Texas 2009 - 81st Regular

Texas House Bill HB695 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	81R3776 TRH-D
2	2	By: Anchia H.B. No. 695
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to the establishment of a loan incentive program to
8	8	promote energy efficiency in apartment buildings.
9	9	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
10	10	SECTION 1. Section 39.002, Utilities Code, is amended to
11	11	read as follows:
12	12	Sec. 39.002. APPLICABILITY. This chapter, other than
13	13	Sections 39.155, 39.157(e), 39.203, 39.903, 39.904, 39.9051,
14	14	39.9052, 39.9054, and 39.914(e), does not apply to a municipally
15	15	owned utility or an electric cooperative. Sections 39.157(e),
16	16	39.203, and 39.904, however, apply only to a municipally owned
17	17	utility or an electric cooperative that is offering customer
18	18	choice. If there is a conflict between the specific provisions of
19	19	this chapter and any other provisions of this title, except for
20	20	Chapters 40 and 41, the provisions of this chapter control.
21	21	SECTION 2. Section 39.905(a), Utilities Code, is amended to
22	22	read as follows:
23	23	(a) It is the goal of the legislature that:
24	24	(1) electric utilities will administer energy
25	25	efficiency incentive programs in a market-neutral,
26	26	nondiscriminatory manner but will not offer underlying competitive
27	27	services;
28	28	(2) all customers, in all customer classes, will have
29	29	a choice of and access to energy efficiency alternatives and other
30	30	choices from the market that allow each customer to reduce energy
31	31	consumption, peak demand, or energy costs;
32	32	(3) each electric utility will provide, through
33	33	market-based standard offer programs, low-interest energy
34	34	efficiency improvement loan programs, or limited, targeted,
35	35	market-transformation programs, incentives sufficient for retail
36	36	electric providers and competitive energy service providers to
37	37	acquire additional cost-effective energy efficiency for
38	38	residential and commercial customers equivalent to at least:
39	39	(A) 10 percent of the electric utility's annual
40	40	growth in demand of residential and commercial customers by
41	41	December 31, 2007;
42	42	(B) 15 percent of the electric utility's annual
43	43	growth in demand of residential and commercial customers by
44	44	December 31, 2008, provided that the electric utility's program
45	45	expenditures for 2008 funding may not be greater than 75 percent
46	46	above the utility's program budget for 2007 for residential and
47	47	commercial customers, as included in the April 1, 2006, filing; and
48	48	(C) 20 percent of the electric utility's annual
49	49	growth in demand of residential and commercial customers by
50	50	December 31, 2009, provided that the electric utility's program
51	51	expenditures for 2009 funding may not be greater than 150 percent
52	52	above the utility's program budget for 2007 for residential and
53	53	commercial customers, as included in the April 1, 2006, filing;
54	54	(4) each electric utility in the ERCOT region shall
55	55	use its best efforts to encourage and facilitate the involvement of
56	56	the region's retail electric providers in the delivery of
57	57	efficiency programs and demand response programs under this
58	58	section;
59	59	(5) retail electric providers in the ERCOT region, and
60	60	electric utilities outside of the ERCOT region, shall provide
61	61	customers with energy efficiency educational materials; and
62	62	(6) notwithstanding Subsection (a)(3), electric
63	63	utilities shall continue to make available, at 2007 funding and
64	64	participation levels, any load management standard offer programs
65	65	developed for industrial customers and implemented prior to May 1,
66	66	2007.
67	67	SECTION 3. Subchapter Z, Chapter 39, Utilities Code, is
68	68	amended by adding Section 39.9054 to read as follows:
69	69	Sec. 39.9054. ENERGY EFFICIENCY IMPROVEMENT LOAN PROGRAM
70	70	FOR APARTMENT BUILDINGS. (a) As a means of accomplishing the goals
71	71	of Section 39.905, an electric utility may administer a
72	72	low-interest loan program to promote energy efficiency
73	73	improvements in apartment buildings. The commission shall adopt
74	74	rules and procedures for the loan programs. Commission rules must:
75	75	(1) establish the manner in which loans are repaid;
76	76	(2) establish an energy efficiency cost recovery
77	77	factor for ensuring timely and reasonable recovery of other costs
78	78	associated with loans made under this section to the extent the
79	79	costs are not recovered through interest payments;
80	80	(3) provide a mechanism for a utility that is unable to
81	81	establish an energy efficiency cost recovery factor in a timely
82	82	manner because of a rate freeze to:
83	83	(A) defer the other costs of a loan program under
84	84	this section; and
85	85	(B) recover those deferred costs through an
86	86	energy efficiency cost recovery factor on the expiration of the
87	87	rate freeze period;
88	88	(4) ensure that the other costs of loans provided
89	89	under this section are borne by the customer classes that receive
90	90	the benefits of loan proceeds; and
91	91	(5) encourage a utility to pass on the value of the
92	92	incentives to the end-use customer.
