By: Lucio III H.B. No. 3857
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to periodic rate adjustments by water and sewer utilities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
Subchapter F, Chapter 13, Water Code, is amended by
adding Section 13.193 as follows:
Sec. 13.193. PERIODIC RATE ADJUSTMENTS. (a) The
commission or a regulatory authority, on the petition of a water or
sewer utility described in Section 13.002(4-a), may approve a
tariff or rate schedule in which a nonfuel rate may be periodically
adjusted upward or downward, based on changes in the parts of the
utility's invested capital that serves the utility's certificated
service area, including a facility used for:
(1) the production, transmission, storage,
distribution, or provision of potable or recycled water to the
public; or
(2) the collection, transportation, treatment,
or disposal of sewage.
(b) The utility commission shall adopt rules as necessary to
implement Section 13.193. modeled on rules implementing Section
36.210, Utilities Code by September 1, 2015 providing that:
(1) the utility's revenue may not increase or
decrease by more than five percent,
(2) the facilities described in the petition have
been placed into service by the utility,
(3) the return on invested capital, depreciation
rate, and income tax rate is up to the amount
authorized in the utility's most recent rate
order,
(4) does not include the operating expenses
associated with the facilities described
in the petition,
(5) the utility has not filed a petition
authorized by this section in the prior
twelve months,
(6) the utility has not filed four petitions
authorized by this section since the utility's
last general rate application filed under
Section 13.187(a).