UTILITIES CODE
CHAPTER 38. REGULATION OF ELECTRIC SERVICES
SUBCHAPTER A. STANDARDS
§ 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, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997. Amended
by Acts1999, 76th Leg., ch. 405, § 34, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.
§ 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, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
§ 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, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
§ 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, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997. Amended
by Acts1999, 76th Leg., ch. 405, § 35, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.
§ 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 shall take appropriate enforcement
action under this section, including but not limited to action
against a utility if any feeder with 10 or more customers appears on
the utility's list of worst 10 percent performing feeders for any
two consecutive years or 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.
(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, § 36, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.
SUBCHAPTER B. PROHIBITIONS ON PREFERENCES AND DISCRIMINATION
§ 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, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
§ 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, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997. Amended
by Acts1999, 76th Leg., ch. 405, § 37, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.
SUBCHAPTER C. EXAMINATIONS, TESTS, AND INSPECTIONS
§ 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, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
§ 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, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
SUBCHAPTER D. IMPROVEMENTS IN SERVICE
§ 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, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997. Amended
by Acts1999, 76th Leg., ch. 405, § 38, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.
