87R9399 TYPED
 
  By: Craddick H.B. No. 1572
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  Relating to electric service equipment
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 17.002, Utilities Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         Sec. 17.002.  DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
               (1)  "Billing agent" means any entity that submits
  charges to the billing utility on behalf of itself or any provider
  of a product or service.
               (2)  "Billing utility" means any telecommunications
  provider, as defined by Section 51.002, retail electric provider,
  or electric utility that issues a bill directly to a customer for
  any telecommunications or electric product or service.
               (3)  "Certificated telecommunications utility" means a
  telecommunications utility that has been granted either a
  certificate of convenience and necessity, a certificate of
  operating authority, or a service provider certificate of operating
  authority.
               (4)  "Customer" means any person in whose name
  telephone or retail electric service is billed, including
  individuals, governmental units at all levels of government,
  corporate entities, and any other entity with legal capacity to be
  billed for telephone or retail electric service.
               (5)  "Electric utility" has the meaning assigned by
  Section 31.002.
               (6)  "Retail electric provider" means a person that
  sells electric energy to retail customers in this state after the
  legislature authorizes a customer to receive retail electric
  service from a person other than a certificated retail electric
  utility. A person engaged in a business whereby under contract it
  either (a) rents electric service equipment to a third-party or (b)
  operates its own electric service equipment on behalf of a
  third-party, in either instance for a fixed fee or based on use or
  consumption, if the energy produced by that electric service
  equipment is entirely consumed by the third-party under contract
  and not resold is not a retail electric provider.
         SECTION 2.  Section 31.002, Utilities Code, is amended as
  follows:  
         Sec. 31.002.  DEFINITIONS. In this subtitle:
               (1)  "Affiliated power generation company" means a
  power generation company that is affiliated with or the successor
  in interest of an electric utility certificated to serve an area.
               (2)  "Affiliated retail electric provider" means a
  retail electric provider that is affiliated with or the successor
  in interest of an electric utility certificated to serve an area.
               (3)  "Aggregation" includes the following:
                     (A)  the purchase of electricity from a retail
  electric provider, a municipally owned utility, or an electric
  cooperative by an electricity customer for its own use in multiple
  locations, provided that an electricity customer may not avoid any
  nonbypassable charges or fees as a result of aggregating its load;
  or
                     (B)  the purchase of electricity by an electricity
  customer as part of a voluntary association of electricity
  customers, provided that an electricity customer may not avoid any
  nonbypassable charges or fees as a result of aggregating its load.
               (4)  "Customer choice" means the freedom of a retail
  customer to purchase electric services, either individually or
  through voluntary aggregation with other retail customers, from the
  provider or providers of the customer's choice and to choose among
  various fuel types, energy efficiency programs, and renewable power
  suppliers.
               (4-a)  "Distributed natural gas generation facility"
  means a facility installed on the customer's side of the meter that
  uses natural gas to generate not more than 2,000 kilowatts of
  electricity.
               (5)  "Electric Reliability Council of Texas" or "ERCOT"
  means the area in Texas served by electric utilities, municipally
  owned utilities, and electric cooperatives that is not
  synchronously interconnected with electric utilities outside the
  state.
               (6)  "Electric utility" means a person or river
  authority that owns or operates for compensation in this state
  equipment or facilities to produce, generate, transmit,
  distribute, sell, or furnish electricity in this state. The term
  includes a lessee, trustee, or receiver of an electric utility and a
  recreational vehicle park owner who does not comply with Subchapter
  C, Chapter 184, with regard to the metered sale of electricity at
  the recreational vehicle park. The term does not include:
                     (A)  a municipal corporation;
                     (B)  a qualifying facility;
                     (C)  a power generation company;
                     (D)  an exempt wholesale generator;
                     (E)  a power marketer;
                     (F)  a corporation described by Section 32.053 to
  the extent the corporation sells electricity exclusively at
  wholesale and not to the ultimate consumer;
                     (G)  an electric cooperative;
                     (H)  a retail electric provider;
                     (I)  this state or an agency of this state; or
                     (J)  a person not otherwise an electric utility
  who:
                           (i)  furnishes an electric service or
  commodity only to itself, its employees, or its tenants as an
  incident of employment or tenancy, if that service or commodity is
  not resold to or used by others;
                           (ii)  owns or operates in this state
  equipment or facilities to produce, generate, transmit,
  distribute, sell, or furnish electric energy to an electric
  utility, if the equipment or facilities are used primarily to
  produce and generate electric energy for consumption by that
  person; [or]
                           (iii)  owns or operates in this state a
  recreational vehicle park that provides metered electric service in
  accordance with Subchapter C, Chapter 184; or 
                           (iv)  is engaged in a business whereby under
  contract it either (a) rents electric service equipment to a
  third-party or (b) operates its own electric service equipment on
  behalf of a third-party, in either instance for a fixed fee or based
  on use or consumption, if the energy produced by that electric
  service equipment is entirely consumed by the third-party under
  contract and not resold. An entity that meets these requirements
  shall not be classified as a retail electric provider solely for
  providing said service or because of how fees or payments are
  calculated and billed.
