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Relating to the authority of the Public Utility Commission of Texas to restrict participation in the retail electric markey for significant violations.
SB 777, if passed, would modify the Utilities Code (Section
39.356) by granting the Public Utility Commission the power to restrict
participation in the retail electric market. Specifically, the bill would state
that if a party has had its retail electric certificate revoked or suspended
under this section it will be prohibited, after notice of a hearing, from
participating in the retail electric market in Texas.
SB 777 is an egregious bill in that it would give too much
authority to the Public Utility Commission. We feel that the authority given to
the PUC under the current regime is sufficient. This bill would make it
possible to prevent employees of a given retail electric provider from
participation in the electrical market for potentially tenuous reasons,
violations which the individual should “reasonably” have known about, or
amending of certificates on the part of the PUC. Though due process components are
included in the bill we feel that these do not effectively counteract its
negative effects. Beyond this, the SB 777 represents unnecessary expansion of
PUC power. For this reason, and due to its restriction on individual
participation in the market, we oppose SB 777.