Bill Text: TX HB3595 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Engrossed


Bill Title: Relating to energy efficiency goals and energy efficiency programs.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 2-1)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2011-05-25 - Senate Amendments Analysis distributed [HB3595 Detail]

Download: Texas-2011-HB3595-Engrossed.html
 
 
  By: Chisum, Strama H.B. No. 3595
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to energy efficiency goals and energy efficiency programs.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Sections 39.905(a) and (d), Utilities Code, are
  amended to read as follows:
         (a)  It is the goal of the legislature that:
               (1)  electric utilities will administer energy
  efficiency incentive programs in a market-neutral,
  nondiscriminatory manner but will not offer underlying competitive
  services;
               (2)  all customers, in all customer classes, will have
  a choice of and access to energy efficiency alternatives and other
  choices from the market that allow each customer to reduce energy
  consumption, peak demand, or energy costs;
               (3)  each electric utility will provide, through
  market-based standard offer programs or through [limited,]
  targeted[,] market-transformation programs, incentives sufficient
  for retail electric providers and competitive energy service
  providers to acquire additional cost-effective energy efficiency
  for residential and commercial customers equivalent to at least:
                     (A)  10 percent of the electric utility's annual
  growth in demand of residential and commercial customers by
  December 31, 2007;
                     (B)  15 percent of the electric utility's annual
  growth in demand of residential and commercial customers by
  December 31, 2008, provided that the electric utility's program
  expenditures for 2008 funding may not be greater than 75 percent
  above the utility's program budget for 2007 for residential and
  commercial customers, as included in the April 1, 2006, filing; and
                     (C)  20 percent of the electric utility's annual
  growth in demand of residential and commercial customers by
  December 31, 2009, provided that the electric utility's program
  expenditures for 2009 funding may not be greater than 150 percent
  above the utility's program budget for 2007 for residential and
  commercial customers, as included in the April 1, 2006, filing;
               (4)  each electric utility in the ERCOT region shall
  use its best efforts to encourage and facilitate the involvement of
  the region's retail electric providers in the delivery of
  efficiency programs and demand response programs under this
  section;
               (5)  retail electric providers in the ERCOT region, and
  electric utilities outside of the ERCOT region, shall provide
  customers with energy efficiency educational materials; and
               (6)  notwithstanding Subsection (a)(3), electric
  utilities shall continue to make available, at 2007 funding and
  participation levels, any load management standard offer programs
  developed for industrial customers and implemented prior to May 1,
  2007.
         (d)  The commission shall establish a procedure for
  reviewing and evaluating market-transformation program options
  described by this subsection and other options. In evaluating
  program options, the commission may consider the ability of a
  program option to reduce costs to customers through reduced demand,
  energy savings, and relief of congestion. Utilities may choose to
  implement any program option approved by the commission after its
  evaluation in order to satisfy the goal in Subsection (a),
  including:
               (1)  energy-smart schools;
               (2)  appliance retirement and recycling;
               (3)  air conditioning system tune-ups;
               (4)  the installation of variable speed air
  conditioning systems, motors, and drives;
               (5)  the use of trees or other landscaping for energy
  efficiency;
               (6) [(5)]  customer energy management and demand
  response programs;
               (7) [(6)]  high performance residential and commercial
  buildings that will achieve the levels of energy efficiency
  sufficient to qualify those buildings for federal tax incentives;
               (8)  commissioning services for commercial and
  institutional buildings that result in operational and maintenance
  practices that reduce the buildings' energy consumption;
               (9) [(7)]  programs for customers who rent or lease
  their residence or commercial space;
               (10) [(8)]  programs providing energy monitoring
  equipment to customers that enable a customer to better understand
  the amount, price, and time of the customer's energy use;
               (11) [(9)]  energy audit programs for owners and other
  residents of single-family or multifamily residences and for small
  commercial customers;
               (12) [(10)]  net-zero energy new home programs;
               (13) [(11)]  solar thermal or solar electric programs;
  [and]
               (14) [(12)]  programs for using windows and other
  glazing systems, glass doors, and skylights in residential and
  commercial buildings that reduce solar gain by at least 30 percent
  from the level established for the federal Energy Star windows
  program;
               (15)  data center efficiency programs; and
               (16)  energy use programs with measurable and
  verifiable results that reduce energy consumption through
  behavioral changes that lead to efficient use patterns and
  practices.
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
  a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
  provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
  Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
  Act takes effect September 1, 2011.
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