Texas 2009 81st Regular

Texas Senate Bill SB265 Introduced / Bill

Filed 02/01/2025

Download
.pdf .doc .html
                    By: Hinojosa S.B. No. 265


 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 AN ACT
 relating to benefits and protections for certain residential
 electric customers.
 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 SECTION 1. Section 39.101, Utilities Code, is amended by
 adding Subsections (i)-(l) to read as follows:
 (i)  A retail electric provider, power generation company,
 aggregator, or other entity that provides retail electric service
 shall waive any deposit requirement for a residential customer who:
 (1) is at least 62 years of age; or
 (2)  has a payment history for electric service in this
 state that includes not more than one late payment in the preceding
 12 months.
 (j)  During the period beginning July 1 and ending September
 30 of each year, a retail electric provider, power generation
 company, aggregator, or other entity that provides retail electric
 service may not disconnect service to a residential customer who
 requests a deferred payment plan and who:
 (1)  is a low-income electric customer, as defined by
 Section 39.903(l); or
 (2)  is a person or resides with a person who, if
 electric service is disconnected, is likely to become seriously ill
 or become more seriously ill.
 (k)  A retail electric provider, power generation company,
 aggregator, or other entity that provides retail electric service
 shall offer to a residential customer described by Subsection
 (j)(1) who requests a deferred payment plan a payment plan that
 allows the customer to avoid disconnection of service during the
 period described by Subsection (j) if:
 (1)  the customer pays at least 25 percent of the
 current month's service charges; and
 (2)  the customer agrees to pay remaining balances in
 equal installments over the next five billing cycles.
 (l)  A retail electric provider, power generation company,
 aggregator, or other entity that provides retail electric service
 shall offer to a residential customer described by Subsection
 (j)(1) and is at least 62 years of age or by Subsection (j)(2) a
 deferred payment plan that allows the customer to avoid
 disconnection of service during the period described by Subsection
 (j) without any payment of the current month's service charges
 until after September 30 if the customer agrees to pay:
 (1)  25 percent of the deferred charges when the first
 bill issued after September 30 is due; and
 (2)  the remaining balances in equal installments over
 the next five billing cycles after the bill issued after September
 30.
 SECTION 2. Sections 39.903(a), (b), (d), (e), and (h),
 Utilities Code, are amended to read as follows:
 (a) The commission shall adopt and enforce rules requiring
 electric utilities to establish a system benefit fund as a trust
 fund outside of the state treasury to be used [is an account in the
 general revenue fund. Money in the account may be appropriated]
 only for the purposes provided by this section [or other law]. The
 commission shall provide for the fund to be held by a financial
 institution eligible to be a depository for state funds under
 Chapter 404, Government Code. Interest earned on the [system
 benefit] fund shall be credited to the fund. [Section 403.095,
 Government Code, does not apply to the system benefit fund.]
 (b) The system benefit fund is financed by a nonbypassable
 fee set by the commission in an amount not to exceed 65 cents per
 megawatt hour and[. The system benefit fund fee is] allocated to
 customers based on the amount of kilowatt hours used. An electric
 utility shall remit the fees to the fund in accordance with
 procedures approved by the commission.
 (d) The commission shall annually review and approve system
 benefit fund accounts, projected revenue requirements, and
 proposed nonbypassable fees. The commission by rule shall adopt
 review procedures, including a method for administrative review, as
 the commission determines is necessary to ensure that the fund is
 funded and that disbursements from the fund are properly made. The
 commission may provide for the fund to be operated by a contractor.
 The commission may require an electric utility or retail electric
 provider to provide information as necessary to assess
 contributions to and disbursements from the fund, and that
 information is not subject to disclosure under Chapter 552,
 Government Code. The commission shall provide for disbursements
 from the fund to be made promptly and efficiently so that an
 electric utility or retail electric provider does not experience an
 unnecessary cash-flow problem as a result of administrative delay.
 [The commission shall report to the electric utility restructuring
 legislative oversight committee if the system benefit fund fee is
 insufficient to fund the purposes set forth in Subsection (e) to the
 extent required by this section.]
 (e) Money in the system benefit fund may be used
 [appropriated to provide funding] solely for the following
 [regulatory] purposes, in the following order of priority:
 (1) programs to:
 (A) assist low-income electric customers by
 providing the 10 percent reduced rate prescribed by Subsection (h);
 and
 (B) provide one-time bill payment assistance to
 electric customers who are or who have in their households one or
 more seriously ill or disabled low-income persons and who have been
 threatened with disconnection for nonpayment;
 (2) customer education programs, administrative
 expenses incurred by the commission in implementing and
 administering this chapter, and expenses incurred by the office
 under this chapter;
 (3) programs to assist low-income electric customers
 by providing the targeted energy efficiency programs described by
 Subsection (f)(2);
 (4) programs to assist low-income electric customers
 by providing the 20 percent reduced rate prescribed by Subsection
 (h); and
 (5) reimbursement to the commission and the Health and
 Human Services Commission for expenses incurred in the
 implementation and administration of an integrated eligibility
 process created under Section 17.007 for customer service discounts
 relating to retail electric service, including outreach expenses
 the commission determines are reasonable and necessary.
 (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, 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 and [or if] the commission determines that money
 in the fund is [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 equal to an
 amount that can be fully funded by 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.
 SECTION 3. The Public Utility Commission of Texas shall
 adopt rules to implement Sections 39.101(j)-(l), as added by this
 Act, as quickly as practicable so that low-income electric
 customers and elderly or vulnerable electric customers are provided
 protections prescribed by those sections before September 30, 2009.
 SECTION 4. The Public Utility Commission of Texas shall
 adopt rules under Section 39.903, Utilities Code, as amended by
 this Act, as quickly as practicable. Fees for the system benefit
 fund collected under Section 39.903, Utilities Code, before the
 effective date of this Act shall be remitted to the comptroller of
 public accounts for deposit in the general revenue fund. Fees for
 the system benefit fund collected under Section 39.903, Utilities
 Code, after the effective date of this Act shall be remitted to the
 Public Utility Commission of Texas not later than 31 days after the
 fees are collected until the commission adopts rules governing the
 remittance of the fees to the trust fund established under that
 section, as amended by this Act. The Public Utility Commission of
 Texas shall hold fees remitted to it under this Act in trust for the
 benefit of the system benefit fund until that fund is established as
 provided by this Act and shall transfer those fees to the fund on
 the date the fund is established.
 SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.