UTILITIES CODE
TITLE 3. GAS REGULATION
SUBTITLE A. GAS UTILITY REGULATORY ACT
CHAPTER 101. GENERAL PROVISIONS AND OFFICE OF PUBLIC UTILITY
COUNSEL
SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
§ 101.001. SHORT TITLE. This subtitle may be cited as
the Gas Utility Regulatory Act.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
§ 101.002. PURPOSE AND FINDINGS. (a) This subtitle is
enacted to protect the public interest inherent in the rates and
services of gas utilities. The purpose of this subtitle is to
establish a comprehensive and adequate regulatory system for gas
utilities to assure rates, operations, and services that are just
and reasonable to the consumers and to the utilities.
(b) Gas utilities are by definition monopolies in the areas
they serve. As a result, the normal forces of competition that
regulate prices in a free enterprise society do not operate. Public
agencies regulate utility rates, operations, and services as a
substitute for competition.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
§ 101.003. DEFINITIONS. In this subtitle:
(1) "Affected person" means:
(A) a gas utility affected by an action of a
regulatory authority;
(B) a person whose utility service or rates are
affected by a proceeding before a regulatory authority; or
(C) a person who:
(i) is a competitor of a gas utility with
respect to a service performed by the utility; or
(ii) wants to enter into competition with a
gas utility.
(2) "Affiliate" means:
(A) a person who directly or indirectly owns or
holds at least five percent of the voting securities of a gas
utility;
(B) a person in a chain of successive ownership
of at least five percent of the voting securities of a gas utility;
(C) a corporation that has at least five percent
of its voting securities owned or controlled, directly or
indirectly, by a gas utility;
(D) a corporation that has at least five percent
of its voting securities owned or controlled, directly or
indirectly, by:
(i) a person who directly or indirectly
owns or controls at least five percent of the voting securities of a
gas utility; or
(ii) a person in a chain of successive
ownership of at least five percent of the voting securities of a gas
utility;
(E) a person who is an officer or director of a
gas utility or of a corporation in a chain of successive ownership
of at least five percent of the voting securities of a gas utility;
or
(F) a person determined to be an affiliate under
Section 101.004.
(3) "Allocation" means the division among
municipalities or among municipalities and unincorporated areas of
the plant, revenues, expenses, taxes, and reserves of a gas utility
used to provide gas utility service in a municipality or for a
municipality and unincorporated areas.
(4) "Corporation" means a domestic or foreign
corporation, joint-stock company, or association, and each lessee,
assignee, trustee, receiver, or other successor in interest of the
corporation, company, or association, that has any of the powers or
privileges of a corporation not possessed by an individual or
partnership. The term does not include a municipal corporation,
except as expressly provided by this subtitle.
(5) "Counsellor" means the chief executive of the
Office of Public Utility Counsel.
(6) "Facilities" means all of the plant and equipment
of a gas utility and includes the tangible and intangible property,
without limitation, owned, operated, leased, licensed, used,
controlled, or supplied for, by, or in connection with the business
of the gas utility.
(7) "Gas utility" includes a person or river authority
that owns or operates for compensation in this state equipment or
facilities to transmit or distribute combustible hydrocarbon
natural gas or synthetic natural gas for sale or resale in a manner
not subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission under the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. Section 717 et
seq.). The term includes a lessee, trustee, or receiver of a gas
utility. The term does not include:
(A) a municipal corporation;
(B) a person or river authority to the extent the
person or river authority:
(i) produces, gathers, transports, or sells
natural gas or synthetic natural gas under Section 121.004 or
121.005;
(ii) distributes or sells liquefied
petroleum gas; or
(iii) transports, delivers, or sells
natural gas for fuel for irrigation wells or any other direct
agricultural use;
(C) a person to the extent the person:
(i) sells natural gas for use as vehicle
fuel;
(ii) sells natural gas to a person who later
sells the natural gas for use as vehicle fuel; or
(iii) owns or operates equipment or
facilities to sell or transport natural gas for ultimate use as
vehicle fuel; or
(D) a person not otherwise a gas utility who
furnishes gas or gas service only to itself, its employees, or its
tenants as an incident of employment or tenancy, if the gas or gas
service is not resold to or used by others.
(8) "Municipally owned utility" means a utility owned,
operated, and controlled by a municipality or by a nonprofit
corporation the directors of which are appointed by one or more
municipalities.
(9) "Order" means all or a part of a final disposition
by a regulatory authority in a matter other than rulemaking,
without regard to whether the disposition is affirmative or
negative or injunctive or declaratory. The term includes the
setting of a rate.
(10) "Person" includes an individual, a partnership of
two or more persons having a joint or common interest, a mutual or
cooperative association, a limited liability company, and a
corporation.
(11) "Proceeding" means a hearing, investigation,
inquiry, or other procedure for finding facts or making a decision
under this subtitle. The term includes a denial of relief or
dismissal of a complaint.
(12) "Rate" means:
(A) any compensation, tariff, charge, fare,
toll, rental, or classification that is directly or indirectly
demanded, observed, charged, or collected by a gas utility for a
service, product, or commodity described in the definition of gas
utility in this section; and
(B) a rule, regulation, practice, or contract
affecting the compensation, tariff, charge, fare, toll, rental, or
classification.
