By: Deshotel H.B. No. 3624
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
Relating to electricity customer rights to distributed energy
storage.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 35.152, Utilities Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
Sec. 35.152. (a) Electric energy storage equipment or
facilities that are intended to be used to sell energy or ancillary
services at wholesale are generation assets.
(b) The owner or operator of electric energy storage
equipment or facilities that are generation assets under Subsection
(a) is a power generation company and is required to register under
Section 39.351(a). The owner or operator of the equipment or
facilities is entitled to:
(1) interconnect the equipment or facilities;
(2) obtain transmission service for the equipment or
facilities; and
(3) use the equipment or facilities to sell
electricity or ancillary services at wholesale in a manner
consistent with the provisions of this title and commission rules
applicable to a power generation company or an exempt wholesale
generator.
(c) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), this section does not
affect a determination made by the commission in a final order
issued before December 31, 2010.
(d) Subsection (b) does not require a municipally owned
utility or an electric cooperative that owns or operates electric
energy storage equipment or facilities described by Subsection (a)
to register as a power generation company under Section 39.351(a).
(e) The owner or operator of distributed renewable
generation and distributed energy storage equipment or facilities,
as defined by Section 39.916, that are installed on the retail
electric customer's side of the meter are entitled to use the
equipment or facilities to sell electricity or ancillary services
at wholesale in manner consistent with the provisions of this
title.
SECTION 2. Subchapter Z, Chapter 39, Utilities Code, is
amended by adding Section 39.918 to read as follows:
Sec. 39.918. CUSTOMER RIGHT TO DISTRIBUTED ENERGY STORAGE.
(a) In this section:
(1) "Distributed renewable generation" means electric
generation with a capacity of not more than 2,000 kilowatts
provided by a renewable energy technology, as defined by Section
39.904, that is installed on a retail electric customer's side of
the meter.
(2) "Distributed energy storage" means electric
energy storage with a capacity of not more than 2,000 kilowatts that
is installed on a retail electric customer's side of the meter.
(3) "Owner" means:
(A) an owner of distributed renewable
generation;
(B) an owner of distributed storage;
(C) an owner of distributed renewable generation
and distributed storage; or
(D) a retail electric customer on whose side of
the meter distributed renewable generation and/or distributed
energy storage is installed and operated, regardless of whether the
customer takes ownership of the distributed renewable generation;
or
(E) a person who by contract is assigned
ownership rights to energy produced from distributed renewable
generation and/or distributed storage located at the premises of
the customer on the customer's side of the meter.
(b) An electric utility shall allow an owner to the use of
owner-supplied, UL-certified devices designed to isolate and
disconnect household loads on the retail electric customer's side
of the meter.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.