Round-Up: Another TX Bill To End GLO Power Program; Bill Addresses Microgrids At Muni Utilities
February 25,2019
Another bill (HB 2263) has been introduced into the Texas legislature to terminate the authority of the Texas General Land Office to sell retail electricity (currently done via a contracted REP) under the State Power Program
HB 2263 would allow the GLO, an entity operating under a contract with the General Land Office to continue to provide retail electric service under the terms of an agreement with a customer entered into before the effective date of the bill, but only until the date the agreement expires, except that, any such agreement may be extended to a date not later than January 1, 2024.
The bill would also provide that tax may not be imposed on the gross receipts from the sale of electricity to a public school district customer
Furthermore, the bill would require REPs to pass-through any such tax savings to customers as follows: "As soon as practicable after January 1, 2024, a retail
electric provider, as defined by Section 31.002, Utilities Code,
shall adjust the billing of a public school district customer to
reflect any decrease in the retail electric provider's tax
liability to this state if the decrease is attributable to the
exemption in Section 182.022(d), Tax Code, as added by this Act. An
adjustment must be made effective at the same time as the decrease
of tax liability or as soon after that decrease occurs as is
reasonably practicable."
SB 1012 has been introduced to the Texas legislature relating to the applicability of certain electric energy storage equipment requirements to municipally owned utilities and electric cooperatives.
Specifically, the bill provides that Subsection (b) of Section 35.152, Utilities Code, "does not require a municipally owned utility or an electric cooperative that owns or operates electric energy storage equipment or facilities described by Subsection (a) to register as a power generation company under Section 39.351(a)."
Subsection (a) holds that electric energy storage equipment or facilities that are intended to be used to sell energy or ancillary services at wholesale are generation assets.
Subsection (b), which under the bill would no longer apply to munis and co-ops, provides that the owner or operator of electric energy storage equipment or facilities that are generation assets under Subsection (a) is a power generation company and is required to register under Section 39.351(a).
SB 1003, addressing various grid security issues has been introduced into the Texas legislature
Notably, SB 1003 provides that a security commission established under the bill, "shall establish resilience standards for micro-grids and certify a micro-grid that meets the standards."
The bill further provides that, "The owner or operator of a micro-grid certified by the security commission is a power generation company and is required to register under Section 39.351(a)."