Texas 2023 - 88th Regular

Texas House Bill HB2973 Compare Versions

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Version 2 (New)

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1	1	88R8944 JXC-F
2	2	By: Guillen H.B. No. 2973
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to facilities and construction machinery used to respond
8	8	to power outages.
9	9	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
10	10	SECTION 1. Section 39.918, Utilities Code, is amended to
11	11	read as follows:
12	12	Sec. 39.918. UTILITY FACILITIES FOR RESPONDING TO
13	13	SIGNIFICANT [POWER RESTORATION AFTER WIDESPREAD] POWER
14	14	OUTAGE. (a) In this section, "significant ["widespread] power
15	15	outage" means an event that [results in]:
16	16	(1) results in a loss of electric power that:
17	17	(A) affects a significant number of distribution
18	18	customers of a transmission and distribution utility, creates a
19	19	risk to public health or safety,[;] and
20	20	[(B)] has lasted or is expected to last for at
21	21	least six [eight] hours;
22	22	(B) affects distribution customers of a
23	23	transmission and distribution utility in an area for which the
24	24	governor has issued a disaster or emergency declaration;
25	25	(C) affects customers served by a radial
26	26	transmission or distribution facility, creates a risk to public
27	27	health or safety, and has lasted or is expected to last for at least
28	28	twelve hours; or
29	29	(D) creates [and
30	30	[(2)] a risk to public health or safety because it
31	31	affects a critical infrastructure facility, hospital, health care
32	32	facility, law enforcement facility, fire station, or water or
33	33	wastewater facility; or
34	34	(2) causes the independent system operator to order a
35	35	transmission and distribution utility to shed load.
36	36	(a-1) The Texas Division of Emergency Management, the
37	37	independent organization certified under Section 39.151 for the
38	38	ERCOT power region, or the executive director of the commission may
39	39	determine that a power outage other than an outage described by
40	40	Subsection (a) is a significant power outage for the purposes of
41	41	this section.
42	42	(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subtitle, a
43	43	transmission and distribution utility may:
44	44	(1) lease or own and operate facilities that provide
45	45	temporary emergency electric energy to aid in providing power to
46	46	the utility's distribution customers when a significant power
47	47	outage is imminent or restoring power to the utility's distribution
48	48	customers during a significant [widespread] power outage [in which:
49	49	[(A) the independent system operator has ordered
50	50	the utility to shed load; or
51	51	[(B) the utility's distribution facilities are
52	52	not being fully served by the bulk power system under normal
53	53	operations]; and
54	54	(2) procure, own, and operate, or enter into a
55	55	cooperative agreement with other transmission and distribution
56	56	utilities to procure, own, and operate jointly, transmission and
57	57	distribution facilities that have a lead time of at least six months
58	58	and would aid in restoring power to the utility's distribution
59	59	customers following a significant [widespread] power outage.
60	60	(b-1) In this section, long lead time facilities described
61	61	by Subsection (b) may not be electric energy storage equipment or
62	62	facilities described by [under] Chapter 35[, Utilities Code].
63	63	(c) A transmission and distribution utility that [leases
64	64	and] operates a facility [facilities] under Subsection (b)(1) may
65	65	not sell electric energy or ancillary services from the facility
66	66	[those facilities].
67	67	(d) A facility [Facilities] described by Subsection (b)(1):
68	68	(1) must be operated in isolation from the bulk power
69	69	system; and
70	70	(2) may not be included in independent system
71	71	operator:
72	72	(A) locational marginal pricing calculations;
73	73	(B) pricing; or
74	74	(C) reliability models.
75	75	(e) A transmission and distribution utility that [leases
76	76	and] operates a facility [facilities] under Subsection (b)(1) shall
77	77	ensure, to the extent reasonably practicable, that retail customer
78	78	usage during operation of the facility [those facilities] is
79	79	adjusted out of the usage reported for billing purposes by the
80	80	retail customer's retail electric provider.
81	81	(f) A transmission and distribution utility shall, when
82	82	reasonably practicable, use a competitive bidding process to lease
83	83	a facility [facilities] under Subsection (b)(1).
84	84	(g) A transmission and distribution utility that leases or
85	85	owns and operates facilities under Subsection (b)(1) or that
86	86	procures, owns, and operates facilities under Subsection (b)(2)
87	87	shall include in the utility's emergency operations plan filed with
88	88	the commission, as described by Section 186.007, a detailed plan on
89	89	the utility's use of those facilities.
90	90	(h) The commission shall allow [permit]:
91	91	(1) a transmission and distribution utility that
92	92	leases or owns and operates facilities under Subsection (b)(1) to
93	93	recover the reasonable and necessary costs of leasing or owning and
94	94	operating the facilities, including the present value of future
