the distributed
  renewable generation owner for the net electricity supplied during
  the billing period only if the amount of electricity supplied
  exceeds the amount of electricity provided by the distributed
  renewable generation owner.
         (i)  A transmission and distribution utility, electric
  utility, or retail electric provider shall charge a distributed
  renewable generation owner for the net electricity supplied at the
  same rate applicable to service provided to other customers in the
  same service class.  A transmission and distribution utility,
  electric utility, or retail electric provider may not charge a
  distributed renewable generation owner a fee or charge that would
  increase the distributed renewable generation owner's minimum
  monthly charge to an amount greater than that of other customers in
  the same rate class.
         (j)  A renewable energy credit that is earned by a
  distributed renewable generation owner through the interconnection
  of a renewable electric system is the sole property of the
  distributed renewable generation owner unless the distributed
  renewable generation owner engages in a transaction to sell or
  trade the credit under Section 39.904.
         SECTION 3.  (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
  section, this Act takes effect September 1, 2007.
         (b)  Section 39.9032, Utilities Code, as added by this Act,
  takes effect January 1, 2009.