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.