Texas House Passes Amended Versions Of Senate Bills On PUC, ERCOT Composition

The Texas House has passed amended versions of Senate bills addressing the composition of the Texas PUC and ERCOT governance

SB 2154

The House passed on third reading an amended version of SB 2154, a bill which would change the composition of the Texas PUC. The Senate must concur with the changes, or the bill must be addressed in conference, in order to be sent to the governor

Under the amended House version, "At least one [PUC] commissioner must be well informed and qualified in the field of public interest advocacy and have a background in representing the interests of customers of utilities."

SB 2154 would increase the number of PUC Commissioners from three to five, and make other qualification changes

SB 2

The House has passed on third reading an amended version of SB 2, requiring that the Senate concur with the changes, or for the bill to go to conference, in order to be sent to the governor

SB 2 largely addresses ERCOT governance and board compositions

However, one other notable provision of SB 2 is that rules adopted by ERCOT may not take effect before receiving PUC approval

In terms of the ERCOT board, the bill provides that the REP segment board member shall not be affiliated with an independent generator

In a change from the Senate bill, the House version of SB 2 would allow the five unaffiliated ERCOT board members to be chosen by the other Board members, but be subject to PUC approval, as well as approval from a majority of the governor, the lieutenant governor, and the speaker of the house of representatives.

The Senate-passed version would have the governor appoint the unaffiliated ERCOT board members