81R14719 T
By: Coleman H.B. No. 3706
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the creation of a Tex Sun solar energy system rebate
program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 39.905. GOAL FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY.
(a) It is the goal of the legislature that:
(1) electric utilities will administer energy savings
incentive programs in a market-neutral, nondiscriminatory manner
but will not offer underlying competitive services;
(2) all customers, in all customer classes, have a
choice of access to energy efficiency alternatives, solar electric
incentives, and other choices from the market that allow each
customer to reduce energy consumption, peak demand, or energy
costs; and
(3) each electric utility and retail energy provider
shall provide through targeted market transformation programs
solar electric incentives to customers of retail electric providers
and competitive energy service providers, including providers of
solar electric systems, that are sufficient to acquire on-site
solar electric generation systems under the TEXSUN Solar Electric
Rebate Program. (a) In this section, "solar electric system" means
a device that:
(1) uses solar resources to generate electricity;
(2) has a generating capacity of not more than 1,000
kilowatts; and
(3) is installed with a five-year warranty against
breakdown or undue degradation.
(b) The commission shall ensure timely and reasonable cost
recovery through a nonbypassable distribution fee of 35 cents per
megawatt hour in year one of the program; 35 cents per megawatt hour
in year two of the program; 45 cents per megawatt hour in year three
of the program; 55 cents per megawatt hour in year four of the
program; and 65 cents per megawatt hour in year five of the program
for utility expenditures made to provide customer solar electric
rebates to meet the market transformation objectives of the TEXSUN
Solar Electric Rebate Program under 39.905.
(c) For the purposes of this section, a "low-income electric
customer" is an electric customer:
(1) whose household income is not more than 125
percent of the federal poverty guidelines; or
(2) in whose household resides a person who:
(A) receives food stamps from the Health and
Human Services Commission or medical assistance from a state agency
administering a part of the medical assistance program;
(B) receives federal housing assistance;
(C) has a child enrolled in the national school
lunch program for free or reduced-price lunches; or
(D) receives lifeline telephone service.
(d) The commission shall not impose the fee for the TEXSUN
program on a low-income electric customer, as defined by Subsection
(c) of this section.
(e) The commission shall not impose the fee for the TEXSUN
program on customers who receive service at transmission level, as
defined by the commission.
(f) The commission shall not impose a fee on the retail
electric customers of an electric cooperative or a municipally
owned utility regardless of whether the electric cooperative or
municipally owned utility has implemented customer choice.
(g) The commission shall provide oversight and adopt rules
and procedures to ensure a transmission and distribution utility
provides a market transformation incentive to a customer that
interconnects an eligible solar electric system to the utility's
transmission and distribution system. The program shall begin on
or before January 1, 2008, and the initial incentive offer shall be:
(1) $4.50 per watt for a residential customer;
(2) $4.00 per watt for a nonresidential customer that
installs a solar electric system with a generating capacity of not
more than 200 kilowatts; and
(3) $3.50 per watt for a non-residential customer that
installs a solar electric system with a generating capacity of
greater than 200 kilowatts.
(h) The Commission shall calculate the amount of each
incentive offer based on the direct current rating of the system's
photovoltaic module multiplied by the efficiency of the direct
current to alternative current inverter. The Commission by rule
shall provide for the incentive offer to decline by an average rate
of 10 per cent each year of the market transformation incentive
program.
(i) The Commission by rule shall adopt mechanisms to ensure
that money allocated for this section is efficiently used. Each
fiscal biennium, the Commission shall attempt to allocate to the
TEXSUN program all amounts collected for purposes of this Section
under Section 39.905. Funds collected from the program under
Section 39.905 that are not used for market transformation purposes
shall be used for purposes of this section in the following fiscal
year.
(j) The commission shall hold a workshop twice a year for
interested parties for the purposes of determining if the incentive
offers are set at a level that encourages an efficient and steady
flow of customer investments in, and rate of interconnections of,
solar electric systems in Texas.
(k) The commission may increase or decrease the amount of
the incentive offers based on existing market conditions, including
changes to or the expiration of the federal solar investment tax
credit. The commission shall immediately reduce the amount of the
incentive offer by 10 percent if more than 50 percent of the money
projected to be collected under Section 39.905 for this section
during a program year is allocated in the first three months of that
program year. After the reduction of the incentive offer, the
commission shall initiate a meeting of stakeholders to determine if
an efficient and steady rate of installations of solar electric
systems is being maintained. A previous reduction of the incentive
offer must be considered when determining additional reductions of
the incentive offer.
(l) A transmission and distribution utility shall determine
the amounts allocated to provide incentives to residential and
nonresidential customers based on the percentage of funds collected
for this section under Section 39.905 from each class of customer.
Amounts allocated for incentives to one class of customers may not
be reallocated for incentives for another class of customers.
(m) A transmission and distribution utility may not
allocate more than five percent of the money collected under
Section 39.905 for this section to administer the TEXSUN incentive
program.
