16 Tex. Admin. Code § 25.341 - Definitions
The following words and terms, when used in Division 1 of this subchapter (relating to Unbundling and Market Power), shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(1) Advanced metering--Includes any metering
equipment or services that are not transmission and distribution utility
metering system services as defined in this section.
(2) Additional retail billing
services--Retail billing services necessary for the provision of services as
prescribed under Public Utility Regulatory Act (PURA) §39.107(e) but not
included in the definition of transmission and distribution utility billing
system services under this section.
(3) Competitive energy services--Customer
energy services business activities that are capable of being provided on a
competitive basis in the retail market. Examples of competitive energy services
include, but are not limited to the marketing, sale, design, construction,
installation, or retrofit, financing, operation and maintenance, warranty and
repair of, or consulting with respect to:
(A)
energy-consuming, customer-premises equipment;
(B) the provision of energy efficiency
services, the control of dispatchable load management services, and other
load-management services;
(C) the
provision of technical assistance relating to any customer-premises process or
device that consumes electricity, including energy audits;
(D) customer- or facility-specific energy
efficiency, energy conservation, power quality, and reliability equipment and
related diagnostic services provided, however, that this does not include
reasonable diagnostic actions by an electric utility when responding to service
complaints;
(i) reasonable diagnostic actions
include actions necessary to determine if a power quality problem resides with
the customer's equipment or with the utility's equipment and to notify the
customer that the problem has been attributed to either the utility's equipment
or the customer's equipment;
(ii)
reasonable diagnostic actions do not include recommendations or actions to
correct problems related to equipment on the customer's side of the delivery
point that is owned by the customer or by a third-party entity that is not an
electric utility;
(E)
the provision of anything of value other than tariffed services to trade
groups, builders, developers, financial institutions, architects and engineers,
landlords, and other persons involved in making decisions relating to
investments in energy-consuming equipment or buildings on behalf of the
ultimate retail electricity customer;
(F) except as provided in §
25.343(f) and (g)
of this title (relating to Competitive Energy Services), transformation
equipment, power-generation equipment, protection equipment, or other electric
apparatus and infrastructure located on the customer's side of the point of
delivery that is owned by the customer or by a third-party entity that is not
an electric utility. For purposes of this subparagraph, point of delivery means
the point at which electric power and energy leave the utility's delivery
system;
(G) the provision of
information relating to customer usage other than as required for the rendering
of a monthly electric bill, including electrical pulse service, provided
however that the provision of access to pulses from a meter used to measure
electric service for billing in accordance with §
25.129 of this title (relating to
Pulse Metering), shall not be considered a competitive energy
service;
(H) communications
services related to any energy service not essential for the retail sale of
electricity;
(I) home and property
security services;
(J) non-roadway,
outdoor security lighting; however, an electric utility may, pursuant to an
approved fully unbundled, embedded-cost tariff:
(i) continue to maintain lighting facilities
installed prior to September 1, 2000 and lighting facilities installed as a
petitioned service by the utility. Maintenance service includes the
installation of replacement lighting fixtures on such lighting facilities;
and
(ii) install and maintain
utility-approved lighting fixtures that are owned by and provided to the
utility by a retail customer or a retail electric provider, provided that the
lighting fixtures are installed on utility-owned poles that are suitable for
this purpose;
(K)
building or facility design and related engineering services, including
building shell construction, renovation or improvement, or analysis and design
of energy-related industrial processes;
(L) hedging and risk management
services;
(M) propane and other
energy-based services;
(N) retail
marketing, selling, demonstration, and merchant activities;
(O) facilities operations and
management;
(P) controls and other
premises energy management systems, environmental control systems, and related
services;
(Q) customer-premises
energy or fuel storage facilities;
(R) performance contracting (commercial,
institutional, and industrial);
(S)
indoor air quality products (including, but not limited to air filtration,
electronic and electrostatic filters, and humidifiers);
(T) duct sealing and duct cleaning;
(U) air balancing;
(V) customer-premise metering equipment and
related services other than as required for the measurement of electric energy
necessary for the rendering of a monthly electric bill or to comply with the
rules and procedures of an independent organization; and
(W) other activities determined to be a
competitive energy service by the commission by rule or order.
(4) Discretionary service--Service
that is related to, but not essential to, the transmission and distribution of
electricity from the point of interconnection of a generation source or
third-party electric grid facilities, to the point of interconnection with a
retail customer or other third-party facilities. This term also includes
emergency services provided by an electric utility on customer facilities
pursuant to §
25.343(g) of
this title.
(5) Distribution--For
purposes of §
25.344(g)(2)(C)
of this title (relating to Cost Separation Proceedings), distribution relates
to system and discretionary services associated with facilities below 60
kilovolts necessary to transform and move electricity from the point of
interconnection of a generation source or third-party electric grid facilities,
to the point of interconnection with a retail customer or other third-party
facilities, and related processes necessary to perform such transformation and
movement. Distribution does not include activities related to transmission and
distribution utility billing services, additional billing services,
transmission and distribution utility metering services, and transmission and
distribution customer services as defined by this section.
