82R6907 ALL-D
By: Anchia H.B. No. 1629
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to energy efficiency goals and public information
regarding energy efficiency programs.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 39.905, Utilities Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (b-5) to read as
follows:
(a) It is the goal of the legislature that:
(1) electric utilities will administer energy
efficiency incentive programs in a market-neutral,
nondiscriminatory manner but will not offer underlying competitive
services;
(2) all customers, in all customer classes, will have
a choice of and access to energy efficiency alternatives and other
choices from the market that allow each customer to reduce energy
consumption, peak demand, or energy costs;
(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 for
residential and commercial customers equivalent to at least
one-half of one[:
[(A) 10] percent of the electric utility's peak
[annual growth in] demand of residential and commercial customers
by December 31, 2013 [2007;
[(B) 15 percent of the electric utility's annual
growth in demand of residential and commercial customers by
December 31, 2008, provided that the electric utility's program
expenditures for 2008 funding may not be greater than 75 percent
above the utility's program budget for 2007 for residential and
commercial customers, as included in the April 1, 2006, filing; and
[(C) 20 percent of the electric utility's annual
growth in demand of residential and commercial customers by
December 31, 2009, provided that the electric utility's program
expenditures for 2009 funding may not be greater than 150 percent
above the utility's program budget for 2007 for residential and
commercial customers, as included in the April 1, 2006, filing];
(4) each electric utility in the ERCOT region shall
use its best efforts to encourage and facilitate the involvement of
the region's retail electric providers in the delivery of
efficiency programs and demand response programs under this
section, including programs for demand-side renewable energy
systems that:
(A) use distributed renewable generation, as
defined by Section 39.916; or
(B) reduce the need for energy consumption by
using a renewable energy technology, a geothermal heat pump, a
solar water heater, or another natural mechanism of the
environment;
(5) retail electric providers in the ERCOT region, and
electric utilities outside of the ERCOT region, shall provide
customers with energy efficiency educational materials; and
(6) notwithstanding Subsection (a)(3), electric
utilities shall continue to make available, at 2007 funding and
participation levels, any load management standard offer programs
developed for industrial customers and implemented prior to May 1,
2007.
(b-5) The commission shall conduct an annual survey of
customers that participate in an energy efficiency program in which
an incentive is offered. The survey must obtain information on
whether a customer would have installed the energy efficiency
measure or had the energy efficiency service performed if no
incentive was offered and whether the customer would have known
about the energy efficiency program absent efforts made by the
commission or an electric utility to publicize the program. The
commission shall submit the results of the survey to the
legislature in the commission's annual report prescribed by Section
12.203.
SECTION 2. Subchapter Z, Chapter 39, Utilities Code, is
amended by adding Section 39.9054 to read as follows:
Sec. 39.9054. ENERGY EFFICIENCY PLANS AND REPORTS; PUBLIC
INFORMATION. (a) An electric utility shall electronically submit
an energy efficiency plan and report in a searchable form
prescribed by the commission on or before April 1 of each year. The
commission by rule shall adopt a form that will permit the public to
easily compare information submitted by different electric
utilities. The plan and report must:
(1) provide information on the utility's performance
in achieving energy efficiency goals for the previous five years;
(2) describe how the utility intends to achieve future
goals; and
(3) provide any other information the commission
considers relevant.
(b) On the Internet website found at
http://www.puc.state.tx.us, the commission shall publish
information on energy efficiency programs, including:
(1) an explanation of the goal for energy efficiency
in this state;
(2) a description of the types of energy efficiency
programs available to certain classes of eligible customers;
(3) a link to the plans and reports filed as prescribed
by Subsection (a); and
(4) a list of persons who install or provide energy
efficiency measures or services by area.
(c) This section does not require the commission to warrant
that the list required to be displayed under Subsection (b)
constitutes a complete or accurate list of all persons who install
energy efficiency measures or services in the marketplace.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.