(n) The commission by rule shall adopt procedures for
requiring a transmission and distribution utility to submit an
annual report to the commission regarding the actions taken by the
transmission and distribution utility to comply with the rules
adopted by the commission under Subsection (f). The report must
include:
(1) the total amount of money available to the utility
under this section;
(2) the number of solar rebates allocated by the
utility;
(3) the total amount of money allocated by the utility
for solar rebates; and
(4) the cumulative generation capacity from installed
solar energy systems.
(o) This section expires December 31, 2012
(4) (3) each electric utility will provide, through
market-based standard offer programs or limited, targeted,
market-transformation programs, incentives sufficient for retail
electric providers and competitive energy service providers to
acquire additional cost-effective energy efficiency equivalent to
at least 10 percent of the electric utility's annual growth in
demand.
SECTION 2_. Sec. 39.9032. INTERCONNECTION OF DISTRIBUTED
RENEWABLE GENERATION. (a) In this section:
(1) "Distributed renewable generation" means electric
generation with a capacity of not more than 2,000 kilowatts
provided by a renewable energy technology, as defined by Section
39.904, that is installed on a retail electric customer's side of
the meter.
(2) "Distributed renewable generation owner" means
the owner of distributed renewable generation.
(3) "Interconnection" means the right of a distributed
renewable generation owner to physically connect distributed
renewable generation to an electricity distribution system, and the
technical requirements, rules, or processes for the connection.
(4) "Net electricity" means the difference in meter
registration between in-flowing and out-flowing electricity moving
across a bidirectional meter, or an equivalent meter, during a
billing period.
(b) A transmission and distribution utility or electric
utility shall allow interconnection if:
(1) the distributed renewable generation to be
interconnected has a five-year warranty against breakdown or undue
degradation; and
(2) the rated capacity of the distributed renewable
generation does not exceed the service entrance capacity.
(c) A customer may request interconnection by filing an
application for interconnection with the transmission and
distribution utility or electric utility. Procedures of a
transmission and distribution utility or electric utility for the
submission and processing of a customer's application for
interconnection shall be consistent with rules adopted by the
commission regarding interconnection.
(d) The commission by rule shall establish safety,
technical, and performance standards for distributed renewable
generation that may be interconnected. In adopting the rules, the
commission shall consider standards published by the Underwriters
Laboratories, the National Electric Code, the National Electric
Safety Code, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers.
(e) A transmission and distribution utility, electric
utility, or retail electric provider may not require a distributed
renewable generation owner whose distributed renewable generation
meets the standards established by rule under Subsection (d) to
purchase an amount, type, or classification of liability insurance
the distributed renewable generation owner would not have in the
absence of the distributed renewable generation.
(f) A transmission and distribution utility or electric
utility shall offer interconnection of distributed renewable
generation with a single bidirectional meter. An alternative meter
that has an outcome equivalent of a single bidirectional meter may
be installed if a bidirectional meter is unavailable or if the
transmission and distribution utility or electric utility and the
distributed renewable generation owner agree to the installation of
the alternative meter. A transmission and distribution utility or
electric utility shall supply and install the meter at no cost to
the distributed renewable generation owner. The distributed
renewable generation owner is responsible for the cost of any meter
changes made subsequently.
(g) A transmission and distribution utility, electric
utility, or retail electric provider shall credit to the account of
the distributed renewable generation owner the retail value of the
kilowatt-hours of electricity generated in excess of the amount of
kilowatt-hours of electricity supplied to a distributed renewable
generation owner during the billing period. A credit applied to an
account during a billing period may be carried over to subsequent
billing periods until the credit has been redeemed. A credit
applied to an account may not be redeemed for cash and expires on
the date a distributed renewable generation owner terminates an
agreement for electric service with the transmission and
distribution utility, electric utility, or retail electric
provider, but only in relation to the account terminated.
(h) A transmission and distribution utility, electric
utility, or retail electric provider may charge the distributed
renewable generation owner for the net electricity supplied during
the billing period only if the amount of electricity supplied
exceeds the amount of electricity provided by the distributed
renewable generation owner.
(i) A transmission and distribution utility, electric
utility, or retail electric provider shall charge a distributed
renewable generation owner for the net electricity supplied at the
same rate applicable to service provided to other customers in the
same service class. A transmission and distribution utility,
electric utility, or retail electric provider may not charge a
distributed renewable generation owner a fee or charge that would
increase the distributed renewable generation owner's minimum
monthly charge to an amount greater than that of other customers in
the same rate class.
(j) A renewable energy credit that is earned by a
distributed renewable generation owner through the interconnection
of a renewable electric system is the sole property of the
distributed renewable generation owner unless the distributed
renewable generation owner engages in a transaction to sell or
trade the credit under Section 39.904.
SECTION 3. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
section, this Act takes effect September 1, 2007.
(b) Section 39.9032, Utilities Code, as added by this Act,
takes effect January 1, 2009.