Texas REPs: ERCOT Should Assume Ownership of Smart Meter Texas Portal

ERCOT should assume ownership of the Smart Meter Texas portal, a coalition of retail electric providers said in comments to the Public Utility Commission of Texas.

Currently, SMT is jointly owned and operated by Oncor, CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, AEP Texas, and Texas-New Mexico Power.

"Given the unique and integral role SMT performs as a common repository of and access point for AMS usage data in the ERCOT market, the REP Coalition contends a neutral arbiter should own, operate, budget, and fund the joint portal as a matter of policy. Transitioning this responsibility to such an entity will ensure greater transparency and more equitable participation in the operation of SMT to the benefit of the market as a whole," the REPs said.

"In the REP Coalition's view, ERCOT is the most logical entity to own, operate, budget, and fund the common portal moving forward."

"ERCOT is also in a unique position to achieve important market synergies by merging or otherwise synchronizing the SMT interval usage database with its own interval usage database used for settlement," the REPs said.

"Generally speaking, REPs' role with respect to cost, budgeting, timeline implementation, and prioritization matters affecting the governance of SMT is compromised under the current model, which significantly deviates from the normal ERCOT stakeholder process by giving one segment of affected market participants a greater balance of authority compared to another affected market segment. In other words, the TDUs possess considerable leverage over SMT matters under the current process compared to the REPs that use and rely upon the joint common portal," the REPs said.

"Eliminating the JDOA [Joint Development and Operating Agreement] Committee and SMT-DO's [Development Oversight Project] role in the future governance of SMT upon the transition to ERCOT would guarantee greater transparency in the decision-making process and would preclude select market participants from exercising 'veto power' or unilateral authority over SMT-related matters," the REPs said.

Under a transition to ERCOT ownership, "the ERCOT system administration fee could fund SMT's future capital expenditures and operating and maintenance (O&M) expenses," the REPs said

The ERCOT system administration fee is recovered from QSEs based on load share.

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The joint TDUs (AEP Texas Central, AEP Texas North, CenterPoint Energy Houston Electric, Oncor, and Texas-New Mexico Power) encouraged the transfer of SMT ownership to ERCOT.

ERCOT, however, said that its, "current systems and corresponding Protocols are not currently designed to undertake the ownership and/or operation of a joint portal," and said several issues should be addressed before any such transfer, including cost recovery and the impact on ERCOT's budget and fee.

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