By: Watson S.B. No. 555
(In the Senate - Filed February 8, 2011; February 17, 2011,
read first time and referred to Committee on Natural Resources;
April 29, 2011, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 7, Nays 2; April 29, 2011,
sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 555 By: Hegar
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the regulation of LP-gas utility companies.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subsection (b), Section 101.002, Utilities Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(b) Gas utilities, including LP-gas utilities, are by
definition monopolies in the areas they serve. As a result, the
normal forces of competition that regulate prices in a free
enterprise society do not operate. Public agencies regulate
utility rates, operations, and services as a substitute for
competition.
SECTION 2. Section 101.003, Utilities Code, is amended by
amending Subdivision (7) and adding Subdivision (7-a) to read as
follows:
(7) "Gas utility" includes a person or river authority
that owns or operates for compensation in this state equipment or
facilities to transmit or distribute combustible hydrocarbon
natural gas or synthetic natural gas for sale or resale in a manner
not subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission under the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. Section 717 et
seq.). The term includes a lessee, trustee, or receiver of a gas
utility. The term includes an LP-gas utility. The term does not
include:
(A) a municipal corporation;
(B) a person or river authority to the extent the
person or river authority:
(i) produces, gathers, transports, or sells
natural gas or synthetic natural gas under Section 121.004 or
121.005;
(ii) transports, delivers, stores,
distributes, or sells liquefied petroleum gas, unless the person or
river authority is an LP-gas utility as defined by this section; or
(iii) transports, delivers, or sells
natural gas or LP-gas for fuel for irrigation wells or any other
direct agricultural use;
(C) a person to the extent the person:
(i) sells natural gas or LP-gas for use as
vehicle fuel;
(ii) sells natural gas or LP-gas to a person
who later sells the natural gas or LP-gas for use as vehicle fuel;
or
(iii) owns or operates equipment or
facilities to sell or transport natural gas or LP-gas for ultimate
use as vehicle fuel;
(D) a person not otherwise a gas utility who
furnishes gas or gas service only to itself, its employees, or its
tenants as an incident of employment or tenancy, if the gas or gas
service is not resold to or used by others; or
(E) a person excluded from being considered a gas
utility under Section 121.007.
(7-a) "LP-gas utility" means a person that owns or
operates for compensation in this state equipment or facilities
consisting of a contiguous, interconnected distribution piping
system composed of pipe mains or service lines joined to one or more
storage containers supplying liquefied petroleum gas to 10 or more
residential end users who do not own or operate the distribution
piping system and who are contractually obligated to use the person
owning or operating the distribution piping system as the sole
source provider of liquefied petroleum gas. The term includes a
lessee, trustee, or receiver of an LP-gas utility. The term does
not include a person not otherwise an LP-gas utility that furnishes
LP-gas service only to itself, its employees, or its tenants as an
incident of employment or tenancy, if the LP-gas service is not
resold or used by others.
SECTION 3. Subsection (a), Section 102.001, Utilities Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(a) The railroad commission has exclusive original
jurisdiction over the rates and services of a gas utility:
(1) that distributes natural gas, LP-gas, or synthetic
natural gas in:
(A) areas outside a municipality; and
(B) areas inside a municipality that surrenders
its jurisdiction to the railroad commission under Section 103.003;
and
(2) that transmits, transports, delivers, or sells
natural gas, LP-gas, or synthetic natural gas to a gas utility that
distributes the gas to the public.
SECTION 4. Section 104.2545, Utilities Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
(e) This section does not apply to an LP-gas utility.
SECTION 5. Section 104.258, Utilities Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 104.258. DISCONNECTION OF NATURAL GAS OR LP-GAS [GAS]
SERVICE. (a) In this section:
(1) "Extreme weather emergency" means a period during
which the previous day's highest temperature did not exceed 32
degrees Fahrenheit and the temperature is predicted to remain at or
below that level for the next 24 hours according to the nearest
National Weather Service reports.
(2) "Provider" means:
(A) a gas utility, as defined by Sections 101.003
and 121.001; [and]
(B) an LP-gas utility, as defined by Section
101.003; and
(C) an owner, operator, or manager of a mobile
home park or apartment who purchases natural gas or LP-gas through a
master meter for delivery to a dwelling unit in a mobile home park
or apartment house under Chapter 124.
(b) A provider may not disconnect natural gas or LP-gas
service to a residential customer on a weekend day unless personnel
of the provider are available on that day to take payments and
reconnect service.
(c) A provider may not disconnect natural gas or LP-gas
service to a residential customer during an extreme weather
emergency. The provider shall defer collection of the full payment
of bills that are due during an extreme weather emergency until
after the emergency is over and shall work with customers to
establish a pay schedule for deferred bills.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.
* * * * *