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Texas Legal Services Center Agrees To "Join" The "Revised Stipulation" In Sempra-Oncor Merger Case; All Parties Now Support Merger

February 2, 2018

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Copyright 2010-17 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

Texas Legal Services Center has agreed to, "join the Revised Stipulation," governing the application for Sempra Energy to acquire Oncor, meaning that all parties to the case now support the merger under the terms of the Revised Stipulation

In a filing with the Texas PUC, counsel for Oncor stated, "I am pleased to report that Sempra Energy ('Sempra') and Oncor Electric Delivery Company LLC ('Oncor') have reached an agreement with Texas Legal Services Center ('TLSC') to resolve all issues in the above-referenced docket [the merger proceeding]. As part of the agreement, TLSC has agreed to withdraw its opposition to the Joint Application, withdraw its discovery requests, withdraw its request for a hearing, and join the Revised Stipulation, as a signatory (see attached [signature]). Oncor and Sempra are also withdrawing their motion to strike TLSC's testimony and pending discovery requests. With this development, the Revised Stipulation has the unanimous support of Commission Staff and the nine intervening parties, and there are no outstanding requests for a hearing. Sempra and Oncor respectfully request that the hearing currently scheduled for February 21st be cancelled and that the Revised Stipulation be presented to the Commission for consideration as soon as reasonably practicable."

Based on such wording, it appears TLSC has joined the revised stipulation filed with the Texas PUC on January 5, 2018, as opposed to a further revision to the stipulation being developed.

Similarly a news release from Sempra stated that, "all of the intervenors in the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) regulatory proceeding now support the settlement related to Sempra Energy's pending acquisition of Energy Future Holdings Corp. (EFH), including EFH's indirect, approximate 80-percent ownership of Oncor." [emphasis added]

"Texas Legal Services Center today joined the nine other Texas stakeholders who previously had signed on to the settlement agreement favoring the acquisition," Sempra said in the release

Of note, the January 5 revised stipulation does not include any specific mechanism regarding any bill credits to be issued under the stipulation nor does it include any mandate that retail electric providers pass-through such bill credits to customers. Rather, the January 5 revised stipulation provides that Sempra and Oncor will work in good faith with various stakeholders to, "determine an acceptable method for implementation of any bill credit to effectuate this agreement, as approved by the Commission."

See our prior story for a discussion of the rate credits in the revised stipulation (which largerly mirrored an earlier stipulation that was the subject of our story)

TLSC had previously sought, in now-withdrawn opposition to the revised stipulation, to require that REPs pass-through any bill credits to end users (or that such funds be directed to REP payment assistance programs).

Representatives of Oncor and Sempra could not immediately be reached for further clarification.

It is understood Sempra and Oncor agreed to provisions regarding certain low-income energy efficiency funding as part of TLSC joining the revised stipulation

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