By: Craddick, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Springer) H.B. No. 1572
         (In the Senate - Received from the House April 20, 2021;
  May 3, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on Business &
  Commerce; May 10, 2021, reported favorably by the following vote:  
  Yeas 7, Nays 0; May 10, 2021, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the rental and operation of electric generation
  equipment.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 31.002, Utilities Code, is amended by
  adding Subdivision (4-b) and amending Subdivision (6) to read as
  follows:
               (4-b)  "Electric generation equipment lessor or
  operator" means a person who rents to or operates for compensation
  on behalf of a third party electric generation equipment that:
                     (A)  is used on a site of the third party until the
  third party is able to obtain sufficient electricity service;
                     (B)  produces electricity on site to be consumed
  by the third party and not resold; and
                     (C)  does not interconnect with the electric
  transmission or distribution system.
               (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 an electric generation equipment
  lessor or operator.
         SECTION 2.  Section 37.001(3), Utilities Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
               (3)  "Retail electric utility" means a person,
  political subdivision, electric cooperative, or agency that
  operates, maintains, or controls in this state a facility to
  provide retail electric utility service. The term does not include
  a corporation described by Section 32.053 to the extent that the
  corporation sells electricity exclusively at wholesale and not to
  the ultimate consumer. A qualifying cogenerator that sells electric
  energy at retail to the sole purchaser of the cogenerator's thermal
  output under Sections 35.061 and 36.007 is not for that reason
  considered to be a retail electric utility. The owner or operator of
  a qualifying cogeneration facility who was issued the necessary
  environmental permits from the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
  Commission after January 1, 1998, and who commenced construction of
  such qualifying facility before July 1, 1998, may provide
  electricity to the purchasers of the thermal output of that
  qualifying facility and shall not for that reason be considered an
  electric utility or a retail electric utility, provided that the
  purchasers of the thermal output are owners of manufacturing or
  process operation facilities that are located on a site entirely
  owned before September, 1987, by one owner who retained ownership
  after September, 1987, of some portion of the facilities and that
  those facilities now share some integrated operations, such as the
  provision of services and raw materials. A person who is an electric
  generation equipment lessor or operator is not for that reason
  considered to be a retail electric utility.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
 
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