CHAPTER 101. GENERAL PROVISIONS AND OFFICE OF PUBLIC UTILITY COUNSEL
UTILITIES CODE
TITLE 3. GAS REGULATION
SUBTITLE A. GAS UTILITY REGULATORY ACT
CHAPTER 101. GENERAL PROVISIONS AND OFFICE OF PUBLIC UTILITY
COUNSEL
SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 101.001. SHORT TITLE. This subtitle may be cited as the
Gas Utility Regulatory Act.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
Sec. 101.002. PURPOSE AND FINDINGS. (a) This subtitle is
enacted to protect the public interest inherent in the rates and
services of gas utilities. The purpose of this subtitle is to
establish a comprehensive and adequate regulatory system for gas
utilities to assure rates, operations, and services that are just
and reasonable to the consumers and to the utilities.
(b) Gas utilities are by definition monopolies in the areas they
serve. As a result, the normal forces of competition that
regulate prices in a free enterprise society do not operate.
Public agencies regulate utility rates, operations, and services
as a substitute for competition.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
Sec. 101.003. DEFINITIONS. In this subtitle:
(1) "Affected person" means:
(A) a gas utility affected by an action of a regulatory
authority;
(B) a person whose utility service or rates are affected by a
proceeding before a regulatory authority; or
(C) a person who:
(i) is a competitor of a gas utility with respect to a service
performed by the utility; or
(ii) wants to enter into competition with a gas utility.
(2) "Affiliate" means:
(A) a person who directly or indirectly owns or holds at least
five percent of the voting securities of a gas utility;
(B) a person in a chain of successive ownership of at least five
percent of the voting securities of a gas utility;
(C) a corporation that has at least five percent of its voting
securities owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by a gas
utility;
(D) a corporation that has at least five percent of its voting
securities owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by:
(i) a person who directly or indirectly owns or controls at
least five percent of the voting securities of a gas utility; or
(ii) a person in a chain of successive ownership of at least
five percent of the voting securities of a gas utility;
(E) a person who is an officer or director of a gas utility or
of a corporation in a chain of successive ownership of at least
five percent of the voting securities of a gas utility; or
(F) a person determined to be an affiliate under Section
101.004.
(3) "Allocation" means the division among municipalities or
among municipalities and unincorporated areas of the plant,
revenues, expenses, taxes, and reserves of a gas utility used to
provide gas utility service in a municipality or for a
municipality and unincorporated areas.
(4) "Corporation" means a domestic or foreign corporation,
joint-stock company, or association, and each lessee, assignee,
trustee, receiver, or other successor in interest of the
corporation, company, or association, that has any of the powers
or privileges of a corporation not possessed by an individual or
partnership. The term does not include a municipal corporation,
except as expressly provided by this subtitle.
(5) "Counsellor" means the chief executive of the Office of
Public Utility Counsel.
(6) "Facilities" means all of the plant and equipment of a gas
utility and includes the tangible and intangible property,
without limitation, owned, operated, leased, licensed, used,
controlled, or supplied for, by, or in connection with the
business of the gas utility.
(7) "Gas utility" includes a person or river authority that owns
or operates for compensation in this state equipment or
facilities to transmit or distribute combustible hydrocarbon
natural gas or synthetic natural gas for sale or resale in a
manner not subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission under the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C.
Section 717 et seq.). The term includes a lessee, trustee, or
receiver of a gas utility. The term does not include:
(A) a municipal corporation;
(B) a person or river authority to the extent the person or
river authority:
(i) produces, gathers, transports, or sells natural gas or
synthetic natural gas under Section 121.004 or 121.005;
(ii) distributes or sells liquefied petroleum gas; or
(iii) transports, delivers, or sells natural gas for fuel for
irrigation wells or any other direct agricultural use;
(C) a person to the extent the person:
(i) sells natural gas for use as vehicle fuel;
(ii) sells natural gas to a person who later sells the natural
gas for use as vehicle fuel; or
(iii) owns or operates equipment or facilities to sell or
transport natural gas for ultimate use as vehicle fuel;
(D) a person not otherwise a gas utility who furnishes gas or
gas service only to itself, its employees, or its tenants as an
incident of employment or tenancy, if the gas or gas service is
not resold to or used by others; or
(E) a person excluded from being considered a gas utility under
Section 121.007.
(8) "Municipally owned utility" means a utility owned, operated,
and controlled by a municipality or by a nonprofit corporation
the directors of which are appointed by one or more
municipalities.
(9) "Order" means all or a part of a final disposition by a
regulatory authority in a matter other than rulemaking, without
regard to whether the disposition is affirmative or negative or
injunctive or declaratory. The term includes the setting of a
rate.
(10) "Person" includes an individual, a partnership of two or
more persons having a joint or common interest, a mutual or
cooperative association, a limited liability company, and a
corporation.
(11) "Proceeding" means a hearing, investigation, inquiry, or
other procedure for finding facts or making a decision under this
subtitle. The term includes a denial of relief or dismissal of a
complaint.
(12) "Rate" means:
(A) any compensation, tariff, charge, fare, toll, rental, or
classification that is directly or indirectly demanded, observed,
charged, or collected by a gas utility for a service, product, or
commodity described in the definition of gas utility in this
section; and
(B) a rule, regulation, practice, or contract affecting the
compensation, tariff, charge, fare, toll, rental, or
classification.
