This website will be unavailable from Friday, April 26, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. through Monday, April 29, 2024 at 7:00 a.m. due to data center maintenance.
Amend CSHB 2439 by adding the following appropriately numbered SECTION to the bill and renumbering the remaining SECTIONS of the bill accordingly:
SECTION __. (a) The legislature finds that:
(1) a competitive electric services market requires timely, accurate, and adequate information about the products and services offered to consumers in the market; and
(2) the Public Utility Commission of Texas operates an Internet website regarding the power to choose retail electric providers on which offers by those providers are published.
(b) Subchapter C, Chapter 39, Utilities Code, is amended by adding Section 39.110 to read as follows:
Sec. 39.110. TEXAS ELECTRIC CHOICE WEBSITE. (a) The commission shall publish and maintain an Internet website that allows customers to view competitive offers from retail electric providers. The website must enable a user to search by zip code offers available to a residential customer in the user's service area. Retail electric providers may, but are not required to, post offers available to residential customers on the website.
(b) At a minimum, the Internet website must include:
(1) features that make the website accessible to people with disabilities;
(2) a clear identification with each retail electric service price offer posted on the website of the category of the product as defined by commission rules;
(3) a searchable and sortable database of each retail electric provider offer on the website that allows the information to be read into a commercially available electronic database;
(4) information about the following programs available in the user's service area through a state agency or utility:
(A) energy efficiency programs, including weatherization and rebate programs;
(B) distributed renewable generation policies and programs, including rebate programs; and
(C) low-income utility assistance programs, including bill payment assistance, weatherization, and rebate programs; and
(5) access to information regarding retail electric providers' offers to residential distributed renewable generation owners for the owners' surplus electricity.
(c) The commission shall establish a project to implement this section. The commission shall create a working committee to provide input on the implementation of this section that is composed of members of commission staff, experts in user-centered web design, experts in consumer-choice web design, retail electric providers, consumer advocates, and representatives of various categories of potential users of the redesigned website, including people with disabilities and low-income customers.
(d) The commission shall establish protocols relating to the frequency with which information posted on the website is updated, except that a retail electric provider may not be limited with respect to the frequency with which the provider may change an offer.
(e) The commission shall consult and cooperate with other state agencies in the design, both for content and usability, of the website, including agencies providing low-income consumer assistance and energy efficiency assistance and the interagency coordinating group established under Section 535.053, Government Code.
(c) Section 39.116, Utilities Code, is amended to read as follows:
Sec. 39.116. NOTICE REGARDING CUSTOMER CHOICE INFORMATION. A retail electric provider shall include on each residential customer's bill a statement, in at least 12-point type on the front of the first page, that reads: "For more information about residential electric service please visit www.powertochoose.com." This section expires September 1, 2023 [2011].
(d) The Public Utility Commission of Texas shall publish and begin operation of a redesigned Internet website as provided by Section 39.110, Utilities Code, as added by this section, not later than September 1, 2012.
(e) The Public Utility Commission of Texas may accept funds from any source, including gifts, grants, or donations, to implement Section 39.110, Utilities Code, as added by this section. The commission may not incorporate a preference for information displayed directly or indirectly in favor of any funding source. The commission may not require an entity to contribute funds to have information posted on the Internet website. Implementation of Section 39.110, Utilities Code, as added by this section, is contingent on a finding by the commission that sufficient funding exists or is likely to exist to carry out the provisions of Section 39.110, Utilities Code, as added by this section.
(f) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, this section takes effect September 1, 2011.