93	93	(b) The energy efficiency cost recovery factor under
94	94	Subsection (a) may not result in an over-recovery of costs but may
95	95	be adjusted each year to change rates to enable electric utilities
96	96	to match revenues against energy efficiency costs and any
97	97	incentives to which they are granted. The commission shall adjust
98	98	the factor to reflect any over-collection or under-collection of
99	99	energy efficiency cost recovery revenues in previous years.
100	100	(c) To be eligible for a loan under a program, an applicant
101	101	must:
102	102	(1) be an owner of an existing multi-unit apartment
103	103	building; and
104	104	(2) use the loan for installation of an appliance or
105	105	equipment designed to reduce demand for energy in the apartment
106	106	building or for a renovation or repair intended to reduce demand for
107	107	energy in the apartment building.
108	108	(d) The commission by rule shall specify:
109	109	(1) the types of appliances, equipment, renovations,
110	110	and repairs for which a loan may be made under the program; and
111	111	(2) the types of apartment buildings for which a loan
112	112	may be made under the program.
113	113	(e) The rules relating to repayment of loans must provide
114	114	that each loan be repaid:
115	115	(1) over a period determined by the commission:
116	116	(A) by a surcharge on the electricity bills of
117	117	the rental units improved through loan proceeds, if the building's
118	118	rental units are separately submetered and billed directly by a
119	119	utility provider;
120	120	(B) by a surcharge on the electricity bill of the
121	121	building's owner, if:
122	122	(i) the building's rental units are not
123	123	separately submetered or billed directly by a utility provider, and
124	124	the improvements are made to a specific unit; or
125	125	(ii) the improvements are made to a common
126	126	area of the building; or
127	127	(C) by a combination of surcharges on the
128	128	electricity bill of the building's owner and tenants of improved
129	129	units;
130	130	(2) according to a formula:
131	131	(A) based on the difference between total monthly
132	132	energy costs after improvements are made and the estimated monthly
133	133	energy costs if the improvements had not been made;
134	134	(B) that allocates loan repayment costs in a
135	135	submetered apartment building, or an apartment building that uses
136	136	central system utilities in which the building owner prorates
137	137	utility costs among tenants, only to those rental units that are
138	138	directly improved using loan proceeds;
139	139	(C) that allows the tenant of an improved unit in
140	140	a separately submetered apartment building, or the tenant of an
141	141	improved unit in an apartment building using central system
142	142	utilities in which the building owner prorates utility costs among
143	143	tenants, to realize at least 40 percent of the energy cost savings
144	144	computed in Paragraph (A); and
145	145	(D) that allows the owner of an apartment
146	146	building using central system utilities in which the owner does not
147	147	prorate utility costs among tenants to realize at least 40 percent
148	148	of the energy cost savings computed in Paragraph (A); and
149	149	(3) by periodic assessments against the recipient of
150	150	the loan, determined according to the amount owed and the
151	151	building's property tax valuation, if, before the loan is fully
152	152	repaid, the building is sold, is no longer leased to tenants, or is
153	153	destroyed.
154	154	(f) The loan repayment surcharge required by Subsection (e)
155	155	may not be charged to a tenant or building owner after a loan has
156	156	been repaid in full.
157	157	(g) The commission may establish the rate used to compute a
158	158	loan repayment surcharge.
159	159	SECTION 4. Not later than December 1, 2009, the Public
160	160	Utility Commission of Texas shall establish the energy efficiency
161	161	improvement loan program under Section 39.9054, Utilities Code, as
162	162	added by this Act, and the commission shall begin accepting
163	163	applications for loans under that program not later than January 1,
164	164	2010.
165	165	SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
166	166	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
167	167	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
168	168	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
169	169	Act takes effect September 1, 2009.