(13) "Regulatory authority" means either the railroad commission
or the governing body of a municipality, in accordance with the
context.
(14) "Service" has its broadest and most inclusive meaning. The
term includes any act performed, anything supplied, and any
facilities used or supplied by a gas utility in the performance
of the utility's duties under this subtitle to its patrons,
employees, other gas utilities, and the public. The term also
includes the interchange of facilities between two or more gas
utilities.
(15) "State agency" has the meaning assigned by Section 572.002,
Government Code, to the extent the state agency must obtain the
approval described by Section 31.401(a), Natural Resources Code.
(16) "Test year" means the most recent 12 months, beginning on
the first day of a calendar or fiscal year quarter, for which
operating data for a gas utility are available.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
Amended by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 11, Sec. 1, eff. May 3,
1999.
Amended by:
Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch.
709, Sec. 1, eff. June 15, 2007.
Sec. 101.004. PERSON DETERMINED TO BE AFFILIATE. (a) The
railroad commission may determine that a person is an affiliate
for purposes of this subtitle if the railroad commission after
notice and hearing finds that the person:
(1) actually exercises substantial influence or control over the
policies and actions of a gas utility;
(2) is a person over which a gas utility exercises the control
described by Subdivision (1);
(3) is under common control with a gas utility; or
(4) actually exercises substantial influence over the policies
and actions of a gas utility in conjunction with one or more
persons with whom the person is related by ownership or blood
relationship, or by action in concert, that together they are
affiliated with the gas utility within the meaning of this
section even though neither person may qualify as an affiliate
individually.
(b) For purposes of Subsection (a)(3), "common control with a
gas utility" means the direct or indirect possession of the power
to direct or cause the direction of the management and policies
of another, without regard to whether that power is established
through ownership or voting of securities or by any other direct
or indirect means.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
Sec. 101.005. ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE. Chapter 2001,
Government Code, applies to a proceeding under this subtitle
except to the extent inconsistent with this subtitle.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
Sec. 101.006. CUMULATIVE EFFECT; APPLICATION TO GAS UTILITIES.
(a) This subtitle is cumulative of laws existing on September 1,
1983, relating to the jurisdiction, power, or authority of the
railroad commission over a gas utility, and, except as
specifically in conflict with this subtitle, that jurisdiction,
power, and authority are not limited by this subtitle.
(b) This subtitle applies to all gas utilities, including a gas
utility that is under the jurisdiction, power, or authority of
the railroad commission in accordance with a law other than this
subtitle.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
Sec. 101.007. LIBERAL CONSTRUCTION. This subtitle shall be
construed liberally to promote the effectiveness and efficiency
of regulation of gas utilities to the extent that this
construction preserves the validity of this subtitle and its
provisions.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
Sec. 101.008. CONSTRUCTION WITH FEDERAL AUTHORITY. This
subtitle shall be construed to apply so as not to conflict with
any authority of the United States.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
SUBCHAPTER B. OFFICE OF PUBLIC UTILITY COUNSEL
Sec. 101.051. OFFICE OF PUBLIC UTILITY COUNSEL. The independent
office of public utility counsel represents the interests of
residential consumers.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
Sec. 101.052. OFFICE POWERS AND DUTIES. (a) The office:
(1) may appear or intervene as a party or otherwise represent
residential consumers, as a class, in appeals to the railroad
commission only at the written request of an affected
municipality's governing body;
(2) may initiate or intervene as a matter of right or otherwise
appear in a judicial proceeding that involves an action taken by
the railroad commission in a proceeding in which the office was a
party;
(3) is entitled to the same access as a party, other than
railroad commission staff, to records gathered by the railroad
commission under Section 102.203;
(4) is entitled to discovery of any nonprivileged matter that is
relevant to the subject matter of a proceeding or petition before
the railroad commission;
(5) may represent an individual residential consumer with
respect to the consumer's disputed complaint concerning utility
services that is unresolved before the railroad commission; and
(6) may recommend legislation to the legislature that the office
determines would positively affect the interests of residential
consumers.
(b) The office may represent only as a class the residential
consumers of a municipality that makes a request under Subsection
(a)(1).
(c) This section does not limit the authority of the railroad
commission to represent residential consumers.
(d) The appearance of the counsellor in a proceeding does not
preclude the appearance of other parties on behalf of residential
consumers. The counsellor may not be grouped with any other
party.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
Sec. 101.053. PROHIBITED ACTS. (a) The counsellor may not:
(1) have a direct or indirect interest in a gas utility company
regulated under this subtitle; or
(2) provide legal services directly or indirectly to or be
employed in any capacity by a gas utility company regulated under
this subtitle, its parent, or its subsidiary companies,
corporations, or cooperatives.
(b) The prohibition under Subsection (a) applies during the
period of the counsellor's service and until the first
anniversary of the date the counsellor ceases to serve as
counsellor.
(c) This section does not prohibit a person from otherwise
engaging in the private practice of law after the person ceases
to serve as counsellor.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
Sec. 101.054. PERSONNEL. (a) The counsellor may employ
lawyers, economists, engineers, consultants, statisticians,
accountants, clerical staff, and other employees as the
counsellor determines necessary to carry out this subchapter.
(b) An employee receives compensation as prescribed by the
legislature from the assessment imposed by Subchapter A, Chapter
16.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.