               (7)  "Exempt wholesale generator" means a person who is
  engaged directly or indirectly through one or more affiliates
  exclusively in the business of owning or operating all or part of a
  facility for generating electric energy and selling electric energy
  at wholesale and who:
                     (A)  does not own a facility for the transmission
  of electricity, other than an essential interconnecting
  transmission facility necessary to effect a sale of electric energy
  at wholesale; and
                     (B)  has:
                           (i)  applied to the Federal Energy
  Regulatory Commission for a determination under 15 U.S.C. Section
  79z-5a; or
                           (ii)  registered as an exempt wholesale
  generator as required by Section 35.032.
               (8)  "Freeze period" means the period beginning on
  January 1, 1999, and ending on December 31, 2001.
               (9)  "Independent system operator" means an entity
  supervising the collective transmission facilities of a power
  region that is charged with nondiscriminatory coordination of
  market transactions, systemwide transmission planning, and network
  reliability.
               (10)  "Power generation company" means a person,
  including a person who owns or operates a distributed natural gas
  generation facility, that:
                     (A)  generates electricity that is intended to be
  sold at wholesale, including the owner or operator of electric
  energy storage equipment or facilities to which Subchapter E,
  Chapter 35, applies;
                     (B)  does not own a transmission or distribution
  facility in this state other than an essential interconnecting
  facility, a facility not dedicated to public use, or a facility
  otherwise excluded from the definition of "electric utility" under
  this section; and
                     (C)  does not have a certificated service area,
  although its affiliated electric utility or transmission and
  distribution utility may have a certificated service area.
               (11)  "Power marketer" means a person who:
                     (A)  becomes an owner of electric energy in this
  state for the purpose of selling the electric energy at wholesale;
                     (B)  does not own generation, transmission, or
  distribution facilities in this state;
                     (C)  does not have a certificated service area;
  and
                     (D)  has:
                           (i)  been granted authority by the Federal
  Energy Regulatory Commission to sell electric energy at
  market-based rates; or
                           (ii)  registered as a power marketer under
  Section 35.032.
               (12)  "Power region" means a contiguous geographical
  area which is a distinct region of the North American Electric
  Reliability Council.
               (13)  "Qualifying cogenerator" and "qualifying small
  power producer" have the meanings assigned those terms by 16 U.S.C.
  Sections 796(18)(C) and 796(17)(D). A qualifying cogenerator that
  provides electricity to a purchaser of the cogenerator's thermal
  output is not for that reason considered to be a retail electric
  provider or a power generation company.
               (14)  "Qualifying facility" means a qualifying
  cogenerator or qualifying small power producer.
               (15)  "Rate" includes a compensation, tariff, charge,
  fare, toll, rental, or classification that is directly or
  indirectly demanded, observed, charged, or collected by an electric
  utility for a service, product, or commodity described in the
  definition of electric utility in this section and a rule,
  practice, or contract affecting the compensation, tariff, charge,
  fare, toll, rental, or classification that must be approved by a
  regulatory authority.
               (16)  "Retail customer" means the separately metered
  end-use customer who purchases and ultimately consumes
  electricity.
               (17)  "Retail electric provider" means a person that
  sells electric energy to retail customers in this state. A retail
  electric provider may not own or operate generation assets. A
  person engaged in a business whereby under contract it either (a)
  rents electric service equipment to a third-party or (b) operates
  its own electric service equipment on behalf of a third-party, in
  either instance for a fixed fee or based on use or consumption, if
  the energy produced by that electric service equipment is entirely
  consumed by the third-party under contract and not resold is not a
  retail electric provider.
               (18)  "Separately metered" means metered by an
  individual meter that is used to measure electric energy
  consumption by a retail customer and for which the customer is
  directly billed by a utility, retail electric provider, electric
  cooperative, or municipally owned utility.
               (19)  "Transmission and distribution utility" means a
  person or river authority that owns or operates for compensation in
  this state equipment or facilities to transmit or distribute
  electricity, except for facilities necessary to interconnect a
  generation facility with the transmission or distribution network,
  a facility not dedicated to public use, or a facility otherwise
  excluded from the definition of "electric utility" under this
  section, in a qualifying power region certified under Section
  39.152, but does not include a municipally owned utility or an
  electric cooperative.
               (20)  "Transmission service" includes construction or
  enlargement of facilities, transmission over distribution
  facilities, control area services, scheduling resources,
  regulation services, reactive power support, voltage control,
  provision of operating reserves, and any other associated
  electrical service the commission determines appropriate, except
  that, on and after the implementation of customer choice, control
  area services, scheduling resources, regulation services,
  provision of operating reserves, and reactive power support,
  voltage control, and other services provided by generation
  resources are not "transmission service."
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.