This section lets certain electric cooperatives serve retail customers at unregulated prices and limits some commission jurisdiction over those cooperatives.
Sec. 41.054. SERVICE OUTSIDE CERTIFICATED AREA. (a) Notwithstanding any provisions of Chapter 161: (1) an electric cooperative participating in customer choice shall have the right to offer electric energy and related services at unregulated prices directly to retail customers who have customer choice without regard to geographic location; and (2) any person, without restriction, except as may be provided in the electric cooperative's articles of incorporation and bylaws, may be a member of an electric cooperative. (b) In providing service under Subsection (a) to retail customers outside its certificated service area as that area exists on the date of adoption of customer choice, an electric cooperative becomes subject to commission jurisdiction as to the commission's rules establishing a code of conduct regulating anticompetitive practices under Section 39.157(e), except to the extent those rules conflict with this chapter. (c) For electric cooperatives participating in customer choice, the commission shall have jurisdiction to establish terms and conditions, but not rates, for access by other electric providers to the electric cooperative's distribution facilities. (d) Notwithstanding Subsections (b) and (c), the commission shall make accommodation in the code of conduct for specific legal requirements imposed by state or federal law applicable to electric cooperatives. The commission shall accommodate the organizational structures of electric cooperatives and may not prohibit an electric cooperative and any related entity from sharing officers, directors, or employees. (e) The commission does not have jurisdiction to require the unbundling of services or functions of, or to regulate the recovery of stranded investment of, an electric cooperative or, except as provided by this section, jurisdiction with respect to the rates, terms, and conditions of service for retail customers of an electric cooperative within the electric cooperative's certificated service area. (f) An electric cooperative shall maintain separate books and records of its operations and the operations of any subsidiary and shall ensure that the rates charged for provision of electric service do not include any costs of its subsidiary or any other costs not related to the provision of electric service. Added by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 405, Sec. 39, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.