Amend CSSB 1581 (senate committee printing) by adding the following appropriately numbered ARTICLE to the bill and renumbering the remaining ARTICLES of the bill appropriately:
ARTICLE ___. FISCAL MATTERS CONCERNING DISCOUNTED UTILITY RATES FOR CERTAIN SCHOOLS AND INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION
SECTION ____.01. Section 36.351, Utilities Code, is reenacted and amended to read as follows:
Sec. 36.351. DISCOUNTED RATES FOR CERTAIN SCHOOLS AND INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, each electric utility and transmission and distribution utility and, except as provided by Subsection (d-1), each municipally owned utility shall discount charges for electric service provided to a facility of a four-year state university, upper-level institution, Texas State Technical College, junior [or] college, independent school district, or open-enrollment charter school.
(b) The discount is a 20-percent reduction of the utility's base rates that would otherwise be paid under the applicable tariffed rate. The discount shall be provided either directly to an educational entity described by Subsection (a) or to a retail electric provider that also provides service to the educational entity.
(b-1) A retail electric provider that receives a discount under Subsection (b) shall apply the discount to an educational entity described by Subsection (a) as a credit in an amount equal to the amount of the discount. The commission may suspend, revoke, or amend the certificate of a retail electric provider that does not apply the discount as required by this subsection. The commission shall impose an administrative penalty on a retail electric provider that does not apply the discount as required by this subsection.
(c) An electric or municipally owned utility is exempt from this section if the 20-percent discount results in a reduction equal to more than one percent of the utility's total annual revenues.
(d) A municipally owned utility is exempt from this section if the municipally owned utility, on September 1, 1995, discounted base commercial rates for electric service provided to all four-year state universities or colleges in its service area by 20 percent or more.
(d-1) A municipally owned utility is exempt from the requirement to discount charges for electric service provided to a junior college, independent school district, or open-enrollment charter school.
(e) This section does not apply to a rate charged to an institution of higher education by a municipally owned utility that provides a discounted rate to the state for electric services below rates in effect on January 1, 1995, if the discounted rate provides a greater financial discount to the state than is provided to the institution of higher education through the discount provided by this section.
(f) An investor-owned electric utility may not recover from residential customers or any other customer class the assigned and allocated costs of serving an educational entity [a state university or college] that receives a discount under this section. After September 1, 2011, an investor-owned electric utility is subject to the requirements of this subsection unless a regulatory authority authorizes other ratemaking treatment.
(g) Each electric utility shall file tariffs with the commission reflecting the discount required under this section. The initial tariff filing is not a rate change for purposes of Subchapter C.
(h) This section has been in full force and effect since September 1, 1995, as to the discount required for electric service provided by an electric utility, including a transmission and distribution utility, or a municipally owned utility to a facility of a four-year state university, upper-level institution, Texas State Technical College, or college. Neither Section 63, Chapter 405 (S.B. 7), Acts of the 76th Legislature, Regular Session, 1999, nor the decision of the commission in the commission's Docket No. 35717 or any other ruling or order by the commission terminated or excused the continuing obligation of a transmission and distribution utility, any other electric utility, or a municipally owned utility to provide the discounts required by this section.
SECTION ____.02. This article takes effect immediately if this Act receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this article takes effect September 1, 2011.