82R21783 ALL-D
 
  By: Anchia H.B. No. 1629
 
  Substitute the following for H.B. No. 1629:
 
  By:  Lozano C.S.H.B. No. 1629
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to energy efficiency goals and programs, public
  information regarding energy efficiency programs, and the
  participation of loads in certain energy markets.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 39.905, Utilities Code, is amended by
  amending Subsections (a) and (b) and adding Subsections (h), (i),
  (j), and (k) to read as follows:
         (a)  It is the goal of the legislature that:
               (1)  electric utilities will administer energy
  efficiency incentive programs in a market-neutral,
  nondiscriminatory manner but will not offer underlying competitive
  services;
               (2)  all customers, in all customer classes, will have
  a choice of and access to energy efficiency alternatives and other
  choices from the market that allow each customer to reduce energy
  consumption, summer and winter peak demand, or energy costs;
               (3)  each electric utility annually will provide,
  through market-based standard offer programs or through [limited,]
  targeted[,] market-transformation programs, incentives sufficient
  for retail electric providers and competitive energy service
  providers to acquire additional cost-effective energy efficiency,
  subject to cost ceilings established by the commission, for the
  utility's residential and commercial customers equivalent to [at
  least]:
                     (A)  not less than:
                           (i)  30 [10] percent of the electric
  utility's annual growth in demand of residential and commercial
  customers by December 31 of each year beginning with the 2013
  calendar year; and
                           (ii)  the amount of energy efficiency to be
  acquired for the utility's residential and commercial customers for
  the most recent preceding year [, 2007]; and
                     (B)  for an electric utility whose amount of
  energy efficiency to be acquired under this subsection is
  equivalent to at least four-tenths of one percent of the electric
  utility's summer weather-adjusted peak demand for residential and
  commercial customers in the previous calendar year, not less than:
                           (i)  four-tenths of one percent of the
  utility's summer weather-adjusted peak demand for residential and
  commercial customers by December 31 of each subsequent year; and
                           (ii)  the amount of energy efficiency to be
  acquired for the utility's residential and commercial customers for
  the most recent preceding year [15 percent of the electric
  utility's annual growth in demand of residential and commercial
  customers by December 31, 2008, provided that the electric
  utility's program expenditures for 2008 funding may not be greater
  than 75 percent above the utility's program budget for 2007 for
  residential and commercial customers, as included in the April 1,
  2006, filing; and
                     [(C)     20 percent of the electric utility's annual
  growth in demand of residential and commercial customers by
  December 31, 2009, provided that the electric utility's program
  expenditures for 2009 funding may not be greater than 150 percent
  above the utility's program budget for 2007 for residential and
  commercial customers, as included in the April 1, 2006, filing];
               (4)  each electric utility in the ERCOT region shall
  use its best efforts to encourage and facilitate the involvement of
  the region's retail electric providers in the delivery of
  efficiency programs and demand response programs under this
  section, including programs for demand-side renewable energy
  systems that:
                     (A)  use distributed renewable generation, as
  defined by Section 39.916; or
                     (B)  reduce the need for energy consumption by
  using a renewable energy technology, a geothermal heat pump, a
  solar water heater, or another natural mechanism of the
  environment;
               (5)  retail electric providers in the ERCOT region, and
  electric utilities outside of the ERCOT region, shall provide
  customers with energy efficiency educational materials; and
               (6)  notwithstanding Subsection (a)(3), electric
  utilities shall continue to make available, at 2007 funding and
  participation levels, any load management standard offer programs
  developed for industrial customers and implemented prior to May 1,
  2007.
         (b)  The commission shall provide oversight and adopt rules
  and procedures to ensure that the utilities can achieve the goal of
  this section, including:
               (1)  establishing an energy efficiency cost recovery
  factor for ensuring timely and reasonable cost recovery for utility
  expenditures made to satisfy the goal of this section;
               (2)  establishing an incentive under Section 36.204 to
  reward utilities administering programs under this section that
  exceed the minimum goals established by this section;
               (3)  providing a utility that is unable to establish an
  energy efficiency cost recovery factor in a timely manner due to a
