Texas 2013 - 83rd Regular

Texas Senate Bill SB241 Compare Versions

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1	1	By: Carona S.B. No. 241
2	2	(In the Senate - Filed January 23, 2013; January 29, 2013,
3	3	read first time and referred to Committee on Business and Commerce;
4	4	May 6, 2013, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
5	5	Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 5, Nays 2; May 6, 2013,
6	6	sent to printer.)
7	7	COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 241 By: Carona
8	8
9	9
10	10	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
11	11	AN ACT
12	12	relating to the regulation of advanced meters and the
13	13	interconnection of ERCOT with another grid; requiring a study on
14	14	the health effects of advanced meters; authorizing an
15	15	administrative penalty.
16	16	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
17	17	SECTION 1. Section 39.107, Utilities Code, is amended by
18	18	adding Subsections (k) through (r) to read as follows:
19	19	(k) Except as provided by Subsection (l) or (m) or expressly
20	20	provided by other law, a person may not:
21	21	(1) access or disclose a residential customer's
22	22	information that is related to electric consumption for specific
23	23	equipment and that is measured by, provided by, or otherwise
24	24	collected from a home area network on the customer's side of an
25	25	advanced meter, including information used to calculate charges for
26	26	service, historical load data, and any other residential customer
27	27	information; or
28	28	(2) control equipment connected to a home area network
29	29	on the customer's side of an advanced meter.
30	30	(l) Subsection (k) does not affect the authority of an
31	31	electric utility or transmission and distribution utility to
32	32	provide customer metering or related data to the customer's retail
33	33	electric provider, an independent organization certified under
34	34	Section 39.151, a provider of corporate support services for the
35	35	purposes of providing those services, or any other third-party
36	36	entity the customer authorizes. A third-party entity to which this
37	37	data is provided may use the data only to provide or offer to
38	38	provide electric-related products or services to the customer.
39	39	(m) A customer may authorize a person or other entity to
40	40	access or disclose that customer's information as described by
41	41	Subsection (k) or to control equipment connected to a home area
42	42	network on that customer's side of an advanced meter.
43	43	(n) The commission may impose an administrative penalty as
44	44	provided by Section 15.023 for a wilful violation of Subsection
45	45	(k).
46	46	(o) An electric utility or transmission and distribution
47	47	utility that receives from the commission approval of the utility's
48	48	plan for deploying advanced meters shall send by mail to each
49	49	customer scheduled to receive an advanced meter under the plan a
50	50	notice to inform the customer that the customer may decline to have
51	51	the advanced meter installed and of the manner in which and date by
52	52	which the customer must decline installation. If a customer timely
53	53	declines to have the advanced meter installed, the utility may not
54	54	install the meter or charge the customer any fees or surcharges
55	55	related to declining the advanced meter, including the
56	56	nonbypassable surcharge otherwise authorized by Subsection (h).
57	57	(p) An electric utility or transmission and distribution
58	58	utility that has deployed advanced meters under a plan approved by
59	59	the commission shall send by mail to each customer that is using an
60	60	installed advanced meter a notice to inform the customer that the
61	61	customer may choose to have the meter removed and of the manner in
62	62	which the customer must choose removal. If the customer chooses to
63	63	remove the advanced meter, the utility shall:
64	64	(1) remove the advanced meter;
65	65	(2) install a conventional meter at no cost to the
66	66	customer; and
67	67	(3) provide the customer with conventional metering
68	68	services.
69	69	(q) An electric utility or transmission and distribution
70	70	utility that provides conventional metering services to a customer
71	71	who has declined installation of an advanced meter or had an
72	72	advanced meter removed under this section may not read that
73	73	customer's conventional meter more than once each month.
74	74	(r) The commission by rule shall provide for a minimum
75	75	period between the time a notice under Subsection (o) is mailed and
76	76	the date by which a customer must decline installation.
77	77	SECTION 2. Subchapter D, Chapter 39, Utilities Code, is
78	78	amended by adding Section 39.159 to read as follows:
79	79	Sec. 39.159. LIMITATION ON INTERCONNECTION. The commission
80	80	or an independent organization certified under Section 39.151 may
81	81	not authorize the interconnection of ERCOT, as defined by Section
82	82	31.002, with any other electric transmission grid.
83	83	SECTION 3. (a) A joint committee shall conduct a study on
84	84	the effects of advanced meters on public health.
85	85	(b) The committee is composed of eight members appointed as
86	86	follows:
87	87	(1) four members of the senate appointed by the
88	88	lieutenant governor; and
89	89	(2) four members of the house of representatives
90	90	appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives.
91	91	(c) The speaker of the house of representatives and the
92	92	lieutenant governor shall jointly designate a chair or,
93	93	alternatively, designate two co-chairs from among the committee
94	94	membership.
95	95	(d) The committee shall examine the effects of advanced
96	96	meters on public health.
97	97	(e) The committee may adopt rules necessary to carry out the
98	98	committee's duties under this section.
99	99	(f) Except as otherwise specifically provided by this
100	100	section, the committee may operate in the same manner as a joint
101	101	committee of the 83rd Legislature.
102	102	(g) Not later than December 1, 2014, the committee shall
103	103	report to the governor and the legislature the findings of the study
104	104	and any recommendations developed by the committee under this
105	105	section.
106	106	SECTION 4. Subsection (k), Section 39.107, Utilities Code,
107	107	as added by this Act, applies only to accessing or disclosing
108	108	information on or after the effective date of this Act. Accessing
109	109	or disclosing information before the effective date of this Act is
110	110	covered by the law in effect at the time the action occurred, and
111	111	the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
112	112	SECTION 5. The Public Utility Commission of Texas shall
113	113	adopt rules under Subsection (r), Section 39.107, Utilities Code,
114	114	as added by this Act, as soon as practicable following the effective
115	115	date of this Act, but not later than January 1, 2014.
116	116	SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.
117	117	* * * * *