CHAPTER 38. REGULATION OF ELECTRIC SERVICES
UTILITIES CODE
TITLE 2. PUBLIC UTILITY REGULATORY ACT
SUBTITLE B. ELECTRIC UTILITIES
CHAPTER 38. REGULATION OF ELECTRIC SERVICES
SUBCHAPTER A. STANDARDS
Sec. 38.001. GENERAL STANDARD. An electric utility and an
electric cooperative shall furnish service, instrumentalities,
and facilities that are safe, adequate, efficient, and
reasonable.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 405, Sec. 34, eff. Sept. 1,
1999.
Sec. 38.002. AUTHORITY OF REGULATORY AUTHORITY CONCERNING
STANDARDS. A regulatory authority, on its own motion or on
complaint and after reasonable notice and hearing, may:
(1) adopt just and reasonable standards, classifications, rules,
or practices an electric utility must follow in furnishing a
service;
(2) adopt adequate and reasonable standards for measuring a
condition, including quantity, quality, pressure, and initial
voltage, relating to the furnishing of a service;
(3) adopt reasonable rules for examining, testing, and measuring
a service; and
(4) adopt or approve reasonable rules, specifications, and
standards to ensure the accuracy of equipment, including meters
and instruments, used to measure a service.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
Sec. 38.003. RULE OR STANDARD. (a) An electric utility may not
impose a rule except as provided by this title.
(b) An electric utility may file with the regulatory authority a
standard, classification, rule, or practice the utility follows.
(c) The standard, classification, rule, or practice continues in
force until:
(1) amended by the utility; or
(2) changed by the regulatory authority as provided by this
title.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
Sec. 38.004. MINIMUM CLEARANCE STANDARD. Notwithstanding any
other law, a transmission or distribution line owned by an
electric utility or an electric cooperative must be constructed,
operated, and maintained, as to clearances, in the manner
described by the National Electrical Safety Code Standard ANSI
(c)(2), as adopted by the American National Safety Institute and
in effect at the time of construction.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 405, Sec. 35, eff. Sept. 1,
1999.
Sec. 38.005. ELECTRIC SERVICE RELIABILITY MEASURES. (a) The
commission shall implement service quality and reliability
standards relating to the delivery of electricity to retail
customers by electric utilities and transmission and distribution
utilities. The commission by rule shall develop reliability
standards, including:
(1) the system-average interruption frequency index (SAIFI);
(2) the system-average interruption duration index (SAIDI);
(3) achievement of average response time for customer service
requests or inquiries; or
(4) other standards that the commission finds reasonable and
appropriate.
(b) The commission may take appropriate enforcement action under
this section, including action against a utility, if any of the
utility's feeders with 10 or more customers has had a SAIDI or
SAIFI average that is more than 300 percent greater than the
system average of all feeders during any two-year period,
beginning in the year 2000. In determining the appropriate
enforcement action, the commission shall consider:
(1) the feeder's operating and maintenance history;
(2) the cause of each interruption in the feeder's service;
(3) any action taken by a utility to address the feeder's
performance;
(4) the estimated cost and benefit of remediating a feeder's
performance; and
(5) any other relevant factor as determined by the commission.
(c) The standards implemented under Subsection (a) shall require
each electric utility and transmission and distribution utility
subject to this section to maintain adequately trained and
experienced personnel throughout the utility's service area so
that the utility is able to fully and adequately comply with the
appropriate service quality and reliability standards.
(d) The standards shall ensure that electric utilities do not
neglect any local neighborhood or geographic area, including
rural areas, communities of less than 1,000 persons, and
low-income areas, with regard to system reliability.
(e) The commission may require each electric utility and
transmission and distribution utility to supply data to assist
the commission in developing the reliability standards.
(f) Each electric utility, transmission and distribution
utility, electric cooperative, municipally owned utility, and
generation provider shall be obligated to comply with any
operational criteria duly established by the independent
organization as defined by Section 39.151 or adopted by the
commission.
Added by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 405, Sec. 36, eff. Sept. 1,
1999.
Amended by:
Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch.
424, Sec. 1, eff. June 19, 2009.
SUBCHAPTER B. PROHIBITIONS ON PREFERENCES AND DISCRIMINATION
Sec. 38.021. UNREASONABLE PREFERENCE OR PREJUDICE CONCERNING
SERVICE PROHIBITED. In providing a service to persons in a
classification, an electric utility may not:
(1) grant an unreasonable preference or advantage to a person in
the classification; or
(2) subject a person in the classification to an unreasonable
prejudice or disadvantage.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
Sec. 38.022. DISCRIMINATION AND RESTRICTION ON COMPETITION. An
electric utility may not:
(1) discriminate against a person or electric cooperative who
sells or leases equipment or performs services in competition
with the electric utility; or
(2) engage in a practice that tends to restrict or impair that
competition.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 405, Sec. 37, eff. Sept. 1,
1999.
