83R2351 JJT-D
 
  By: Carona S.B. No. 325
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the system benefit fund fee.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Effective January 1, 2014, Sections 39.903(d),
  (h), and (i), Utilities Code, are amended to read as follows:
         (d)  The commission shall annually review and approve system
  benefit fund accounts[, projected revenue requirements, and
  proposed nonbypassable fees]. The commission shall report to the
  electric utility restructuring legislative oversight committee if
  the available balance of the system benefit fund [fee] is
  insufficient to fund the purposes set forth in Subsection (e) to the
  extent required by this section.
         (h)  The commission shall adopt rules for a retail electric
  provider to determine a reduced rate for eligible customers to be
  discounted off the standard retail service package as approved by
  the commission under Section 39.106 and shall require a retail
  electric provider to apply the same reduction to any rate plan under
  which an eligible low-income electric customer is receiving
  service[, or the price to beat established by Section 39.202,
  whichever is lower].  Municipally owned utilities and electric
  cooperatives shall establish a reduced rate for eligible customers
  to be discounted off the standard retail service package
  established under Section 40.053 or 41.053, as appropriate.  The
  reduced rate for a retail electric provider shall result in a total
  charge that is at least 10 percent and, if sufficient money in the
  system benefit fund is available, up to 20 percent, lower than the
  amount the customer would otherwise be charged.  [To the extent the
  system benefit fund is insufficient to fund the initial 10 percent
  rate reduction, the commission may increase the fee to an amount not
  more than 65 cents per megawatt hour, as provided by Subsection
  (b).]  If [the fee is set at 65 cents per megawatt hour or if] the
  commission determines that appropriations are insufficient to fund
  the 10 percent rate reduction, the commission may reduce the rate
  reduction to less than 10 percent.  For a municipally owned utility
  or electric cooperative, the reduced rate shall be established by
  the commission to the extent the discount [equal to an amount that]
  can be fully funded by appropriations [that portion of the
  nonbypassable fee proceeds paid by the municipally owned utility or
  electric cooperative that is] allocated to the utility or
  cooperative by the commission under Subsection (e) for programs for
  low-income customers of the utility or cooperative.  The reduced
  rate for municipally owned utilities and electric cooperatives
  under this section is in addition to any rate reduction that may
  result from local programs for low-income customers of the
  municipally owned utilities or electric cooperatives.
         (i)  A retail electric provider, municipally owned utility,
  or electric cooperative seeking reimbursement from the system
  benefit fund may not charge an eligible low-income customer a rate
  higher than the appropriate rate determined under Subsection (h).
  Commission rules must provide for [A retail electric provider not
  subject to the price to beat, or] a municipally owned utility or
  electric cooperative that implements customer choice to [subject to
  the nonbypassable fee under Subsection (c), shall] be reimbursed
  from the system benefit fund for the difference between the reduced
  rate and the rate established under Section 39.106 or, as
  appropriate, the rate established under Section 40.053 or 41.053.
  A retail electric provider [who is subject to the price to beat]
  shall be reimbursed from the system benefit fund for the difference
  between the reduced rate and the rate plan under which the customer
  receives service [price to beat]. The commission shall adopt rules
  providing for the reimbursement.
         SECTION 2.  Effective January 1, 2014, Sections 39.903(b)
  and (c), Utilities Code, are repealed.
         SECTION 3.  (a) The Public Utility Commission of Texas shall
  adopt rules as necessary to ensure that:
               (1)  the system benefit fund fee is not collected for a
  billing cycle any part of which falls on or after January 1, 2014;
  and
               (2)  system benefit fund fees due for billing cycles
  completed before January 1, 2014, are collected and remitted for
  deposit to the credit of the system benefit fund under Section
  39.903, Utilities Code, as that section provides immediately before
  the effective date of this Act.
         (b)  The change in law made by this Act does not affect the
  liability for a payment of a system benefit fund fee that accrues
  before January 1, 2014. That liability continues in effect as if
  this Act had not been enacted. The former law is continued in
  effect for the collection of system benefit fund fees due, for
  remission of the collected fees for deposit to the system benefit
  fund, for enforcement of the liability for and remission of those
  fees, and for the purposes of Subsection (a)(2) of this section.
         SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.