By: Carona S.B. No. 241
(In the Senate - Filed January 23, 2013; January 29, 2013,
read first time and referred to Committee on Business and Commerce;
May 6, 2013, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 2; May 6, 2013,
sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 241 By: Carona
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the regulation of advanced meters and the
interconnection of ERCOT with another grid; requiring a study on
the health effects of advanced meters; authorizing an
administrative penalty.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 39.107, Utilities Code, is amended by
adding Subsections (k) through (r) to read as follows:
(k) Except as provided by Subsection (l) or (m) or expressly
provided by other law, a person may not:
(1) access or disclose a residential customer's
information that is related to electric consumption for specific
equipment and that is measured by, provided by, or otherwise
collected from a home area network on the customer's side of an
advanced meter, including information used to calculate charges for
service, historical load data, and any other residential customer
information; or
(2) control equipment connected to a home area network
on the customer's side of an advanced meter.
(l) Subsection (k) does not affect the authority of an
electric utility or transmission and distribution utility to
provide customer metering or related data to the customer's retail
electric provider, an independent organization certified under
Section 39.151, a provider of corporate support services for the
purposes of providing those services, or any other third-party
entity the customer authorizes. A third-party entity to which this
data is provided may use the data only to provide or offer to
provide electric-related products or services to the customer.
(m) A customer may authorize a person or other entity to
access or disclose that customer's information as described by
Subsection (k) or to control equipment connected to a home area
network on that customer's side of an advanced meter.
(n) The commission may impose an administrative penalty as
provided by Section 15.023 for a wilful violation of Subsection
(k).
(o) 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 advanced meter installed and of the manner in which and date by
which the customer must decline installation. If a customer timely
declines to have the advanced meter installed, the utility may not
install the meter or charge the customer any fees or surcharges
related to declining the advanced meter, including the
nonbypassable surcharge otherwise authorized by Subsection (h).
(p) 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 of the manner in
which the customer must choose removal. If the customer chooses to
remove the advanced meter, the utility shall:
(1) remove the advanced meter;
(2) install a conventional meter at no cost to the
customer; and
(3) provide the customer with conventional metering
services.
(q) An electric utility or transmission and distribution
utility that provides conventional metering services to a customer
who has declined installation of an advanced meter or had an
advanced meter removed under this section may not read that
customer's conventional meter more than once each month.
(r) The commission by rule shall provide for a minimum
period between the time a notice under Subsection (o) is mailed and
the date by which a customer must decline installation.
SECTION 2. Subchapter D, Chapter 39, Utilities Code, is
amended by adding Section 39.159 to read as follows:
Sec. 39.159. LIMITATION ON INTERCONNECTION. The commission
or an independent organization certified under Section 39.151 may
not authorize the interconnection of ERCOT, as defined by Section
31.002, with any other electric transmission grid.
SECTION 3. (a) A joint committee shall conduct a study on
the effects of advanced meters on public health.
(b) The committee is composed of eight members appointed as
follows:
(1) four members of the senate appointed by the
lieutenant governor; and
(2) four members of the house of representatives
appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives.
(c) The speaker of the house of representatives and the
lieutenant governor shall jointly designate a chair or,
alternatively, designate two co-chairs from among the committee
membership.
(d) The committee shall examine the effects of advanced
meters on public health.
(e) The committee may adopt rules necessary to carry out the
committee's duties under this section.
(f) Except as otherwise specifically provided by this
section, the committee may operate in the same manner as a joint
committee of the 83rd Legislature.
(g) Not later than December 1, 2014, the committee shall
report to the governor and the legislature the findings of the study
and any recommendations developed by the committee under this
section.
SECTION 4. Subsection (k), Section 39.107, Utilities Code,
as added by this Act, applies only to accessing or disclosing
information on or after the effective date of this Act. Accessing
or disclosing information before the effective date of this Act is
covered by the law in effect at the time the action occurred, and
the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 5. The Public Utility Commission of Texas shall
adopt rules under Subsection (r), Section 39.107, Utilities Code,
as added by this Act, as soon as practicable following the effective
date of this Act, but not later than January 1, 2014.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
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