By: Hancock  S.B. No. 1202
         (In the Senate - Filed March 9, 2021; March 18, 2021, read
  first time and referred to Committee on Business & Commerce;
  March 31, 2021, reported favorably by the following vote:  Yeas 9,
  Nays 0; March 31, 2021, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the applicability of certain utility provisions to a
  vehicle charging service.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Sections 31.002(6) and (17), Utilities Code, are
  amended to read as follows:
               (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)  owns or operates equipment used solely
  to provide electricity charging service for consumption by an
  alternatively fueled vehicle, as defined by Section 502.004,
  Transportation Code.
               (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.  The
  term does not include a person not otherwise a retail electric
  provider who owns or operates equipment used solely to provide
  electricity charging service for consumption by an alternatively
  fueled vehicle, as defined by Section 502.004, Transportation Code.
         SECTION 2.  Subchapter A, Chapter 31, Utilities Code, is
  amended by adding Section 31.0021 to read as follows:
         Sec. 31.0021.  CHARGING SERVICE.  The commission by rule may
  exempt from the definition of "electric utility" or "retail
  electric provider" under Section 31.002 a provider who owns or
  operates equipment used solely to provide electricity charging
  service for a mode of transportation. 
         SECTION 3.  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 owns or operates equipment used solely to provide
  electricity charging service for consumption by an alternatively
  fueled vehicle, as defined by Section 502.004, Transportation Code,
  is not for that reason considered to be a retail electric utility.
         SECTION 4.  Subchapter A, Chapter 37, Utilities Code, is
  amended by adding Section 37.002 to read as follows:
         Sec. 37.002.  CHARGING SERVICE.  The commission may by rule
  exempt from the definition of "retail electric utility" under
  Section 37.001 a provider who owns or operates equipment used
  solely to provide electricity charging service for a mode of
  transportation.
         SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
 
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