88R13514 CXP-F
By: Turner H.B. No. 4647
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to programs to provide assistance for certain electric
customers.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 39.002, Utilities Code, as amended by
Chapters 908 (H.B. 4492) and 950 (S.B. 1580), Acts of the 87th
Legislature, Regular Session, 2021, is reenacted and amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 39.002. APPLICABILITY. This chapter, other than
Sections 39.151, 39.1516, 39.155, 39.157(e), 39.159, 39.160,
39.203, 39.9035, 39.9036, 39.904, 39.9051, 39.9052, and 39.914(e),
and Subchapters M and N, 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 2. Subchapter Z, Chapter 39, Utilities Code, is
amended by adding Sections 39.9035 and 39.9036 to read as follows:
Sec. 39.9035. EMERGENCY ON-SITE GENERATOR FUND. (a) In
this section, "fund" means the emergency on-site generator fund.
(b) The fund is an account in the general revenue fund.
Money in the account may be appropriated only for the program
described by Subsection (e) or as provided by other law.
(c) The fund consists of:
(1) money appropriated, credited, or transferred to
the fund by the legislature;
(2) gifts or grants contributed to the fund; and
(3) interest earned on deposits and investments of the
fund.
(d) The commission shall administer the fund.
(e) The commission shall establish a program to provide
funding to assist entities for whom electric service is considered
crucial for the protection or maintenance of public safety with
procuring emergency on-site generators or comparable emergency
on-site power sources for use during a power outage.
(f) Assistance under the fund may only be used to procure an
emergency on-site generator or comparable emergency on-site power
source that:
(1) has a capacity of less than 10 megawatts; and
(2) is not operated in parallel with the transmission
or distribution system.
(g) An entity that receives assistance under the fund to
procure an emergency on-site generator or comparable emergency
on-site power source:
(1) must use the equipment exclusively for power
consumption by the entity at the entity's facilities; and
(2) may not:
(A) sell any surplus power generated by the
equipment; or
(B) participate in a load reduction program for
compensation.
(h) The sale of an emergency on-site generator or comparable
emergency on-site power source to an entity eligible for assistance
under the fund is a competitive energy service.
(i) The commission shall adopt rules necessary to
administer this section, including rules establishing eligibility
criteria for assistance under the fund.
Sec. 39.9036. LOW-INCOME CRITICAL CARE RESIDENTIAL
CUSTOMER ASSISTANCE FUND. (a) In this section:
(1) "Critical care residential customer" has the
meaning assigned by Section 17.002.
(2) "Eligible device" means electrically powered
medical equipment that mechanically or artificially sustains life
or restores or replaces a vital physical function, including a home
dialysis machine or a home oxygen concentrator.
(3) "Fund" means the low-income critical care
residential customer assistance fund.
(4) "Low-income customer" means an electric customer
designated as a low-income customer under Section 17.007 and
commission rules.
(5) "Portable backup battery" means a back-up battery
system that is capable of being operated without being connected to
an electric service panel.
(b) The fund is an account in the general revenue fund.
Money in the account may be appropriated only for the program
described by Subsection (e) or as provided by other law.
(c) The fund consists of:
(1) money appropriated, credited, or transferred to
the fund by the legislature;
(2) gifts or grants contributed to the fund; and
(3) interest earned on deposits and investments of the
fund.
(d) The commission shall administer the fund.
(e) The commission shall establish a program to provide
funding to low-income critical care residential customers to secure
portable backup batteries to operate eligible devices in the
customers' homes during a power outage.
(f) Assistance under the fund may only be used to procure a
portable backup battery that when fully charged and operated
correctly is capable of running an eligible device for up to 48
hours.
(g) The sale or provision of a portable backup battery to a
person who receives assistance under the fund is a competitive
energy service.
(h) The commission may enable funding to be made available
to competitive energy service providers through an energy
efficiency program under Section 39.905.
(i) The commission shall adopt rules necessary to
administer this section.
SECTION 3. It is the intent of the 88th Legislature, Regular
Session, 2023, that the amendments made by this Act be harmonized
with another Act of the 88th Legislature, Regular Session, 2023,
relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
codes.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.