95	95	payments required under a [the] lease, using the rate of return on
96	96	investment established in the commission's final order in the
97	97	utility's most recent base rate proceeding; and
98	98	(2) a transmission and distribution utility that
99	99	procures, owns, and operates facilities under Subsection (b)(2) to
100	100	recover the reasonable and necessary costs of procuring, owning,
101	101	and operating the facilities, using the rate of return on
102	102	investment established in the commission's final order in the
103	103	utility's most recent base rate proceeding.
104	104	(i) The commission shall authorize a transmission and
105	105	distribution utility to defer for recovery in a future ratemaking
106	106	proceeding the incremental operations and maintenance expenses and
107	107	the return, not otherwise recovered in a rate proceeding,
108	108	associated with the leasing, [or] procurement, ownership, and
109	109	operation of the facilities.
110	110	(j) A transmission and distribution utility may request
111	111	recovery of the reasonable and necessary costs of leasing, [or]
112	112	procuring, owning, or [and] operating facilities under this
113	113	section, including any deferred expenses, through an expedited
114	114	periodic rate adjustment [a] proceeding under Section 36.210 or in
115	115	another ratemaking proceeding. The commission may review costs
116	116	recovered through a periodic rate adjustment in the following base
117	117	rate proceeding and order refunds to customers if appropriate.
118	118	(k) A transmission and distribution utility requesting cost
119	119	recovery under Subsection (j) is entitled to select whether the
120	120	costs are considered to be distribution substation equipment costs
121	121	or distribution transformer costs unless the commission has found
122	122	in a previous base rate proceeding for the utility that temporary
123	123	emergency electric energy costs should be categorized in a
124	124	different manner. A lease under Subsection (b)(1) must be treated
125	125	as a capital lease or finance lease for ratemaking purposes.
126	126	(l) The fact that the commission has not previously approved
127	127	a facility operated under this section or a cost of leasing,
128	128	procuring, owning, or operating a facility under this section is
129	129	not grounds for dismissal of the facility or the cost from a
130	130	proceeding under Section 36.210 or another ratemaking proceeding.
131	131	(m) If the capacity of facilities a transmission and
132	132	distribution utility operates under Subsection (b)(1) is less than
133	133	or equal to three percent of the utility's historical peak load, the
134	134	commission shall find that:
135	135	(1) the facilities are used and useful to the utility
136	136	in providing service; and
137	137	(2) the costs of leasing or owning and operating the
138	138	facilities are prudent, reasonable, and necessary.
139	139	[(k) This section expires September 1, 2029.]
140	140	SECTION 2. Section 502.146(b), Transportation Code, is
141	141	amended to read as follows:
142	142	(b) An owner is not required to register a vehicle that is
143	143	used only temporarily on the highways if the vehicle is:
144	144	(1) a farm trailer or farm semitrailer with a gross
145	145	weight of more than 4,000 pounds but not more than 34,000 pounds
146	146	that is used exclusively:
147	147	(A) to transport seasonally harvested
148	148	agricultural products or livestock from the place of production to
149	149	the place of processing, market, or storage;
150	150	(B) to transport farm supplies from the place of
151	151	loading to the farm; or
152	152	(C) for the purpose of participating in equine
153	153	activities or attending livestock shows, as defined by Section
154	154	87.001, Civil Practice and Remedies Code;
155	155	(2) machinery used exclusively for the purpose of
156	156	drilling water wells;
157	157	(3) oil well servicing or drilling machinery and if at
158	158	the time of obtaining the license plates, the applicant submits
159	159	proof that the applicant has a permit under Section 623.142; or
160	160	(4) construction machinery, including construction
161	161	machinery that is:
162	162	(A) owned by a transmission and distribution
163	163	utility as defined by Section 31.002, Utilities Code; and
164	164	(B) used to maintain or repair electrical lines
165	165	or substations in response to a power outage.
166	166	SECTION 3. The changes in law made by this Act apply only to
167	167	a proceeding before the Public Utility Commission of Texas, or
168	168	other regulatory authority described by Section 11.003, Utilities
169	169	Code, that commences on or after the effective date of this Act. A
170	170	proceeding before the Public Utility Commission of Texas or other
171	171	regulatory authority described by Section 11.003, Utilities Code,
172	172	that commenced before the effective date of this Act is governed by
173	173	the law in effect on the date the proceeding commenced, and that law
174	174	is continued in effect for that purpose.
175	175	SECTION 4. To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails
176	176	over another Act of the 88th Legislature, Regular Session, 2023,
177	177	relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
178	178	codes.
179	179	SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.