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HB 1500, the PUCT and ERCOT Sunset bill, passed the Senate this evening after adding 15 amendments. Many of the amendments were bills previously filed by the Senate which may or may not have passed in the House. Chairman Schwertner acknowledged that a few were House-initiated ideas adopted by the Senate. The amendments will need to be sorted out through conference committee by both chambers for HB 1500 to move to the Governor’s desk. See below for a HillCo Report spotlighting the deliberations.

This report is intended to give you an overview and highlight the various topics taken up. It is not a verbatim transcript of the discussions but is based upon what was audible or understandable to the observer.

HB 1500 (Holland) Relating to the continuation and functions of the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Office of Public Utility Counsel, and the functions of the independent organization certified for the ERCOT power region; increasing an administrative penalty

  • Schwertner – Includes other bills as part of the CS, including SB 2010, SB 2011, SB 2012, and SB 7
  • Schwertner – Will have amendments, including HBs that have passed and not passed, but have been discussed with House members & are important for implementation of PCM
  • FA 1 Schwertner – Further protects independence of the IMM
    • FA 1 adopted
  • FA 2 Schwertner – Allows for greater transparency when PUC takes action and directs ERCOT to take action through written order or memorandum; requires directives to have majority vote and to be brought before the PUC
    • FA 2 adopted
  • FA 3 Schwertner – Requires when generation resources have an unplanned interruption, must give notice within 3 days after service is restored and provide reasons why unplanned interruption occurred
    • FA 3 adopted
  • FA 4 Schwertner – Not explained, withdrawn
  • FA 5 Schwertner – Prohibits generator participating in PCM service from retiring dispatchable generation without approval from PUC or required by federal law
    • FA 5 adopted (19-11)
  • FA 6 Schwertner – FA from the House side changes “may” to “must;” adherence to VMP must be considered in if a violation occurred
    • FA 6 adopted
  • FA 7 Schwertner – Allows ERCOT to discuss matters of risk management in executive closed session
    • FA 7 adopted
  • FA 8 Schwertner – Has to do with PCM cap; House changed cap to $1b with adjustments, matches the House cap with adjustments structure
    • FA 8 adopted
  • FA 9 King – SB 1287*, died due to POO in House; PUC to set allowance for interconnection, if cost exceeds that the generation company will bear this
    • King – Interconnects can cost $1m/mile, 100% passed onto customers; because costs are not shared by generators, no incentive to locate next to end users
    • Has been heavily negotiated with renewables, others
    • FA 9 adopted (21-9)
  • FA 10 King – SB 2014*, takes mandatory REC program & makes it voluntary
    • Schwertner – Good bill that passed out of Senate with overwhelming support
    • FA 10 adopted
  • FA 11 King – SB 1075*, was never set for House calendar, allows mobile generators to be deployed for disasters
    • FA 11 adopted
  • FA 12 Menendez – SB 114*, demand response bill for residential and small business customers; allows providers to create program to give goals for average overall load
    • Menendez – Would increase reliability immediately
    • Schwertner – Already tacked on to SB 1699, but agreeable to accept amendment
    • FA 12 adopted
  • FA 13 Kolkhorst – Scaled down version of SB 624*, requires wind & solar installations to be permitted when located less than 10 miles from certain protected sites, solar less than 5 miles; includes Sen. Miles’ amendment exempting solar facilities in home rule cities; requires fee paid into renewable energy generation fund
    • Johnson – Objects, appropriate for an interim study
    • Menendez – Looking at list of committee amendments, which one is this one?
      • Kolkhorst – T for “terrific”
    • Schwertner – Requires permitting for renewables and balances with property rights; fairly contentious, but one I support
    • FA 13 adopted (21-9)
  • FA 14 Johnson – SB 1212*, ushering in new regulatory regime for distributed energy resources
    • FA 14 adopted
  • FA 15 Johnson – Back couple of pages from SB 2112*, Texas Power Promise bill, rest was absorbed into HB 2627; study for chopping grid into smaller pieces to possibly rotate outages if needed
    • FA 15 adopted
  • FA 16 Eckhardt – SB 258*, raises Texas’ energy efficient goals to achieve 1% energy savings annually by investing in consumer side energy efficiency; PUC would implement, has cost caps and good cause exemptions
    • Eckhardt – Appreciate Sen. Schwertner working on compromise language which is reflected in the amendment
    • Schwertner – House had no appetite for this so better to leave off the PUC bill
    • FA 16 fails (11-19)
  • FA 17 Schwertner – SB 7 had a reliability or firming requirement, mirrors what the House did on this by requiring it for new dispatchable and non-dispatchable generation, also requires PUC to look back to see if it is feasible for legacy generation
    • FA 17 adopted
  • Passed to third reading
  • Finally passed (30-0)