UTILITIES CODE
TITLE 2. PUBLIC UTILITY REGULATORY ACT
SUBTITLE A. PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO ALL UTILITIES
CHAPTER 11. GENERAL PROVISIONS
§ 11.001. SHORT TITLE. This title may be cited as the
Public Utility Regulatory Act.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
§ 11.002. PURPOSE AND FINDINGS. (a) This title is
enacted to protect the public interest inherent in the rates and
services of public utilities. The purpose of this title is to
establish a comprehensive and adequate regulatory system for public
utilities to assure rates, operations, and services that are just
and reasonable to the consumers and to the utilities.
(b) Public utilities traditionally 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.
(c) Significant changes have occurred in the
telecommunications and electric power industries since the Public
Utility Regulatory Act was originally adopted. Changes in
technology and market structure have increased the need for minimum
standards of service quality, customer service, and fair business
practices to ensure high-quality service to customers and a healthy
marketplace where competition is permitted by law. It is the
purpose of this title to grant the Public Utility Commission of
Texas authority to make and enforce rules necessary to protect
customers of telecommunications and electric services consistent
with the public interest.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997. Amended
by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 1579, § 1, eff. Aug. 30, 1999.
§ 11.003. DEFINITIONS. In this title:
(1) "Affected person" means:
(A) a public utility or electric cooperative
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 public utility with
respect to a service performed by the utility; or
(ii) wants to enter into competition with a
public utility.
(2) "Affiliate" means:
(A) a person who directly or indirectly owns or
holds at least five percent of the voting securities of a public
utility;
(B) a person in a chain of successive ownership
of at least five percent of the voting securities of a public
utility;
(C) a corporation that has at least five percent
of its voting securities owned or controlled, directly or
indirectly, by a public 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
public utility; or
(ii) a person in a chain of successive
ownership of at least five percent of the voting securities of a
public utility;
(E) a person who is an officer or director of a
public utility or of a corporation in a chain of successive
ownership of at least five percent of the voting securities of a
public utility; or
(F) a person determined to be an affiliate under
Section 11.006.
(3) "Allocation" means the division among
municipalities or among municipalities and unincorporated areas of
the plant, revenues, expenses, taxes, and reserves of a utility
used to provide public utility service in a municipality or for a
municipality and unincorporated areas.
(4) "Commission" means the Public Utility Commission
of Texas.
(5) "Commissioner" means a member of the Public
Utility Commission of Texas.
(6) "Cooperative corporation" means:
(A) an electric cooperative; or
(B) a telephone cooperative corporation
organized under Chapter 162 or a predecessor statute to Chapter 162
and operating under that chapter.
(7) "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 or
electric cooperative, except as expressly provided by this title.
(8) "Counsellor" means the public utility counsel.
(9) "Electric cooperative" means:
(A) a corporation organized under Chapter 161 or
a predecessor statute to Chapter 161 and operating under that
chapter; or
(B) a corporation organized as an electric
cooperative in a state other than Texas that has obtained a
certificate of authority to conduct affairs in the State of Texas
(C) Deleted by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1327,
§ 1.
(10) "Facilities" means all of the plant and equipment
of a public 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 public utility.
(11) "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.
(12) "Office" means the Office of Public Utility
Counsel.
(13) "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:
(A) the issuance of a certificate of convenience
and necessity; and
(B) the setting of a rate.
(14) "Person" includes an individual, a partnership of
two or more persons having a joint or common interest, a mutual or
cooperative association, and a corporation, but does not include an
electric cooperative.
(15) "Proceeding" means a hearing, investigation,
inquiry, or other procedure for finding facts or making a decision
under this title. The term includes a denial of relief or dismissal
of a complaint.
(16) "Rate" includes:
(A) any compensation, tariff, charge, fare,
toll, rental, or classification that is directly or indirectly
demanded, observed, charged, or collected by a public utility for a
service, product, or commodity described in the definition of
utility in Section 31.002 or 51.002; and
(B) a rule, practice, or contract affecting the
compensation, tariff, charge, fare, toll, rental, or
classification.
(17) "Ratemaking proceeding" means a proceeding in
which a rate is changed.
(18) "Regulatory authority" means either the
commission or the governing body of a municipality, in accordance
with the context.
(19) "Service" has its broadest and most inclusive
meaning. The term includes any act performed, anything supplied,
and any facilities used or supplied by a public utility in the
performance of the utility's duties under this title to its
patrons, employees, other public utilities, an electric
cooperative, and the public. The term also includes the
interchange of facilities between two or more public utilities.
The term does not include the printing, distribution, or sale of
advertising in a telephone directory.
(20) "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 public utility are available.
(21) "Trade association" means a nonprofit,
cooperative, and voluntarily joined association of business or
professional persons who are employed by public utilities or
utility competitors to assist the public utility industry, a
utility competitor, or the industry's or competitor's employees in
dealing with mutual business or professional problems and in
promoting their common interest.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997. Amended
by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 405, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1999; Acts
2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1327, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
§ 11.004. DEFINITION OF UTILITY. In Subtitle A, "public
utility" or "utility" means:
(1) an electric utility, as that term is defined by
Section 31.002; or
(2) a public utility or utility, as those terms are
defined by Section 51.002.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
§ 11.005. ENTITY, COMPETITOR, OR SUPPLIER AFFECTED IN
MANNER OTHER THAN BY SETTING OF RATES. In this title, an entity,
including a utility competitor or utility supplier, is considered
to be affected in a manner other than by the setting of rates for
that class of customer if during a relevant calendar year the entity
provides fuel, utility-related goods, utility-related products, or
utility-related services to a regulated or unregulated provider of
telecommunications or electric services or to an affiliate in an
amount equal to the greater of $10,000 or 10 percent of the person's
business.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
§ 11.006. PERSON DETERMINED TO BE AFFILIATE. (a) The
commission may determine that a person is an affiliate for purposes
of this title if the commission after notice and hearing finds that
the person:
(1) actually exercises substantial influence or
control over the policies and actions of a public utility;
(2) is a person over which a public utility exercises
the control described by Subdivision (1);
(3) is under common control with a public utility; or
(4) together with one or more persons with whom the
person is related by ownership or blood relationship, or by action
in concert, actually exercises substantial influence over the
policies and actions of a public utility even though neither person
may qualify as an affiliate individually.
(b) For purposes of Subsection (a)(3), "common control with
a public 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, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
§ 11.007. ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE. (a) Chapter 2001,
Government Code, applies to a proceeding under this title except to
the extent inconsistent with this title.
(b) A communication of a member or employee of the
commission with any person, including a party or a party's
representative, is governed by Section 2001.061, Government Code.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
§ 11.008. LIBERAL CONSTRUCTION. This title shall be
construed liberally to promote the effectiveness and efficiency of
regulation of public utilities to the extent that this construction
preserves the validity of this title and its provisions.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
§ 11.009. CONSTRUCTION WITH FEDERAL AUTHORITY. This
title shall be construed to apply so as not to conflict with any
authority of the United States.
Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.
