| |
| |
|
|
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
|
|
|
AN ACT
|
|
|
relating to load shedding participation for certain customers |
|
|
during a rolling blackout. |
|
|
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: |
|
|
SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 38, Utilities Code, is |
|
|
amended by adding Section 38.074 to read as follows: |
|
|
Sec. 38.074. EXCLUSION OF CRITICAL CUSTOMERS FROM ROLLING |
|
|
BLACKOUTS. (a) In this section: |
|
|
(1) "Assisted living facility" has the meaning |
|
|
assigned by Section 247.002, Health and Safety Code. |
|
|
(2) "Critical customer" means a customer for whom |
|
|
electric service is considered crucial for the protection or |
|
|
maintenance of public safety, including a: |
|
|
(A) hospital facility licensed under Chapter |
|
|
241, Health and Safety Code; |
|
|
(B) nursing facility, assisted living facility, |
|
|
or facility that provides hospice services; |
|
|
(C) police or fire station; or |
|
|
(D) critical water and wastewater facility. |
|
|
(3) "Critical industrial or residential customer" |
|
|
means: |
|
|
(A) an industrial customer for whom an |
|
|
interruption or suspension of electric service would create a |
|
|
dangerous or life-threatening condition on the customer's |
|
|
premises; or |
|
|
(B) a residential customer who has a person |
|
|
permanently residing in the customer's home who has been diagnosed |
|
|
by a physician as: |
|
|
(i) having a serious medical condition that |
|
|
requires an electric-powered medical device or electric heating or |
|
|
cooling to prevent the impairment of a major life function through a |
|
|
significant deterioration or exacerbation of the person's medical |
|
|
condition; or |
|
|
(ii) being dependent upon an |
|
|
electric-powered medical device to sustain life. |
|
|
(4) "Hospice services" has the meaning assigned by |
|
|
Section 142.001, Health and Safety Code. |
|
|
(5) "Nursing facility" has the meaning assigned by |
|
|
Section 242.301, Health and Safety Code. |
|
|
(b) Except as provided by Subsections (c) and (d), the |
|
|
commission by rule shall require each electric utility, municipally |
|
|
owned utility, and electric cooperative that is subject to a |
|
|
rolling blackout initiated by an independent organization |
|
|
certified under Section 39.151 to: |
|
|
(1) exclude any parts of the utility's or |
|
|
cooperative's distribution system that provide power to a critical |
|
|
customer from participation in the utility's or cooperative's |
|
|
attempt to shed load; and |
|
|
(2) rotate curtailment of all other parts of the |
|
|
distribution system so that no customer is subject to an outage of |
|
|
more than: |
|
|
(A) 24 hours; or |
|
|
(B) 12 hours during an extreme weather emergency, |
|
|
as defined by Section 39.101. |
|
|
(c) The commission may allow an electric utility, |
|
|
municipally owned utility, or electric cooperative to maintain an |
|
|
outage for more than 24 hours for a part of the distribution system |
|
|
if necessary to supply critical customers. |
|
|
(d) The commission may require that an electric utility, |
|
|
municipally owned utility, or electric cooperative exclude a |
|
|
critical industrial or residential customer from load shedding |
|
|
under Subsection (b)(1). |
|
|
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021. |