Texas 2021 - 87th Regular

Texas Senate Bill SB182 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	87R1443 BRG-D
2	2	By: Schwertner S.B. No. 182
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to customer choice for certain municipally owned
8	8	utilities.
9	9	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
10	10	SECTION 1. Section 40.051(a), Utilities Code, is amended to
11	11	read as follows:
12	12	(a) Except as provided by Subchapter D, the [The] municipal
13	13	governing body or a body vested with the power to manage and operate
14	14	a municipally owned utility has the discretion to decide when or if
15	15	the municipally owned utility will provide customer choice.
16	16	SECTION 2. Chapter 40, Utilities Code, is amended by adding
17	17	Subchapter D to read as follows:
18	18	SUBCHAPTER D. REQUIRED TRANSITION TO CUSTOMER CHOICE
19	19	Sec. 40.151. DEFINITION. In this subchapter, "governing
20	20	body" means the body vested with the power to manage and operate a
21	21	municipally owned utility.
22	22	Sec. 40.152. ELECTRIC RATE COMPARISON. (a) Except as
23	23	provided by Subsection (d), not later than September 1 of each year,
24	24	the commission shall make an electric rate comparison of
25	25	approximately one-fifth of municipally owned utilities located in
26	26	the ERCOT power region and not open to customer choice by comparing
27	27	the average electric rate paid in the previous five years by:
28	28	(1) customers of the municipally owned utility; and
29	29	(2) customers who are located in a region that is open
30	30	to customer choice and similarly situated to the region served by
31	31	the utility, as determined by the commission.
32	32	(b) If the commission determines under Subsection (a) that
33	33	the five-year average electric rate paid by customers of a
34	34	municipally owned utility is 10 percent greater than the five-year
35	35	average electric rate paid by customers in a similarly situated
36	36	region open to customer choice, the commission shall notify the
37	37	governing body of the municipally owned utility that the utility is
38	38	required to transition to customer choice.
39	39	(c) The commission may not make an electric rate comparison
40	40	of a municipally owned utility if the utility was the subject of a
41	41	rate comparison under Subsection (a) in the previous four years.
42	42	(d) The commission is not required to make a rate comparison
43	43	under Subsection (a) if each municipally owned utility to which
44	44	Subsection (a) applies has been the subject of a rate comparison in
45	45	the previous four years.
46	46	Sec. 40.153. REQUIREMENT TO INITIATE CUSTOMER CHOICE. Not
47	47	later than one year after the date a governing body receives notice
48	48	under Section 40.152(b), the utility shall:
49	49	(1) initiate customer choice; and
50	50	(2) except as otherwise provided by this subchapter,
51	51	be considered to be a municipally owned utility that chooses to
52	52	participate in customer choice under Section 40.051(b) for purposes
53	53	of this subtitle.
54	54	Sec. 40.154. ENFORCEMENT OF CUSTOMER CHOICE. (a) As soon
55	55	as practicable, but not earlier than 90 days after the date that a
56	56	municipally owned utility is required to initiate customer choice
57	57	under Section 40.153, the commission may determine that the utility
58	58	is not adequately offering customer choice.
59	59	(b) If the commission makes a determination under
60	60	Subsection (a), the commission assumes oversight authority over the
61	61	municipally owned utility beginning on the date of the
62	62	determination for matters relating to the implementation of
63	63	customer choice. Notwithstanding any other provision of this
64	64	chapter, the commission's authority under this subsection
65	65	encompasses any portion of the authority vested with the governing
66	66	body of the utility under Subchapter B that the commission
67	67	determines is necessary.
68	68	(c) The governing body shall work cooperatively with the
69	69	commission in offering customer choice.
70	70	(d) The commission's oversight authority under this section
71	71	continues until the date the commission determines that the
72	72	municipally owned utility:
73	73	(1) has completed the transition to customer choice;
74	74	and
75	75	(2) is prepared to continue to provide customer choice
76	76	in a manner consistent with the competitive market.
77	77	(e) On the date the commission makes an affirmative
78	78	determination under Subsection (d), the management and operation of
79	79	the municipally owned utility returns to the control of the
80	80	utility's governing body.
81	81	Sec. 40.155. RULES. The commission may adopt rules as
82	82	necessary to implement this subchapter, including rules requiring
83	83	reporting of electric rates by a retail electric provider or
84	84	municipally owned utility.
85	85	SECTION 3. The Public Utility Commission of Texas shall
86	86	make the initial electric rate comparison under Section 40.152,
87	87	Utilities Code, as added by this Act, not earlier than January 1,
88	88	2026. The commission shall designate approximately one-fifth of
89	89	municipally owned utilities to which that section applies as
90	90	subject to the initial electric rate comparison and one-fifth as
91	91	subject to the second, third, fourth, and fifth rate comparisons,
92	92	respectively.
93	93	SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.