83R2351 JJT-D
By: Turner of Harris H.B. No. 549
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the system benefit fund fee.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Effective January 1, 2014, Sections 39.903(d),
(h), and (i), Utilities Code, are amended to read as follows:
(d) The commission shall annually review and approve system
benefit fund accounts[, projected revenue requirements, and
proposed nonbypassable fees]. The commission shall report to the
electric utility restructuring legislative oversight committee if
the available balance of the system benefit fund [fee] is
insufficient to fund the purposes set forth in Subsection (e) to the
extent required by this section.
(h) The commission shall adopt rules for a retail electric
provider to determine a reduced rate for eligible customers to be
discounted off the standard retail service package as approved by
the commission under Section 39.106 and shall require a retail
electric provider to apply the same reduction to any rate plan under
which an eligible low-income electric customer is receiving
service[, or the price to beat established by Section 39.202,
whichever is lower]. Municipally owned utilities and electric
cooperatives shall establish a reduced rate for eligible customers
to be discounted off the standard retail service package
established under Section 40.053 or 41.053, as appropriate. The
reduced rate for a retail electric provider shall result in a total
charge that is at least 10 percent and, if sufficient money in the
system benefit fund is available, up to 20 percent, lower than the
amount the customer would otherwise be charged. [To the extent the
system benefit fund is insufficient to fund the initial 10 percent
rate reduction, the commission may increase the fee to an amount not
more than 65 cents per megawatt hour, as provided by Subsection
(b).] If [the fee is set at 65 cents per megawatt hour or if] the
commission determines that appropriations are insufficient to fund
the 10 percent rate reduction, the commission may reduce the rate
reduction to less than 10 percent. For a municipally owned utility
or electric cooperative, the reduced rate shall be established by
the commission to the extent the discount [equal to an amount that]
can be fully funded by appropriations [that portion of the
nonbypassable fee proceeds paid by the municipally owned utility or
electric cooperative that is] allocated to the utility or
cooperative by the commission under Subsection (e) for programs for
low-income customers of the utility or cooperative. The reduced
rate for municipally owned utilities and electric cooperatives
under this section is in addition to any rate reduction that may
result from local programs for low-income customers of the
municipally owned utilities or electric cooperatives.
(i) A retail electric provider, municipally owned utility,
or electric cooperative seeking reimbursement from the system
benefit fund may not charge an eligible low-income customer a rate
higher than the appropriate rate determined under Subsection (h).
Commission rules must provide for [A retail electric provider not
subject to the price to beat, or] a municipally owned utility or
electric cooperative that implements customer choice to [subject to
the nonbypassable fee under Subsection (c), shall] be reimbursed
from the system benefit fund for the difference between the reduced
rate and the rate established under Section 39.106 or, as
appropriate, the rate established under Section 40.053 or 41.053.
A retail electric provider [who is subject to the price to beat]
shall be reimbursed from the system benefit fund for the difference
between the reduced rate and the rate plan under which the customer
receives service [price to beat]. The commission shall adopt rules
providing for the reimbursement.
SECTION 2. Effective January 1, 2014, Sections 39.903(b)
and (c), Utilities Code, are repealed.
SECTION 3. (a) The Public Utility Commission of Texas shall
adopt rules as necessary to ensure that:
(1) the system benefit fund fee is not collected for a
billing cycle any part of which falls on or after January 1, 2014;
and
(2) system benefit fund fees due for billing cycles
completed before January 1, 2014, are collected and remitted for
deposit to the credit of the system benefit fund under Section
39.903, Utilities Code, as that section provides immediately before
the effective date of this Act.
(b) The change in law made by this Act does not affect the
liability for a payment of a system benefit fund fee that accrues
before January 1, 2014. That liability continues in effect as if
this Act had not been enacted. The former law is continued in
effect for the collection of system benefit fund fees due, for
remission of the collected fees for deposit to the system benefit
fund, for enforcement of the liability for and remission of those
fees, and for the purposes of Subsection (a)(2) of this section.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.