Texas PUC Staff Proposes New Emergency Communication, Preparedness Requirements For Retail Electric Providers

Staff of the Texas PUC have filed a draft proposal for publication to adopt new 16 TAC §25.53, relating to emergency operations plans and the implementation of SB 3

Notable among the changes is that the Staff proposal would require a market participant (including REPs) to file an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) in its entirety with the Commission, and the draft rule outlines the required contents of an EOP. Under the current rules, entities could elect to file only a comprehensive summary of their emergency operations plan

Staff's proposal would require that, under an EOP, a REP must describe the procedures for communicating with the public, media, customers, and the commission and the procedures for handling complaints during an emergency

Furthermore, Staff proposed that a REP must include in its EOP the following annexes (sections of an emergency operations plan that address how an entity plans to respond to the incidence of a specific hazard or threat):

(A) A pandemic and epidemic annex;

(B) A hurricane annex that includes evacuation and re-entry procedures if facilities are located within a hurricane evacuation zone, as defined by the Texas Division of Emergency Management;

(C) A cyber security annex;

(D) A physical security incident annex; and

(E) Any additional annexes as needed or appropriate to the entity’s particular circumstances.

Under the Staff draft, an entity, including REPs, must conduct or participate in one or more drills annually to test its EOP if its EOP has not been implemented in response to an incident within the last 12 months

Project No. 51841