Updated: Texas House Bill Banning Wholesale Indexed Products In Retail Electric Market Passes Third Reading

Update, 3/31, 11:30 am ET:

HB 16, the ban on residential wholesale indexed products, has been passed by the House on third reading without further amendment. The bill as passed is described below.

HB 11, with a further clarifying amendment adopted on the floor this morning, has been passed by the House on third reading. The updated details on the bill, including specifics on the TDU-run load management program for non-residential customers, can be found in our updated story from this morning (click here)

HB 10, HB 12, and HB 13 have been passed by the House on third reading. The bills are described below.

All of these bills now move to the Senate

Earlier:

The Texas House has passed to engrossment, without amendment, HB 16, which provides that, "a retail electric provider may not offer a wholesale indexed product to a residential customer."

The bill defines "wholesale indexed product" as meaning, "a retail electric product in which the price a customer pays for electricity includes a direct pass-through of real-time settlement point prices determined by the independent organization certified under Section 39.151 for the ERCOT power region."

The bill is subject to a third reading and vote before moving to the Senate.

As previously reported, the Senate has already passed a comprehensive bill (SB 3) addressing the winter weather event which includes a provision banning REPs from offering wholesale indexed products, except that the SB 3 bans such plans for both residential and small commercial customers (unlike HB 16 which limits it to residential customers).

A Senate committee today also considered SB 1279, a stand-alone bill banning residential wholesale indexed products that is substantially similar to HB 16. As of publication time, the bill was left pending in committee

Other Bills

The House also passed to engrossment (subject to 3rd reading) an amended version of HB 11, which generally requires weatherization of generation.

Among the amendments adopted by the House is an amendment creating a program for the TDUs to reach an agreement with commercial customers under which such customers would shed load during emergencies. Text of the amendment was not immediately available

The program under the amendment was described as similar to the demand response programs in place at ERCOT with large industrial customers

The House also passed to engrossment the following bills:

• HB 10 - relating to changes in ERCOT governance. The bill replaces the current unaffiliated members with five members appointed by various political leaders, including three members appointed by the governor, at least

• HB 12 - relating to a study on a statewide disaster and extended power outage alert system and implementation of that system

• HB 13 - relating to the establishment of the Texas Energy Disaster Reliability Council.