85R8977 JXC-D
By: Rodriguez of Travis H.B. No. 3073
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to financing programs for low-income electric customers
and certain other electric customers; imposing a fee.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 17.007, Utilities Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 17.007. ELIGIBILITY PROCESS FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE
DISCOUNTS. The commission by rule shall provide for an integrated
eligibility process for customer service discounts, including
discounts under Sections 39.9035 [39.903] and 55.015.
SECTION 2. Section 39.002, Utilities Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 39.002. APPLICABILITY. This chapter, other than
Sections 39.155, 39.157(e), 39.203, 39.903, 39.9035, 39.904,
39.9051, 39.9052, and 39.914(e), does not apply to a municipally
owned utility or an electric cooperative. Sections 39.157(e),
39.203, and 39.904, however, apply only to a municipally owned
utility or an electric cooperative that is offering customer
choice. If there is a conflict between the specific provisions of
this chapter and any other provisions of this title, except for
Chapters 40 and 41, the provisions of this chapter control.
SECTION 3. Subchapter Z, Chapter 39, Utilities Code, is
amended by adding Section 39.9035 to read as follows:
Sec. 39.9035. LOW-INCOME ELECTRIC CUSTOMERS PROGRAM FUND.
(a) In this section, "critical care residential customer" means a
residential customer who has a person permanently residing in the
customer's home who is diagnosed by a physician as being dependent
on an electric-powered medical device to sustain life.
(b) The commission shall adopt and enforce rules requiring
transmission and distribution utilities to establish a low-income
electric customers program fund under commission oversight. The
rules must provide for:
(1) the fund to be established as a trust fund outside
of the state treasury;
(2) the fund to be held by an administrator selected by
the transmission and distribution utilities in accordance with
standards adopted by the commission; and
(3) any interest earned on money in the fund to be
credited to the fund.
(c) The administrator serves as trustee of the fund for the
benefit of low-income electric customer programs described by this
section, and in accordance with commission rules, the administrator
may make any payments or reimbursements from the fund to further the
programs. Commission rules must prescribe the maximum percentage
of money available in the fund that may be used for the expenses of
administering the fund and for annual independent auditing of the
fund and expenditures and other transactions related to the fund.
The commission or its agents may at any time examine any records
related to the fund or investigate any fund-related expenditures or
expenses. The administrator and each transmission and distribution
utility shall fully cooperate with any investigation regarding the
fund conducted by the commission or its agents.
(d) The commission by rule shall impose a nonbypassable
low-income electric customers program fund fee to be set by the
commission in an amount not to exceed 50 cents per megawatt hour,
allocated to customers based on the amount of kilowatt hours used.
(e) The commission shall provide for a nonbypassable fee in
the same amount as the fee imposed under Subsection (d) to be
imposed on the retail electric customers of a municipally owned
utility or electric cooperative beginning on the first day of the
sixth month preceding the date on which the utility or cooperative
implements customer choice.
(f) Commission rules adopted under this section must
provide that the low-income electric customers program fund fees
collected for the programs described by this section are collected
through the rates of the transmission and distribution service
providers and deposited into the low-income electric customers
program fund.
(g) Money in the low-income electric customers program fund
may be spent only for the following regulatory purposes and must be
allocated as follows:
(1) not more than 85 percent of the money available in
the fund must be used to provide a 15 percent reduced rate for
low-income households for each billing period;
(2) not more than 4 percent of the money available in
the fund must be used for bill payment assistance for critical care
residential customers with total household income not to exceed 400
percent of the federal poverty guidelines; and
(3) not less than 11 percent of the money available in
the fund must be used to finance low-income electric customer
weatherization programs to be operated by a statewide network of
federal weatherization program providers under federal
weatherization program guidelines.
(h) Until customer choice is introduced in a power region,
an electric utility may not reduce, in any manner, programs already
offered to assist low-income electric customers.
(i) 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. 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 for
each billing period that is at least 15 percent lower than the
amount the customer would otherwise be charged for each billing
period. To the extent the low-income electric customers program
fund is insufficient to pay for the 15 percent rate reduction, the
commission may increase the fee to an amount of not more than 50
cents per megawatt hour, as provided by Subsection (d). If the fee
is set at 50 cents per megawatt hour or if the commission determines
that revenues anticipated to be due for deposit to the fund are
insufficient to pay for the 15 percent rate reduction, the
commission shall reduce the rate of the reduction to less than 15
percent. For a municipally owned utility or electric cooperative,
the reduced rate shall be equal to an amount that can be fully
funded by 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
(g) 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.
(j) A retail electric provider, municipally owned utility,
or electric cooperative seeking reimbursement from the low-income
electric customers program fund may not charge an eligible
low-income customer a rate higher than the appropriate rate
determined under Subsection (i). Commission rules must provide for
a municipally owned utility or electric cooperative subject to the
nonbypassable fee under Subsection (e) to be reimbursed from the
fund for the difference between the reduced rate and the rate
established under Section 40.053 or 41.053, as appropriate. A
retail electric provider shall be reimbursed from the fund for the
difference between the reduced rate and the rate plan under which
the customer is receiving service. The commission shall adopt
rules providing for the reimbursement.
(k) The eligibility rules must provide that an electric
customer is eligible for the reduced rates determined under
Subsection (i) if:
(1) the customer's household income is not more than
125 percent of the federal poverty guidelines;
(2) the customer receives benefits under the
supplemental nutrition assistance program established under
Chapter 33, Human Resources Code; or
(3) the customer receives medical assistance under the
medical assistance program established under Chapter 32, Human
Resources Code.
