83R6375 RWG-D
By: Bonnen of Brazoria H.B. No. 3590
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the authority of a customer to choose not to have an
advanced meter on the customer's property.
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 by mail to each
customer scheduled to receive an advanced meter under the plan a
notice to inform the customer that the customer may decline to have
the meter installed and of 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. 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:
(1) may not install the meter; and
(2) may not charge the customer the nonbypassable
surcharge otherwise authorized by Subsection (h).
(l) An electric utility or transmission and distribution
utility that has deployed advanced meters under a plan approved by
the commission shall send by mail to each customer that is using an
installed advanced meter a notice to inform the customer that the
customer may choose to have the meter removed and replaced with a
conventional meter and of the manner in which the customer may
choose removal and replacement. If the utility includes the notice
with the customer's bill, the utility must print the notice on a
separate page. If the customer chooses to remove the advanced
meter, the utility:
(1) must remove the advanced meter; and
(2) may not charge the customer the nonbypassable
surcharge described by Subsection (h).
SECTION 2. (a) This section applies only to 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.
(b) An electric utility or transmission and distribution
utility shall suspend the deployment of advanced meters for not
less than 45 days beginning on the effective date of this Act.
(c) Not later than the 15th day after the effective date of
this Act, an electric utility or transmission and distribution
utility shall send the notice required by Section 39.107(k),
Utilities Code, as added by this Act, to each customer who is
scheduled to receive an advanced meter under the deployment plan
but has not received the meter. If a customer declines installation
of the meter in the manner provided by the notice, 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.
(d) Not later than the 15th day after the effective date of
this Act, the electric utility or transmission and distribution
utility shall send the notice required by Section 39.107(l),
Utilities Code, as added by this Act, to each customer who has
received an advanced meter under the deployment plan.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.