Bill Text: TX SB648 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to electric service equipment.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-04-13 - Left pending in committee [SB648 Detail]

Download: Texas-2021-SB648-Introduced.html

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87R9399 TYPED
By: Springer S.B. No. 648

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.