SUBCHAPTER C. EXAMINATIONS, TESTS, AND INSPECTIONS
Sec. 38.051. EXAMINATION AND TEST OF INSTRUMENT OR EQUIPMENT;
INSPECTION. (a) A regulatory authority may:
(1) examine and test equipment, including meters and
instruments, used to measure service of an electric utility; and
(2) set up and use on the premises occupied by an electric
utility an apparatus or appliance necessary for the examination
or test.
(b) The electric utility is entitled to be represented at an
examination, test, or inspection made under this section.
(c) The electric utility and its officers and employees shall
facilitate the examination, test, or inspection by giving
reasonable aid to the regulatory authority and to any person
designated by the regulatory authority for the performance of
those duties.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
Sec. 38.052. INSPECTION FOR CONSUMER. (a) A consumer may have
a meter or other measuring device tested by an electric utility:
(1) once without charge, after a reasonable period of presumed
accuracy the regulatory authority establishes by rule; and
(2) at a shorter interval on payment of a reasonable fee
established by the regulatory authority.
(b) The regulatory authority shall establish reasonable fees to
be paid for other examining or testing of a measuring device on
the request of a consumer.
(c) If the consumer requests the test under Subsection (a)(2)
and the measuring device is found unreasonably defective or
incorrect to the substantial disadvantage of the consumer, the
fee the consumer paid at the time of the request shall be
refunded.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
SUBCHAPTER D. IMPROVEMENTS IN SERVICE
Sec. 38.071. IMPROVEMENTS IN SERVICE; INTERCONNECTING SERVICE.
The commission, after notice and hearing, may:
(1) order an electric utility to provide specified improvements
in its service in a specified area if:
(A) service in the area is inadequate or substantially inferior
to service in a comparable area; and
(B) requiring the company to provide the improved service is
reasonable; or
(2) order two or more electric utilities or electric
cooperatives to establish specified facilities for
interconnecting service.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 405, Sec. 38, eff. Sept. 1,
1999.
Sec. 38.073. AUTHORITY OF COMMISSION DURING AN EMERGENCY. (a)
On a declaration of a natural disaster or other emergency by the
governor, the commission may require an electric utility,
municipally owned utility, electric cooperative, qualifying
facility, power generation company, exempt wholesale generator,
or power marketer to sell electricity to an electric utility,
municipally owned utility, or electric cooperative that is unable
to supply power to meet customer demand due to the natural
disaster or other emergency. Any plant, property, equipment, or
other items used to receive or deliver electricity under this
subsection are used and useful in delivering service to the
public, and the commission shall allow timely recovery for the
costs of those items. The commission may order an electric
utility, municipally owned utility, or electric cooperative to
provide interconnection service to another electric utility,
municipally owned utility, or electric cooperative to facilitate
a sale of electricity under this section. If the commission does
not order the sale of electricity during a declared emergency as
described by this subsection, the commission shall promptly
submit to the legislature a report describing the reasons why the
commission did not make that order.
(b) If an entity receives electricity under Subsection (a), the
receiving entity shall reimburse the supplying entity for the
actual cost of providing the electricity. The entity receiving
the electricity is responsible for any transmission and
distribution service charges specifically incurred in relation to
providing the electricity.
(c) An entity that pays for electricity received under
Subsection (b) and that is regulated by the commission may fully
recover the cost of the electricity in a timely manner by:
(1) including the cost in the entity's fuel cost under Section
36.203; or
(2) notwithstanding Section 36.201, imposing a different
surcharge.
Added by Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch.
1280, Sec. 2.02, eff. September 1, 2009.
SUBCHAPTER E. INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENT AND MAINTENANCE REPORT
Sec. 38.101. REPORT ON INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENT AND
MAINTENANCE. (a) Not later than May 1 of each year, each
electric utility shall submit to the commission a report
describing the utility's activities related to:
(1) identifying areas that are susceptible to damage during
severe weather and hardening transmission and distribution
facilities in those areas;
(2) vegetation management; and
(3) inspecting distribution poles.
(b) Each electric utility shall include in a report required
under Subsection (a) a summary of the utility's activities
related to preparing for emergency operations.
Added by Acts 2009, 81st Leg., R.S., Ch.
1280, Sec. 2.03, eff. September 1, 2009.