Houston—Texas lawmakers have advanced several bills designed to avoid a recurrence of widespread power generation outages which occurred during mid-February storm, but legislators remain divided over how to ensure natural gas facilities are sufficiently weatherized.
One key piece of legislation is Senate Bill 3, an omnibus bill affecting emergency pricing, weatherization requirements and gas supply chain mapping. The state House approved an amended bill on May 24, but it excluded gas-system facilities used for non-power-generating purposes, such as liquefaction. If the Senate agrees with those changes, however, the bill could be submitted for Governor Greg Abbott's signature.Another issue is House Bill 3648, requiring the designation of certain gas facilities as critical infrastructure during an energy emergency. The Texas House rejected the Texas Senate's amended version of the bill on May 24 and instead appointed conferees to work to resolve differences in the two chambers' versions of the bill.
The main difference is that the Senate version limits liability for electric transmission and distribution system operators who comply with the bill's provision that excludes from rotating outages any gas facilities that supply generators.
ERCOT, PUC membership at issueOther storm-related bills that advanced over the weekend include bills that affect the qualification and composition of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas Board of Directors and the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
House Bill 10 pertains to the appointment of ERCOT board members who are not affiliated with ERCOT market participants, and it is awaiting a position on the full Senate's voting calendar.
Senate Bill 2, which changes the qualification and process of appointing ERCOT board members, has been approved May 23 for a third reading in the Texas House. If it passes, the next step would be submitting the bill for Abbott's signature.
Senate Bill 2154 increases the Public Utility Commission of Texas' membership from three to five. The Texas House approved an amended version of this bill on May 23. If the Senate concurs with the amendment, the bill could also be submitted for Abbott's signature.
House and Senate bills that would allow gas and power utilities to issue bonds to spread out the cost of the mid-February winter storm's excess costs are awaiting scheduling on a full chamber calendar. Thus, the House bill is awaiting a full Senate vote, and the Senate bill is awaiting a full House vote.
Storm and energy bill status in Texas Legislature as of May 24:
