By: Carona S.B. No. 1351
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to demand-side electric energy resources in the
competitive electric market.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 39, Utilities Code, is
amended by adding Section 39.160 to read as follows:
Sec. 39.160. LOAD PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENTS. The
commission and the independent organization certified under
Section 39.151 for each power region shall allow load participation
in all energy markets for residential, commercial, and industrial
customer classes, directly or through aggregators of retail
customers, to the extent that load participation by each customer
class complies with requirements of the independent organization
for ensuring reliability and adequacy of the regional electric
network. The load participation must be designed and implemented
in a manner to increase market efficiency, competition, and
customer benefits.
SECTION 2. Subsection (b), Section 39.905, Utilities Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(b) The commission shall provide oversight and adopt rules
and procedures to ensure that the utilities can achieve the goal of
this section, including:
(1) establishing an energy efficiency cost recovery
factor for ensuring timely and reasonable cost recovery for utility
expenditures made to satisfy the goal of this section;
(2) establishing an incentive under Section 36.204 to
reward utilities administering programs under this section that
exceed the minimum goals established by this section;
(3) providing a utility that is unable to establish an
energy efficiency cost recovery factor in a timely manner due to a
rate freeze with a mechanism to enable the utility to:
(A) defer the costs of complying with this
section; and
(B) recover the deferred costs through an energy
efficiency cost recovery factor on the expiration of the rate
freeze period;
(4) ensuring that the costs associated with programs
provided under this section and any shareholder bonus awarded are
borne by the customer classes that receive the services under the
programs;
(5) ensuring the program rules encourage the value of
the incentives to be passed on to the end-use customer; and
(6) ensuring that programs are evaluated, measured,
and verified using a framework established by the commission that
promotes effective program design and consistent and streamlined
reporting[; and
[(7) ensuring that an independent organization
certified under Section 39.151 allows load participation in all
energy markets for residential, commercial, and industrial
customer classes, either directly or through aggregators of retail
customers, to the extent that load participation by each of those
customer classes complies with reasonable requirements adopted by
the organization relating to the reliability and adequacy of the
regional electric network and in a manner that will increase market
efficiency, competition, and customer benefits].
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.