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.