By: Perry S.B. No. 1170
(Tepper)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the initiation of customer choice by municipally owned
utilities that provide electric service.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 40.053(c), (d), and (e), Utilities
Code, are amended to read as follows:
(c) On its initiation of customer choice, a municipally
owned utility may [shall] designate itself or one or more other
entities [another entity] as the provider or providers of last
resort for customers within the municipally owned utility's
certificated service area as that area existed on the date of the
utility's initiation of customer choice. The municipally owned
utility shall fulfill the role of default provider of last resort in
the event no other entity is available to act in that capacity if
the municipally owned utility continues to sell electric energy to
retail customers after the initiation of customer choice. The
municipally owned utility may delegate the authority to designate
the provider or providers of last resort to the commission.
(d) If a customer is unable to obtain service from a retail
electric provider or a municipally owned utility or electric
cooperative offering customer choice, on request by the customer,
the applicable provider of last resort shall offer the customer the
standard retail service package for the appropriate customer class,
with no interruption of service, at a fixed, nondiscountable rate
that is at least sufficient to cover the reasonable costs of
providing that service, as approved by the governing body of the
municipally owned utility that has the authority to set rates. If a
provider of last resort is designated by the commission, the
commission may set the rate each provider of last resort may charge.
(e) The governing body of a municipally owned utility may
establish the procedures and criteria for designating a [the]
provider of last resort and may redesignate a [the] provider of last
resort according to a schedule it considers appropriate. If the
municipally owned utility delegates authority to the commission
under Subsection (c), the commission is not required to comply with
procedures or criteria adopted by the municipally owned utility.
SECTION 2. Section 40.057(c), Utilities Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(c) A municipally owned utility that opts for customer
choice and does not sell electric energy to retail customers is not
required to bill directly for distribution, transmission, and
generation services provided to retail electric customers located
in its certificated service area. A retail electric provider may
provide billing services for distribution, transmission, and
generation services provided to those customers. [A customer that
is being provided wires service by a municipally owned utility at
distribution or transmission voltage and that is served by a retail
electric provider for retail service has the option of being billed
directly by each service provider or to receive a single bill for
distribution, transmission, and generation services from the
municipally owned utility.]
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2023.