Certain water and sewer utilities must provide safe, adequate, efficient, and reasonable service, and some utilities must file a planning report when they reach 85% capacity.
Sec. 13.139. STANDARDS OF SERVICE. (a) Every retail public utility that possesses or is required to possess a certificate of public convenience and necessity and every district and affected county that furnishes retail water or sewer utility service, shall furnish the service, instrumentalities, and facilities as are safe, adequate, efficient, and reasonable. (b) The governing body of a municipality, as the regulatory authority for public utilities operating within its corporate limits, and the utility commission or the commission as the regulatory authority for public utilities operating outside the corporate limits of any municipality, after reasonable notice and hearing on its own motion, may: (1) ascertain and fix just and reasonable standards, classifications, regulations, service rules, minimum service standards or practices to be observed and followed with respect to the service to be furnished; (2) ascertain and fix adequate and reasonable standards for the measurement of the quantity, quality, pressure, or other condition pertaining to the supply of the service; (3) prescribe reasonable regulations for the examination and testing of the service and for the measurement of service; and (4) establish or approve reasonable rules, regulations, specifications, and standards to secure the accuracy of all meters, instruments, and equipment used for the measurement of any utility service. (c) Any standards, classifications, regulations, or practices observed or followed by any utility may be filed by it with the regulatory authority and shall continue in force until amended by the utility or until changed by the regulatory authority in accordance with this section. (d) Not later than the 90th day after the date on which a retail public utility that has a certificate of public convenience and necessity reaches 85 percent of its capacity, as compared to the commission's minimum capacity requirements for a public drinking water system, the retail public utility shall submit to the executive director a planning report that includes details on how the retail public utility will provide the expected service to the remaining areas within the boundaries of its certificated area. The executive director may waive the reporting requirement if the executive director finds that the projected growth of the area will not require the utility to exceed its capacity. The commission by rule may require the submission of revised reports at specified intervals. Added by Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 795, Sec. 3.005, eff. Sept. 1, 1985. Amended by Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 567, Sec. 15, eff. Sept. 1, 1989; Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 678, Sec. 4, eff. Sept. 1, 1991; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 11.285, eff. Sept. 1, 1995; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 400, Sec. 3, eff. Sept. 1, 1995; Acts 1995, 74th Leg., ch. 979, Sec. 11, eff. June 16, 1995. Amended by: Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 170 (H.B. 1600), Sec. 2.28, eff. September 1, 2013. Acts 2013, 83rd Leg., R.S., Ch. 171 (S.B. 567), Sec. 28, eff. September 1, 2013.