83R11915 JJT-F
By: Strama H.B. No. 3584
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to rates charged and credits granted by certain electric
utilities to retail customers with on-site solar generation
capacity.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 36, Utilities Code, is amended by adding
Subchapter F to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER F. RATES AND CREDITS FOR CERTAIN CUSTOMERS
WITH SOLAR GENERATION CAPACITY
Sec. 36.251. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:
(1) "Customer with solar generation capacity" means a
retail customer who has solar electric generation capacity
installed on the customer's side of the meter.
(2) "Utility" means a municipally owned utility,
electric cooperative, or investor-owned vertically integrated
utility that provides electric service to a retail customer and
does not participate in customer choice.
Sec. 36.252. VALUE-OF-SOLAR-GENERATION RATES AND CREDITS
AUTHORIZED. Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, a
utility may elect to charge the utility's customers who have solar
generation capacity according to a rate and credit mechanism as
provided by this subchapter, and a regulatory authority shall
provide a mechanism for approving a tariff for a utility that elects
to provide for charges and credits in accordance with this
subchapter.
Sec. 36.253. VALUE-OF-SOLAR-GENERATION RATES AND CREDIT
MECHANISM. (a) A utility that elects to employ the mechanism
authorized by Section 36.252 may provide for a customer with solar
generation capacity to have metered:
(1) all electricity consumed by the customer
regardless of whether the electricity is delivered to the customer
by the utility or is generated on-site by the customer's solar
generation capacity; and
(2) all electricity generated on-site by the
customer's solar generation capacity and consumed on-site or
delivered to the distribution grid.
(b) For each billing period, the utility may charge a
customer with solar generation capacity the same rates the utility
charges the utility's other retail customers of the same class for
all electricity consumed during that billing period, regardless of
whether the electricity is delivered to the customer by the utility
or is generated on-site by the customer's solar generation
capacity.
(c) For each billing period, the utility shall grant a
credit to a customer with solar generation capacity for the
electricity generated on-site by the customer's solar generation
capacity and consumed by the customer or delivered to the
distribution grid according to the value-of-solar-generation rate
computed under Section 36.254.
(d) Except as provided by Subsection (e), to the extent a
credit granted to a customer for a billing period as provided by
Subsection (c) exceeds charges described by Subsection (b) for
electricity consumed by the customer during that billing period,
the utility must provide for the credit to carry forward as a credit
against charges for electricity consumed for subsequent billing
periods.
(e) The utility may provide for a credit granted as provided
by Subsection (c) to expire at the end of the last billing period
that ends before December 31 of the calendar year in which the
credit is granted.
Sec. 36.254. COMPUTATION OF VALUE-OF-SOLAR-GENERATION
RATE. (a) Annually, or at the time the utility makes adjustments in
its fuel factor for ratemaking purposes, a utility that elects to
employ the mechanism provided by Section 36.253 must compute a
value-of-solar-generation rate in accordance with this section
and, if applicable, in accordance with rules of the regulatory
authority. The computed rate must represent the reasonably
approximate value to the utility per unit of solar energy generated
in the distribution grid at or near the point of consumption so that
the price is equal to what the utility would charge to provide the
energy considering equivalent costs, equivalent cost savings, and
other reasonably quantifiable benefits at the same point in the
distribution system.
(b) In determining the rate under Subsection (a), the
utility shall consider at least the following factors:
(1) the rate charged on delivery for solar energy
generated in the distribution grid;
(2) any avoided costs of purchased power, generation,
generating capacity, transmission and distribution capacity, and
transmission and distribution losses that otherwise would be
necessary to provide electricity equivalent to the solar-generated
electricity;
(3) the environmental value of the on-site solar
generation as compared to other generation by the utility's
generating facilities, including considerations of fuel waste
disposal costs, air pollution control costs, and any premium
charged for customers who choose a rate option for environmentally
friendly electric service products; and
(4) the net long-term resource value, represented by
the present value of a 30-year stream of distributed solar
generation to:
(A) the utility;
(B) the utility's customers; and
(C) the community at large, to the extent that
value may be reasonably and conservatively quantifiable after
consideration of:
(i) avoided external costs such as reduced
health care costs; and
(ii) non-price benefits such as improved
comfort and improved aesthetics.
Sec. 36.255. RECOVERY OF SPECIAL COSTS. (a) Subject to
applicable rules of a regulatory authority, a utility that elects
to employ the mechanism provided by Section 36.253 may provide for a
mechanism to recover from a customer with solar generation capacity
special costs the utility incurs for equipment, metering, or
billing necessary to accommodate the customer's on-site
generation.
(b) To the extent credits granted under Section 36.253(c)
create a loss of revenue to the utility, and subject to applicable
rules of a regulatory authority, the utility may provide for a cost
recovery adjustment as necessary to cover incremental losses.
SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.