(l) The eligibility rules must provide that:
(1) an electric customer eligible for the reduced
rates determined under Subsection (i) is also eligible for reduced
rates for telecommunications services offered for low-income
customers; and
(2) a customer eligible for reduced rates for
telecommunications services offered for low-income customers is
also eligible for the reduced rates determined under Subsection
(i).
(m) The commission shall adopt rules providing for methods
of enrolling customers eligible to receive the reduced rates
determined under Subsection (i). The rules must provide for
automatic enrollment as one enrollment option. The Health and
Human Services Commission, on request of the commission, shall
assist in the adoption and implementation of these rules. The
commission and the Health and Human Services Commission shall enter
into a memorandum of understanding establishing the respective
duties of the agencies in relation to the automatic enrollment.
(n) The commission shall adopt rules governing the bill
payment assistance program provided under Subsection (g)(2). The
commission may prescribe the documentation necessary to
demonstrate eligibility for the assistance and may establish
additional eligibility criteria. The Health and Human Services
Commission, on request of the commission, shall assist in the
adoption and implementation of these rules.
(o) A retail electric provider is prohibited from charging
the customer a fee for participation in the reduced rate program.
(p) Notwithstanding Subsections (d), (e), (f), and (i), the
low-income electric customers program fund fee may not be imposed
after August 31, 2027. After that date, the commission and the
administrator shall undertake to continue the low-income electric
customers programs described by this section until the balance of
the fund is exhausted.
SECTION 4. Section 39.905(f), Utilities Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(f) Each [Unless funding is provided under Section 39.903,
each] unbundled transmission and distribution utility shall
include in its energy efficiency plan a [targeted] low-income
energy efficiency program and a weatherization program as described
by Section 39.9035(g) [39.903(f)(2)], and the savings achieved by
the program shall count toward the transmission and distribution
utility's energy efficiency goal. The commission shall determine
the appropriate level of funding to be allocated to both the
required weatherization programs [targeted] and standard offer
low-income energy efficiency programs in each unbundled
transmission and distribution utility service area. The level of
funding for the required weatherization programs and low-income
energy efficiency programs shall be provided from money approved by
the commission for the transmission and distribution utility's
energy efficiency programs. The commission shall ensure that
annual expenditures for the required weatherization programs and
[targeted] low-income energy efficiency programs of each unbundled
transmission and distribution utility are not less than 10 percent
of the transmission and distribution utility's energy efficiency
budget for the year. A required weatherization program or a
[targeted] low-income energy efficiency program must comply with
the same audit requirements that apply to federal weatherization
subrecipients. In an energy efficiency cost recovery factor
proceeding related to expenditures under this subsection, the
commission shall make findings of fact regarding whether the
utility meets requirements imposed under this subsection. The
state agency that administers the federal weatherization
assistance program shall participate in energy efficiency cost
recovery factor proceedings related to expenditures under this
subsection to ensure that the required weatherization programs and
[targeted] low-income weatherization programs are consistent with
federal weatherization programs and adequately funded.
SECTION 5. Section 40.001(a), Utilities Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, except
Sections 39.155, 39.157(e), 39.203, 39.903, 39.9035, and 39.904,
this chapter governs the transition to and the establishment of a
fully competitive electric power industry for municipally owned
utilities. With respect to the regulation of municipally owned
utilities, this chapter controls over any other provision of this
title, except for sections in which the term "municipally owned
utility" is specifically used.
SECTION 6. Section 40.004, Utilities Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 40.004. JURISDICTION OF COMMISSION. Except as
specifically otherwise provided in this chapter, the commission has
jurisdiction over municipally owned utilities only for the
following purposes:
(1) to regulate wholesale transmission rates and
service, including terms of access, to the extent provided by
Subchapter A, Chapter 35;
(2) to regulate certification of retail service areas
to the extent provided by Chapter 37;
(3) to regulate rates on appeal under Subchapters D
and E, Chapter 33, subject to Section 40.051(c);
(4) to establish a code of conduct as provided by
Section 39.157(e) applicable to anticompetitive activities and to
affiliate activities limited to structurally unbundled affiliates
of municipally owned utilities, subject to Section 40.054;
(5) to establish terms and conditions for open access
to transmission and distribution facilities for municipally owned
utilities providing customer choice, as provided by Section 39.203;
(6) to require collection of the nonbypassable fees
[fee] established under Section 39.903(b) and Section 39.9035(e);
(7) [and] to administer the renewable energy credits
program under Section 39.904(b) and the natural gas energy credits
program under Section 39.9044(b); and
(8) [(7)] to require reports of municipally owned
utility operations only to the extent necessary to:
(A) enable the commission to determine the
aggregate load and energy requirements of the state and the
resources available to serve that load; or
(B) enable the commission to determine
information relating to market power as provided by Section 39.155.
SECTION 7. Section 41.001, Utilities Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 41.001. APPLICABLE LAW. Notwithstanding any other
provision of law, except Sections 39.155, 39.157(e), 39.203,
39.903, 39.9035, and 39.904, this chapter governs the transition to
and the establishment of a fully competitive electric power
industry for electric cooperatives. Regarding the regulation of
electric cooperatives, this chapter shall control over any other
provision of this title, except for sections in which the term
"electric cooperative" is specifically used.
SECTION 8. The Public Utility Commission of Texas shall
adopt or revise, as necessary to implement this Act, rules
governing the low-income electric customers program fund under
Section 39.9035, Utilities Code, as added by this Act, not later
than January 1, 2018.
SECTION 9. This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.