By: Schwertner S.B. No. 1789
(In the Senate - Filed February 28, 2025; March 13, 2025,
read first time and referred to Committee on Business & Commerce;
April 14, 2025, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 10, Nays 0; April 14, 2025,
sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1789 By: Schwertner
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to electric service quality and reliability.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 36.402, Utilities Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (b-1) to read as follows:
(b-1) Notwithstanding Subsection (b), if an electric
utility fails to comply with the standards required by Section
38.006 and the utility's system is damaged by a weather-related
event or natural disaster, the commission may at the utility's next
rate proceeding reduce the utility's return on equity for
infrastructure used or installed to repair or replace the damaged
portion of the system.
SECTION 2. Section 38.005(b), Utilities Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) The commission may take appropriate enforcement action
under this section, including action against a utility, if any of
the utility's feeders with 10 or more customers has had a SAIDI or
SAIFI average that is more than 200 [300] percent greater than the
system average of all feeders during any two-year period[,
beginning in the year 2000]. In determining the appropriate
enforcement action, the commission shall consider:
(1) the feeder's operating and maintenance history;
(2) the cause of each interruption in the feeder's
service;
(3) the duration of each interruption in the feeder's
service;
(4) any action taken by a utility to address the
feeder's performance;
(5) [(4)] the estimated cost and benefit of
remediating a feeder's performance; and
(6) [(5)] any other relevant factor as determined by
the commission.
SECTION 3. Subchapter A, Chapter 38, Utilities Code, is
amended by adding Section 38.006 to read as follows:
Sec. 38.006. STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY STANDARDS FOR
TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION POLES. (a) This section applies
only to an electric utility, municipally owned utility, or electric
cooperative that operates transmission or distribution assets.
(b) The commission by rule shall adopt standards for the
structural integrity of transmission and distribution poles.
(c) The standards adopted under this section must:
(1) require an electric utility, municipally owned
utility, or electric cooperative to:
(A) inspect, maintain, remediate, and replace
transmission and distribution poles as necessary on a timeline
established by the commission; and
(B) maintain records of the actions described by
Paragraph (A);
(2) account for geographic and weather
characteristics of this state;
(3) consider national guidelines such as the National
Electrical Safety Code and guidelines developed by the Rural
Utilities Service of the United States Department of Agriculture;
(4) establish a classification system to assess the
serviceability of transmission and distribution poles that
accounts for pole maintenance and extending the service life of
transmission and distribution poles; and
(5) consider the characteristics of electric utility,
municipally owned utility, and electric cooperative transmission
and distribution systems throughout this state.
(d) Not later than May 1 of each year, each electric
utility, municipally owned utility, and electric cooperative shall
submit to the commission a report on:
(1) the implementation of the utility's or
cooperative's transmission and distribution pole maintenance
schedule;
(2) the results of the utility's or cooperative's
inspection of transmission and distribution poles, including the
number of poles inspected and any remediation or replacement action
taken; and
(3) any other information the commission requires.
SECTION 4. The heading to Subchapter E, Chapter 38,
Utilities Code, is amended to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER E. INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENT AND MAINTENANCE [REPORT]
SECTION 5. Section 38.101(a), Utilities Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(a) Not later than May 1 of each year, each electric utility
shall submit to the commission a report describing the utility's
activities related to:
(1) identifying areas that are susceptible to damage
during severe weather and hardening transmission and distribution
facilities in those areas; and
(2) vegetation management[; and
[(3) inspecting distribution poles].
SECTION 6. (a) The changes in law made by this Act to
Section 38.005, Utilities Code, apply only to an enforcement action
initiated by the Public Utility Commission of Texas on or after the
effective date of this Act. An enforcement action initiated before
the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect
immediately before the effective date of this Act, and the former
law is continued in effect for that purpose.
(b) In adopting rules under Section 38.006, Utilities Code,
as added by this Act, the Public Utility Commission of Texas shall
allow an electric utility, electric cooperative, or municipally
owned utility to complete any required inspection, remediation, or
replacement of transmission and distribution poles installed
before the effective date of the rules according to a reasonable
timeline approved by the commission that allows the utility or
cooperative to prioritize high-risk transmission and distribution
poles.
SECTION 7. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.
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