  rate freeze with a mechanism to enable the utility to:
                     (A)  defer the costs of complying with this
  section; and
                     (B)  recover the deferred costs through an energy
  efficiency cost recovery factor on the expiration of the rate
  freeze period;
               (4)  ensuring that the costs associated with programs
  provided under this section and any shareholder bonus awarded are
  borne by the customer classes that receive the services under the
  programs; [and]
               (5)  ensuring the program rules encourage the value of
  the incentives to be passed on to the end-use customer;
               (6)  ensuring that programs are evaluated, measured,
  and verified using a framework established by the commission that
  promotes effective program design and consistent and streamlined
  reporting; and
               (7)  ensuring that an independent organization
  certified under Section 39.151 allows load participation in all
  energy markets for residential, commercial, and industrial
  customer classes, either directly or through aggregators of retail
  customers, to the extent that load participation by each of those
  customer classes complies with reasonable requirements adopted by
  the organization relating to the reliability and adequacy of the
  regional electric network and in a manner that will increase market
  efficiency, competition, and customer benefits.
         (h)  For an electric utility operating in an area not open to
  competition, the utility may achieve the goal of this section by:
               (1)  providing rebate or incentive funds directly to
  customers to promote or facilitate the success of programs
  implemented under this section; or
               (2)  developing, subject to commission approval, new
  programs other than standard offer programs and market
  transformation programs, to the extent that the new programs
  satisfy the same cost-effectiveness requirements as standard offer
  programs and market transformation programs.
         (i)  For an electric utility operating in an area open to
  competition, on demonstration to the commission, after a contested
  case hearing, that the requirements under Subsection (a) cannot be
  met in a rural area through retail electric providers or
  competitive energy service providers, the utility may achieve the
  goal of this section by providing rebate or incentive funds
  directly to customers in the rural area to promote or facilitate the
  success of programs implemented under this section.
         (j)  An electric utility may use energy audit programs to
  achieve the goal of this section if:
               (1)  the programs do not constitute more than three
  percent of total program costs under this section; and
               (2)  the addition of the programs does not cause a
  utility's portfolio of programs to no longer be cost-effective.
         (k)  To help a residential or nongovernmental nonprofit
  customer make informed decisions regarding energy efficiency, the
  commission may consider program designs that ensure, to the extent
  practicable, the customer is provided with information using
  standardized forms and terms that allow the customer to compare
  offers for varying degrees of energy efficiency attainable using a
  measure the customer is considering by cost, estimated energy
  savings, and payback periods.
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter Z, Chapter 39, Utilities Code, is
  amended by adding Section 39.9054 to read as follows:
         Sec. 39.9054.  ENERGY EFFICIENCY PLANS AND REPORTS; PUBLIC
  INFORMATION. (a)  An electric utility shall submit electronically
  an energy efficiency plan and report in a searchable form
  prescribed by the commission on or before April 1 of each year. The
  commission by rule shall adopt a form that will permit the public to
  easily compare information submitted by different electric
  utilities. The plan and report must:
               (1)  provide information on the utility's performance
  in achieving energy efficiency goals for the previous five years;
               (2)  describe how the utility intends to achieve future
  goals; and
               (3)  provide any other information the commission
  considers relevant.
         (b)  On the Internet website found at
  http://www.puc.state.tx.us, the commission shall publish
  information on energy efficiency programs, including:
               (1)  an explanation of the goal for energy efficiency
  in this state;
               (2)  a description of the types of energy efficiency
  programs available to certain classes of eligible customers;
               (3)  a link to the plans and reports filed as prescribed
  by Subsection (a); and
               (4)  a list of persons who install or provide energy
  efficiency measures or services by area.
         (c)  This section does not require the commission to warrant
  that the list required to be displayed under Subsection (b)
  constitutes a complete or accurate list of all persons who install
  energy efficiency measures or services in the marketplace.
         SECTION 3.  Section 39.905(b-2), Utilities Code, is
  repealed.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.