Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared this week the correction of any billing errors related to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) as an emergency item for the 87th Legislative Session. The emergency item includes any inaccurate excessive charges and any issues regarding ancillary service prices.
Statewide electricity reform is among the top priorities for both the House and this Session, as noted by the number of bills filed or planning to be filed deal with the recent electricity outages and water shortages experienced by millions of Texans. Many bills propose instituting changes with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), mandating the proper winterization of electric generation equipment and creating consumer surge price protections. While not every piece of legislation may pass, the language in each bill and content may be included in a larger omnibus bill that will eventually make it all the way through the process to the Governor’s desk for signing.
Earlier this week, Speaker Dade Phelan announced the following bipartisan reform package of bills:
HB10 (Paddie-R) - Reforming ERCOT Leadership: Restructures the ERCOT board, replacing the unaffiliated members with members appointed by the Governor, Lt. Governor, and Speaker of the House. HB10 also requires all board members to reside in the state of Texas and creates an additional ERCOT board member slot to represent consumer interests.
HB11 (Paddie-R) - Protecting Consumers and Hardening Facilities for Extreme Weather: Requires electric transmission and generation facilities in this state to be weatherized against the spectrum of extreme weather Texas may face. Utilities will be required to reconnect service as soon as possible and prevent slower reconnections for low-income areas, rural Texas, and small communities.
HB12 (Raymond-D) - Alerting Texans During Emergencies: Creates a statewide disaster alert system administered by Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) to alert Texans across the state about impending disasters and extreme weather events. The alerts will also provide targeted information on extended power outages to the state's regions most affected. This system builds off the model used in Amber, Silver, and Blue Alert systems.
HB13 (Paddie-R) - Improving Coordination During Disasters: Establishes a council composed of ERCOT, Public Utility Commission of Texas, Railroad Commission, and TDEM leaders to coordinate during a disaster. The committee will identify challenges with fuel supplies, repairs, energy operations and prevent service interruptions from the wellhead to the consumer.
HB14 (Goldman-R) - Weatherizing Natural Gas Infrastructure: Requires the Railroad Commission to adopt rules requiring gas pipeline operators to implement measures that ensure service quality and reliability during an extreme weather emergency, which covers winter and heat wave conditions.
HB16 (Hernandez-D) - Defending Ratepayers: Bans variable rate products like Griddy for residential customers. These types of speculative plans resulted exorbitant bills. This bill will provide consumer protection to residential customers while still allowing the competitive market to flourish.
HB17 (Deshotel-D) - Protecting Homeowner Rights: Prevents any political subdivision or planning authority from adopting or enforcing an ordinance, regulation, code, or policy that would prohibit the connection of residential or commercial buildings to specific infrastructure based on the type or source of energy that will be delivered to the end user.
According to Speaker Dade Phelan, the Texas House is focused on “protecting consumers, fortifying our grid, and creating clear lines of communication and authority during extreme weather events.” Similarly, Senate Bills 2 and 3 relate to ERCOT reform and power grid stability, respectively, as outlined by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
Count on your Chamber to keep you updated. For more information, contact Stephanie Reyes, VP of Public Policy at sreyes@sachamber.org or by phone at 210-229-2162.
