83R8707 RWG-F By: Hinojosa S.B. No. 885 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT relating to notice of utility rate increases. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: SECTION 1. Section 104.103(b), Utilities Code, is amended to read as follows: (b) Instead of publishing newspaper notice, a gas utility may provide notice [to the public in an area outside the affected municipality or in a municipality with a population of less than 2,500] by: (1) mailing the notice by United States mail, postage prepaid, to the billing address of each directly affected customer; [or] (2) including the notice, in conspicuous form, in the bill of each directly affected customer; or (3) sending the notice by e-mail to each directly affected customer if that address is available to the utility. SECTION 2. The change in law made by this Act applies only to a notice of a proposed utility rate increase provided on or after the effective date of this Act. Notice provided before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law as it existed immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose. SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013.