(6) Electrical pulse (or pulse)--The impulses
or signals generated by pulse metering equipment, indicating a finite value,
such as energy, registered at a point of delivery as defined in the Tariff for
Retail Delivery Service.
(7)
Electrical pulse service--Use of pulses for any purpose other than for billing,
settlement, and system operations and planning.
(8) Electronic data interchange--The
computer-application-to-computer-application exchange of business information
in a standard format.
(9) Energy
service--As defined in §
25.223 of this title (relating to
Unbundling of Energy Service).
(10)
Generation--For purpose of §
25.344(g)(2)(A)
of this title, generation includes assets, activities, and processes necessary
and related to the production of electricity for sale. Generation begins with
the acquisition of fuels and their conversion to electricity and ends where the
generation company's facilities tie into the facilities of the transmission and
distribution system.
(11) Pulse
metering equipment--Any device, mechanical or electronic, connected to a meter,
used to measure electric service for billing, which initiates pulses, the
number of which are proportional to the quantity being measured, and which may
include external protection devices. Except as otherwise provided in §
25.311 of this title (relating to
Competitive Metering Services), pulse metering equipment shall be considered
advanced metering equipment that shall be owned, installed, operated, and
maintained by a transmission and distribution utility and such ownership,
installation, operation and maintenance shall not be a competitive energy
service.
(12) Stranded cost
charges--Competition transition charges as defined in §
25.5 of this title (relating to
Definitions) and transition charges established pursuant to PURA
§39.302(7).
(13) System
service--Service that is essential to the transmission and distribution of
electricity from the point of interconnection of a generation source or
third-party electric grid facility, to the point of interconnection with a
retail customer or other third-party facility. System services include, but are
not limited to, the following:
(A) the
regulation and control of electricity in the transmission and distribution
system;
(B) planning, design,
construction, operation, maintenance, repair, retirement, or replacement of
transmission and distribution facilities, equipment, and protective
devices;
(C) transmission and
distribution system voltage and power continuity;
(D) response to electric delivery problems,
including outages, interruptions, and voltage variations, and restoration of
service in a timely manner;
(E)
commission-approved public education and safety communication activities
specific to transmission and distribution that do not preferentially benefit an
affiliate of a utility;
(F)
transmission and distribution utility standard metering and billing services as
defined by this section;
(G)
commission-approved administration of energy savings incentive programs in a
market-neutral, nondiscriminatory manner, through standard offer programs or
limited, targeted market transformation programs; and
(H) line safety, including tree
trimming.
(14)
Transmission--For purposes of §
25.344(g)(2)(B)
of this title, transmission relates to system and discretionary services
associated with facilities at or above 60 kilovolts necessary to transform and
move electricity from the point of interconnection of a generation source or
third-party electric grid facilities, to the point of interconnection with
distribution, retail customer or other third-party facilities, and related
processes necessary to perform such transformation and movement. Transmission
does not include activities related to transmission and distribution utility
billing system services, additional billing services, transmission and
distribution utility metering system services, and transmission and
distribution utility customer services as defined by this section.
(15) Transmission and distribution utility
billing system services--For purposes of §
25.344(g)(2)(E)
of this title, transmission and distribution utility billing system services
relate to the production and remittance of a bill to a retail electric provider
for the transmission and distribution charges applicable to the retail electric
provider's customers as prescribed by PURA §39.107(d), and billing for
wholesale transmission service to entities that qualify for such service.
Transmission and distribution utility billing system services may include, but
are not limited to, the following:
(A)
generation of billing charges by application of rates to customer's meter
readings, as applicable;
(B)
presentation of charges to retail electric providers for the actual services
provided and the rendering of bills;
(C) extension of credit to and collection of
payments from retail electric providers;
(D) disbursement of funds
collected;
(E) customer account
data management;
(F) customer care
and call center activities related to billing inquiries from retail electric
providers;
(G) administrative
activities necessary to maintain retail electric provider billing accounts and
records; and
(H) error
investigation and resolution.
(16) Transmission and distribution utility
customer services--For purposes of §
25.344(g)(2)(G)
of this title, transmission and distribution customer services relate to system
and discretionary services associated with the utility's energy efficiency
programs, demand-side management programs, public safety advertising, tariff
administration, economic development programs, community support, advertising,
customer education activities, and any other customer services.
(17) Transmission and distribution utility
metering system services--For purposes of §
25.344 of this title, services
that relate to the installation, maintenance, and polling of an end-use
customer's standard meter. Transmission and distribution utility metering
system services may include, but are not limited to, the following:
(A) ownership of standard meter equipment and
meter parts;
(B) storage of
standard meters and meter parts not in service;
(C) measurement or estimation of the
electricity consumed or demanded by a retail electric consumer during a
specified period limited to the customer usage necessary for the rendering of a
monthly electric bill;
(D) meter
calibration and testing;
(E) meter
reading, including non-interval, interval, and remote meter reading;
(F) individual customer outage detection and
usage monitoring;
(G) theft
detection and prevention;
(H)
installation or removal of metering equipment;
(I) the operation of meters and provision of
information to an independent organization, as required by its rules and
protocols; and
(J) error
investigation and re-reads.
Notes
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