Texas Senate Passes Bill with Several Sunset Recommendations

The Texas Senate has passed SB 661, which includes many of the Sunset Commission's recommendations from its review of the Public Utility Commission of Texas.

Among other things, SB 661 would authorize the PUCT to issue cease and desist orders.

Additionally, the Senate engrossed bill would raise the maximum penalty per day for violations of an ERCOT reliability standard or, "commission rule relating to reliability in the wholesale electric market," to $100,000.

The bills would also expand and make explicit PUCT authority over ERCOT, including explicitly granting the Commission authority to approve ERCOT's budget as well as debt financing and refinancing.

The ERCOT Board would include a new unaffiliated member "who possesses financial expertise," plus one new unaffiliated member selected by the PUCT and another selected by the public utility counsel (or successor, should the office be folded into the PUCT as proposed in some legislation), but the current Board composition, including six market participant representatives, would generally remain.