S.B. No. 1125
AN ACT
relating to energy efficiency goals and programs, public
information regarding energy efficiency programs, and the
participation of loads in certain energy markets.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 39.905, Utilities Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (a), (b), and (d) and adding Subsections (h)
through (k) 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, summer and winter peak demand, or energy costs;
(3) each electric utility annually will provide,
through market-based standard offer programs or through [limited,]
targeted[,] market-transformation programs, incentives sufficient
for retail electric providers and competitive energy service
providers to acquire additional cost-effective energy efficiency,
subject to cost ceilings established by the commission, for the
utility's residential and commercial customers equivalent to [at
least]:
(A) not less than:
(i) 30 [10] percent of the electric
utility's annual growth in demand of residential and commercial
customers by December 31 of each year beginning with the 2013
calendar year; and
(ii) the amount of energy efficiency to be
acquired for the utility's residential and commercial customers for
the most recent preceding year[, 2007]; and
(B) for an electric utility whose amount of
energy efficiency to be acquired under this subsection is
equivalent to at least four-tenths of one percent of the electric
utility's summer weather-adjusted peak demand for residential and
commercial customers in the previous calendar year, not less than:
(i) four-tenths of one percent of the
utility's summer weather-adjusted peak demand for residential and
commercial customers by December 31 of each subsequent year; and
(ii) the amount of energy efficiency to be
acquired for the utility's residential and commercial customers for
the most recent preceding year [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) The commission shall provide oversight and adopt rules
and procedures to ensure that the utilities can achieve the goal of
this section, including:
(1) establishing an energy efficiency cost recovery
factor for ensuring timely and reasonable cost recovery for utility
expenditures made to satisfy the goal of this section;
(2) establishing an incentive under Section 36.204 to
reward utilities administering programs under this section that
exceed the minimum goals established by this section;
(3) providing a utility that is unable to establish an
energy efficiency cost recovery factor in a timely manner due to a
rate freeze with a mechanism to enable the utility to:
(A) defer the costs of complying with this
section; and
(B) recover the deferred costs through an energy
efficiency cost recovery factor on the expiration of the rate
freeze period;
(4) ensuring that the costs associated with programs
provided under this section and any shareholder bonus awarded are
borne by the customer classes that receive the services under the
programs; [and]
(5) ensuring the program rules encourage the value of
the incentives to be passed on to the end-use customer;
(6) ensuring that programs are evaluated, measured,
and verified using a framework established by the commission that
promotes effective program design and consistent and streamlined
reporting; and
(7) ensuring that an independent organization
certified under Section 39.151 allows load participation in all
energy markets for residential, commercial, and industrial
customer classes, either directly or through aggregators of retail
customers, to the extent that load participation by each of those
customer classes complies with reasonable requirements adopted by
the organization relating to the reliability and adequacy of the
regional electric network and in a manner that will increase market
efficiency, competition, and customer benefits.
(d) The commission shall establish a procedure for
reviewing and evaluating market-transformation program options
described by this subsection and other options. In evaluating
program options, the commission may consider the ability of a
program option to reduce costs to customers through reduced demand,
energy savings, and relief of congestion. Utilities may choose to
implement any program option approved by the commission after its
evaluation in order to satisfy the goal in Subsection (a),
including:
(1) energy-smart schools;
(2) appliance retirement and recycling;
(3) air conditioning system tune-ups;
(4) the installation of variable speed air
conditioning systems, motors, and drives;
(5) the use of trees or other landscaping for energy
efficiency;
(6) [(5)] customer energy management and demand
response programs;
(7) [(6)] high performance residential and commercial
buildings that will achieve the levels of energy efficiency
sufficient to qualify those buildings for federal tax incentives;
(8) commissioning services for commercial and
institutional buildings that result in operational and maintenance
practices that reduce the buildings' energy consumption;
(9) [(7)] programs for customers who rent or lease
their residence or commercial space;
(10) [(8)] programs providing energy monitoring
equipment to customers that enable a customer to better understand
the amount, price, and time of the customer's energy use;
(11) [(9)] energy audit programs for owners and other
residents of single-family or multifamily residences and for small
commercial customers;
(12) [(10)] net-zero energy new home programs;
(13) [(11)] solar thermal or solar electric programs;
[and]
(14) [(12)] programs for using windows and other
glazing systems, glass doors, and skylights in residential and
commercial buildings that reduce solar gain by at least 30 percent
from the level established for the federal Energy Star windows
program;
(15) data center efficiency programs; and
(16) energy use programs with measurable and
verifiable results that reduce energy consumption through
behavioral changes that lead to efficient use patterns and
practices.
(h) For an electric utility operating in an area not open to
competition, the utility may achieve the goal of this section by:
(1) providing rebate or incentive funds directly to
customers to promote or facilitate the success of programs
implemented under this section; or
(2) developing, subject to commission approval, new
programs other than standard offer programs and market
transformation programs, to the extent that the new programs
satisfy the same cost-effectiveness requirements as standard offer
programs and market transformation programs.
(i) For an electric utility operating in an area open to
competition, on demonstration to the commission, after a contested
case hearing, that the requirements under Subsection (a) cannot be
met in a rural area through retail electric providers or
competitive energy service providers, the utility may achieve the
goal of this section by providing rebate or incentive funds
directly to customers in the rural area to promote or facilitate the
success of programs implemented under this section.
(j) An electric utility may use energy audit programs to
achieve the goal of this section if:
(1) the programs do not constitute more than three
percent of total program costs under this section; and
(2) the addition of the programs does not cause a
utility's portfolio of programs to no longer be cost-effective.
(k) To help a residential or nongovernmental nonprofit
customer make informed decisions regarding energy efficiency, the
commission may consider program designs that ensure, to the extent
practicable, the customer is provided with information using
standardized forms and terms that allow the customer to compare
offers for varying degrees of energy efficiency attainable using a
measure the customer is considering by cost, estimated energy
savings, and payback periods.
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 submit electronically
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. Subsection (b-2), Section 39.905, Utilities
Code, is repealed.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1125 passed the Senate on
April 21, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0; and that
the Senate concurred in House amendments on May 17, 2011, by the
following vote: Yeas 31, Nays 0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1125 passed the House, with
amendments, on May 11, 2011, by the following vote: Yeas 99,
Nays 34, two present not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
______________________________
Date
______________________________
Governor