84R4406 DDT-F
 
  By: Krause H.B. No. 962
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the regulation of the amount of installed electric
  generation capacity.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 39.001, Utilities Code, is amended by
  amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (d-1) to read as
  follows:
         (a)  The legislature finds that the production and sale of
  electricity is not a monopoly warranting regulation of rates,
  operations, and services and that the public interest in
  competitive electric markets requires that, except for
  transmission and distribution services and for the recovery of
  stranded costs, generation capacity and electric services and their
  prices should be determined by customer choices and the normal
  forces of competition. As a result, this chapter is enacted to
  protect the public interest during the transition to and in the
  establishment of a fully competitive electric power industry.
         (d-1)  The legislature finds that the amount of installed
  generation capacity is best determined by investor, generator, and
  customer choices through the normal forces of competition. As a
  result, regulatory authorities may not mandate or otherwise
  regulate the amount of installed generation capacity or require a
  surplus or reserve of installed generation capacity above actual or
  forecasted levels of load.
         SECTION 2.  Section 39.152(a), Utilities Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (a)  The commission shall certify a power region if:
               (1)  a sufficient number of interconnected utilities in
  the power region fall under the operational control of an
  independent organization as described by Section 39.151; and
               (2)  the power region has a generally applicable tariff
  that guarantees open and nondiscriminatory access for all users to
  transmission and distribution facilities in the power region as
  provided by Section 39.203[; and
               [(3)     no person owns and controls more than 20 percent
  of the installed generation capacity located in or capable of
  delivering electricity to a power region, as determined according
  to Section 39.154].
         SECTION 3.  Section 39.262(d), Utilities Code, is amended to
  read as follows:
         (d)  The affiliated power generation company shall
  reconcile, and either credit or bill to the transmission and
  distribution utility, the net sum of:
               (1)  the former electric utility's final fuel balance
  determined under Section 39.202(c); and
               (2)  any difference between the price of power obtained
  through the capacity auctions under Section [Sections] 39.153 and
  former Section 39.156 and the power cost projections that were
  employed for the same time period in the ECOM model to estimate
  stranded costs in the proceeding under Section 39.201.
         SECTION 4.  Sections 39.152(d), 39.153(d), 39.154, 39.156,
  39.157(c), and 39.158(a), Utilities Code, are repealed.
         SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.