82R10633 ALL-D
By: Davis of Dallas H.B. No. 3205
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of a customer to choose not to have an
advanced meter installed.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 39.107, Utilities Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (k) and (l) to read as follows:
(k) An electric utility or transmission and distribution
utility that receives from the commission approval of the utility's
plan for deploying advanced meters shall send to each customer
scheduled to receive an advanced meter under the plan a notice that
the customer may decline to have the meter installed. The utility
shall send the notice to the customer's billing address by mail and
describe the manner in which the customer may decline installation.
If the utility includes the notice with the customer's bill, the
utility must print the notice on a separate page.
(l) If, not later than the 30th day after the date the
customer receives the notice, the customer declines to have the
advanced meter installed, the utility may not:
(1) install the meter; or
(2) charge the customer the nonbypassable surcharge
otherwise authorized by Subsection (h).
SECTION 2. (a) An electric utility or transmission and
distribution utility that, before the effective date of this Act,
received approval from the Public Utility Commission of Texas of
the utility's plan for deploying advanced meters but that has not
completed that deployment on the effective date of this Act, shall
suspend that deployment on the effective date of this Act.
(b) Not later than the 15th day after the effective date of
this Act, the electric utility or transmission and distribution
utility shall send to each customer who is scheduled to receive an
advanced meter under the deployment plan, but who has not received
the meter, the notice required by Section 39.107(k), Utilities
Code, as added by this Act. If a customer declines installation of
the meter, as provided by Section 39.107(l), Utilities Code, as
added by this Act, the utility shall refund to the customer the
amount of any nonbypassable surcharge imposed under Section
39.107(h), Utilities Code, that the utility previously collected
from the customer.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.