Texas Senate Passes Amended PUC Sunset Bill; Amendment On REP Market Share Cap Not Offered -- EnergyChoiceMatters.com

Texas Senate Passes Amended PUC Sunset Bill; Amendment On REP Market Share Cap Not Offered

Passed Bill Includes REP Demand Response Program Provisions; ADER

May 24, 2023

Email This Story
Copyright 2010-23 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

The following story is brought free of charge to readers by VertexOne, the exclusive EDI provider of EnergyChoiceMatters.com

The Texas Senate today passed HB 1500, the PUC sunset bill, with various amendments addressing a range of electricity policy issues

The Senate version differs from the House-passed version, and for final passage the House will need to either accept the Senate version, or the bill will need to go through the conference process

Most notable is that, in finale passage in the Senate, an amendment to HB 1500 to impose a 20% market share cap on retail electric providers (which, as previously reported, was contained in an earlier, separate bill this session before being struck) was ultimately not offered and not included in the bill

The Senate-passed version of HB 1500 does include a reporting requirement related to REP market share (again, language that was in earlier bills this session)

HB 1500 provides as follows:

Sec. 39.168. RETAIL SALES REPORT.
(a) Each retail electric provider that offers electricity for sale shall report to the commission:

(1) its annual retail sales in this state;
(2) the annual retail sales of its affiliates by number of customers, kilowatts per hour sold, and revenue from kilowatts per hour sold by customer class; and
(3) any other information the commission requires relating to affiliations between retail electric providers.

(b) The commission by rule shall prescribe the nature and detail of the reporting requirements. The commission may accept information reported under other law to satisfy the requirements of this section. Information reported under this section is confidential and not subject to disclosure if the information is competitively sensitive information. The commission shall administer the reporting requirements in a manner that ensures the confidentiality of competitively sensitive information.

HB 1500 as passed by the Senate was also amended to include various PCM guardrails, including the $1 billion cap using the language adopted by the House under SB7

HB 1500 as passed by the Senate also includes language from SB114 concerning retail electric provider demand response programs

The SB114 language incorporated into HB 1500 states as follows:

A customer is entitled ...
• to participation in demand response programs through retail electric providers that offer demand response programs; and
• to receive notice from the retail electric provider that serves the customer when the independent organization certified under Section 39.151 for the ERCOT power region issues an emergency energy alert.

Furthermore, the SB114 language incorporated into HB 1500 states as follows:

Sec. 39.919. AVERAGE TOTAL RESIDENTIAL LOAD REDUCTION
GOALS. (a) The commission by rule shall establish goals in the ERCOT power region to reduce the average total residential load.
(b) The rules adopted under Subsection (a) must provide for the adoption of a program that:

(1) provides demand response participation to residential customers where reasonably available;
(2) promotes the use of smart metering technology;
(3) is capable of responding to an emergency energy alert about low operating reserves issued by the independent organization certified under Section 39.151 for the ERCOT power region;
(4) provides opportunities for demand response providers to contract with retail electric providers to provide demand response services;
(5) ensures the program does not impact the critical needs of vulnerable populations;
(6) facilitates the widespread deployment of smart responsive appliances and devices in a manner that enables the customer's appliance or device to be enrolled as part of a demand response product or plan offered by a retail electric provider;
(7) establishes the method by which the components of the ratio described by Subsection (c) are calculated for purposes of determining whether the goals described by Subsection (a) have been achieved;
(8) provides for achievement of demand reductions within both summer and winter seasons; and
(9) allows a retail electric provider that offers a demand response program under this section to obtain funding for the demand response program through an energy efficiency incentive program established under Section 39.905.

(c) The goals described by Subsection (a) must be calculated as a ratio by dividing the amount of load reduced at peak demand by the total amount of demand, at the same time, of all residential customers who have responsive appliances or devices at their premises that reduce the electric consumption of the customers.

HB 1500 as passed by the Senate also includes language from SB1212 concerning aggregated distributed energy resources as well as provisions concerning the sale of energy from DERs to REPs if such energy is not sold at wholesale

Among other things, the language provides:

Sec. 39.9166. DISTRIBUTED ENERGY RESOURCES.
(a) A customer who purchases or leases a distributed energy resource or enters into a power purchase agreement for a distributed energy resource in the ERCOT power region is entitled to the information and disclosures required under Chapter 115, Business & Commerce Code, and is entitled to protection from fraudulent, unfair, misleading, or deceptive practices.
(b) An owner or operator of a distributed energy resource may provide energy or ancillary services in the wholesale market in the ERCOT power region.
(c) A person who owns or operates a distributed energy resource in an area in which customer choice has been introduced and is part of an aggregated distributed energy resource, or has not individually registered with the commission as its own power generation company, must sell the surplus electricity that is produced by the distributed energy resource and not consumed by the owner's premise to the retail electric provider that serves the premise's load at a value agreed to between the distributed energy resource owner and the retail electric provider that serves the premise's load. The value may be an agreed value based on the clearing price of energy or ancillary service at the time of day that the electricity is made available to the grid.
(d) A person who operates an aggregated distributed energy resource in an area in which customer choice has been introduced is subject to customer protection rules established by the commission under Chapter 17 and this chapter.
(e) The independent organization certified under Section 39.151 for the ERCOT power region shall adopt procedures to ensure that the amount of electricity purchased from a distributed energy resource owner under this section is accounted for when settling the total load served by the retail electric provider that serves that premise owner's load.
(f) A distributed energy resource owner that requests net metering services for purposes of this section must have metering devices capable of providing measurements consistent with the independent organization's settlement requirements.
(g) A transmission and distribution utility may provide to customers educational information regarding the technical requirements for the interconnection of distributed energy resources to the distribution system. The provision of information under this subsection is not considered a competitive energy service.
(h) This section does not apply to a purchase or agreement entered into under Section 39.914 or 39.916.

HB 1500 as passed by the Senate would also end the mandatory RPS for REPs in Texas, adopting language from SB 2014. A tracking system would remain in place for voluntary REC tracking

HB 1500 as passed by the Senate also includes language from SB1075 further confirming, and expanding the use cases for, the use of mobile generation by TDUs and TDU affiliates

ADVERTISEMENT
NEW Jobs on RetailEnergyJobs.com:
• NEW! -- Sales Support Specialist -- Retail Supplier
• Channel Sales Manager -- Retail Supplier
• Business Development Manager
• Operations Manager/Director -- Retail Supplier -- Texas

Email This Story

HOME