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.