1. (a) The commission shall require the independent organization certified under Section 39.151 for the ERCOT power region to ensure that each electric cooperative, transmission and distribution utility, and municipally owned utility serving a transmission-voltage customer develops a protocol, including the installation of any necessary equipment or technology before the customer is interconnected, to allow the load to be curtailed during firm load shed. The electric cooperative, transmission and distribution utility, or municipally owned utility shall confer with the customer to the extent feasible to shed load in a coordinated manner. This subsection applies only to a load interconnected after December 31, 2025, that is not:

   1. (1) load operated by a critical load industrial customer, as defined by Section 17.002; or
   2. (2) designated as a critical natural gas facility under Section 38.074.

2. (b) The commission shall require the independent organization certified under Section 39.151 for the ERCOT power region to develop a reliability service to competitively procure demand reductions from large load customers with a demand of at least 75 megawatts to be deployed in the event of an anticipated emergency condition. The rules governing this service must:

   1. (1) specify the periods when the service may be used to assist with maintaining reliability during extreme weather events;
   2. (2) ensure that the independent organization provides at least a 24-hour notice to large load customers and requires each large load to remain curtailed for the duration of the energy emergency alert event or until the load can be recalled safely; and
   3. (3) prohibit participation by any large load customer that curtails in response to the wholesale price of electricity, as determined by the independent organization certified under Section 39.151 for the ERCOT power region, or that otherwise participates in a different reliability or ancillary service.
3. (c) The independent organization certified under Section 39.151 for the ERCOT power region shall include a deployment under this section when calculating any price adjustments for reliability deployments.

Added by Acts 2025, 89th Leg., R.S., Ch. 953 (S.B. 6), Sec. 4, eff. June 20, 2025.