(13) "Regulatory authority" means either the railroad
commission or the governing body of a municipality, in accordance
with the context.
(14) "Service" has its broadest and most inclusive
meaning. The term includes any act performed, anything supplied,
and any facilities used or supplied by a gas utility in the
performance of the utility's duties under this subtitle to its
patrons, employees, other gas utilities, and the public. The term
also includes the interchange of facilities between two or more gas
utilities.
(15) "State agency" has the meaning assigned by
Section 572.002, Government Code, to the extent the state agency
must obtain the approval described by Section 31.401(a), Natural
Resources Code.
(16) "Test year" means the most recent 12 months,
beginning on the first day of a calendar or fiscal year quarter, for
which operating data for a gas utility are available.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997. Amended
by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 11, § 1, eff. May 3, 1999.
§ 101.004. PERSON DETERMINED TO BE AFFILIATE. (a) The
railroad commission may determine that a person is an affiliate for
purposes of this subtitle if the railroad commission after notice
and hearing finds that the person:
(1) actually exercises substantial influence or
control over the policies and actions of a gas utility;
(2) is a person over which a gas utility exercises the
control described by Subdivision (1);
(3) is under common control with a gas utility; or
(4) actually exercises substantial influence over the
policies and actions of a gas utility in conjunction with one or
more persons with whom the person is related by ownership or blood
relationship, or by action in concert, that together they are
affiliated with the gas utility within the meaning of this section
even though neither person may qualify as an affiliate
individually.
(b) For purposes of Subsection (a)(3), "common control with
a gas utility" means the direct or indirect possession of the power
to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies of
another, without regard to whether that power is established
through ownership or voting of securities or by any other direct or
indirect means.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
§ 101.005. ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE. Chapter 2001,
Government Code, applies to a proceeding under this subtitle except
to the extent inconsistent with this subtitle.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
§ 101.006. CUMULATIVE EFFECT; APPLICATION TO GAS
UTILITIES. (a) This subtitle is cumulative of laws existing on
September 1, 1983, relating to the jurisdiction, power, or
authority of the railroad commission over a gas utility, and,
except as specifically in conflict with this subtitle, that
jurisdiction, power, and authority are not limited by this
subtitle.
(b) This subtitle applies to all gas utilities, including a
gas utility that is under the jurisdiction, power, or authority of
the railroad commission in accordance with a law other than this
subtitle.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
§ 101.007. LIBERAL CONSTRUCTION. This subtitle shall
be construed liberally to promote the effectiveness and efficiency
of regulation of gas utilities to the extent that this construction
preserves the validity of this subtitle and its provisions.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
§ 101.008. CONSTRUCTION WITH FEDERAL AUTHORITY. This
subtitle shall be construed to apply so as not to conflict with any
authority of the United States.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
SUBCHAPTER B. OFFICE OF PUBLIC UTILITY COUNSEL
§ 101.051. OFFICE OF PUBLIC UTILITY COUNSEL. The
independent office of public utility counsel represents the
interests of residential consumers.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
§ 101.052. OFFICE POWERS AND DUTIES. (a) The office:
(1) may appear or intervene as a party or otherwise
represent residential consumers, as a class, in appeals to the
railroad commission only at the written request of an affected
municipality's governing body;
(2) may initiate or intervene as a matter of right or
otherwise appear in a judicial proceeding that involves an action
taken by the railroad commission in a proceeding in which the office
was a party;
(3) is entitled to the same access as a party, other
than railroad commission staff, to records gathered by the railroad
commission under Section 102.203;
(4) is entitled to discovery of any nonprivileged
matter that is relevant to the subject matter of a proceeding or
petition before the railroad commission;
(5) may represent an individual residential consumer
with respect to the consumer's disputed complaint concerning
utility services that is unresolved before the railroad commission;
and
(6) may recommend legislation to the legislature that
the office determines would positively affect the interests of
residential consumers.
(b) The office may represent only as a class the residential
consumers of a municipality that makes a request under Subsection
(a)(1).
(c) This section does not limit the authority of the
railroad commission to represent residential consumers.
(d) The appearance of the counsellor in a proceeding does
not preclude the appearance of other parties on behalf of
residential consumers. The counsellor may not be grouped with any
other party.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
§ 101.053. PROHIBITED ACTS. (a) The counsellor may
not:
(1) have a direct or indirect interest in a gas utility
company regulated under this subtitle; or
(2) provide legal services directly or indirectly to
or be employed in any capacity by a gas utility company regulated
under this subtitle, its parent, or its subsidiary companies,
corporations, or cooperatives.
(b) The prohibition under Subsection (a) applies during the
period of the counsellor's service and until the first anniversary
of the date the counsellor ceases to serve as counsellor.
(c) This section does not prohibit a person from otherwise
engaging in the private practice of law after the person ceases to
serve as counsellor.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
§ 101.054. PERSONNEL. (a) The counsellor may employ
lawyers, economists, engineers, consultants, statisticians,
accountants, clerical staff, and other employees as the counsellor
determines necessary to carry out this subchapter.
(b) An employee receives compensation as prescribed by the
legislature from the assessment imposed by Subchapter A, Chapter
16.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
