The following words and terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

1. (1) Above-market purchased power costs--Wholesale demand and energy costs that a utility is obligated to pay under an existing purchased power contract to the extent the costs are greater than the purchased power market value.
2. (2) Administrative review--A process under which an application may be approved without a formal hearing.

3. (3) Affected person--means:

   1. (A) a public utility or electric cooperative affected by an action of a regulatory authority;
   2. (B) a person whose utility service or rates are affected by a proceeding before a regulatory authority; or

   3. (C) a person who:

      1. (i) is a competitor of a public utility with respect to a service performed by the utility; or
      2. (ii) wants to enter into competition with a public utility.

4. (4) Affiliate--means:

   1. (A) a person who directly or indirectly owns or holds at least 5.0% of the voting securities of a public utility;
   2. (B) a person in a chain of successive ownership of at least 5.0% of the voting securities of a public utility;
   3. (C) a corporation that has at least 5.0% of its voting securities owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by a public utility;

   4. (D) a corporation that has at least 5.0% of its voting securities owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by:

      1. (i) a person who directly or indirectly owns or controls at least 5.0% of the voting securities of a public utility; or
      2. (ii) a person in a chain of successive ownership of at least 5.0% of the voting securities of a public utility;
   5. (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 5.0% of the voting securities of a public utility; or
   6. (F) a person determined to be an affiliate under Public Utility Regulatory Act §11.006.
5. (5) Affiliated power generation company--A power generation company that is affiliated with or the successor in interest of an electric utility certificated to serve an area.
6. (6) Affiliated retail electric provider--A retail electric provider that is affiliated with or the successor in interest of an electric utility certificated to serve an area.
7. (7) Aggregator--A person joining two or more customers, other than municipalities and political subdivision corporations, into a single purchasing unit to negotiate the purchase of electricity from retail electric providers. Aggregators may not sell or take title to electricity. Retail electric providers are not aggregators.

8. (8) Aggregation--Includes the following:

   1. (A) the purchase of electricity from a retail electric provider, a municipally owned utility, or an electric cooperative by an electricity customer for its own use in multiple locations, provided that an electricity customer may not avoid any nonbypassable charges or fees as a result of aggregating its load; or
   2. (B) the purchase of electricity by an electricity customer as part of a voluntary association of electricity customers, provided that an electricity customer may not avoid any nonbypassable charges or fees as a result of aggregating its load.
9. (9) Ancillary service--A service necessary to facilitate the transmission of electric energy including load following, standby power, backup power, reactive power, and any other services the commission may determine by rule.
10. (10) Base rate--Generally, a rate designed to recover the costs of electricity other than costs recovered through a fuel factor, power cost recovery factor, or surcharge.
11. (11) Commission--The Public Utility Commission of Texas.

12. (12) Control area--An electric power system or combination of electric power systems to which a common automatic generation control scheme is applied in order to:

    1. (A) match, at all times, the power output of the generators within the electric power system(s) and capacity and energy purchased from entities outside the electric power system(s), with the load within the electric power system(s);
    2. (B) maintain, within the limits of good utility practice, scheduled interchange with other control areas;
    3. (C) maintain the frequency of the electric power system(s) within reasonable limits in accordance with good utility practice; and
    4. (D) obtain sufficient generating capacity to maintain operating reserves in accordance with good utility practice.
13. (13) Corporation--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 the Public Utility Regulatory Act.
14. (14) Customer choice--The freedom of a retail customer to purchase electric services, either individually or through voluntary aggregation with other retail customers, from the provider or providers of the customer's choice and to choose among various fuel types, energy efficiency programs, and renewable power suppliers.
15. (15) Customer class--A group of customers with similar electric usage service characteristics (e.g., residential, commercial, industrial, sales for resale) taking service under one or more rate schedules. Qualified businesses as defined by the Texas Enterprise Zone Act, Texas Government Code, Title 10, Chapter 2303 may be considered to be a separate customer class of electric utilities.
16. (16) Demand-side management--Activities that affect the magnitude and/or timing of customer electricity usage.
17. (17) Demand-side resource or demand-side management resource--Activities that result in reductions in electric generation, transmission, or distribution capacity needs or reductions in energy usage or both.
18. (18) Distribution line--A power line operated below 60,000 volts, when measured phase-to-phase.
19. (19) Distributed resource--A generation, energy storage, or targeted demand-side resource, generally between one kilowatt and ten megawatts, located at a customer's site or near a load center, which may be connected at the distribution voltage level (60,000 volts and below), that provides advantages to the system, such as deferring the need for upgrading local distribution facilities.
20. (20) Distribution service provider (DSP)--an electric utility, municipally-owned utility, or electric cooperative that owns or operates for compensation in this state equipment or facilities that are used for the distribution of electricity to retail customers, as defined in this section, including retail customers served at transmission voltage levels.

21. (21) Electric cooperative--

    1. (A) a corporation organized under the Texas Utilities Code, Chapter 161 or a predecessor statute to Chapter 161 and operating under that chapter;
    2. (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; or
    3. (C) a successor to an electric cooperative created before June 1, 1999, in accordance with a conversion plan approved by a vote of the members of the electric cooperative, regardless of whether the successor later purchases, acquires, merges with, or consolidates with other electric cooperatives.
22. (22) Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT)--Refers to the organization and, in a geographic sense, refers to the area served by electric utilities, municipally owned utilities, and electric cooperatives that are not synchronously interconnected with electric utilities outside of the State of Texas.

23. (23) Electric utility--Except as provided in Subchapter I, Division 1 of this Chapter, an electric utility is: A person or river authority that owns or operates for compensation in this state equipment or facilities to produce, generate, transmit, distribute, sell, or furnish electricity in this state. The term includes a lessee, trustee, or receiver of an electric utility and a recreational vehicle park owner who does not comply with Texas Utilities Code, Subchapter C, Chapter 184, with regard to the metered sale of electricity at the recreational vehicle park. The term does not include:

    1. (A) a municipal corporation;
    2. (B) a qualifying facility;
    3. (C) a power generation company;
    4. (D) an exempt wholesale generator;
    5. (E) a power marketer;
    6. (F) a corporation described by Public Utility Regulatory Act §32.053 to the extent the corporation sells electricity exclusively at wholesale and not to the ultimate consumer;
    7. (G) an electric cooperative;
    8. (H) a retail electric provider;
    9. (I) the state of Texas or an agency of the state; or

    10. (J) a person not otherwise an electric utility who:

        1. (i) furnishes an electric service or commodity only to itself, its employees, or its tenants as an incident of employment or tenancy, if that service or commodity is not resold to or used by others;
        2. (ii) owns or operates in this state equipment or facilities to produce, generate, transmit, distribute, sell or furnish electric energy to an electric utility, if the equipment or facilities are used primarily to produce and generate electric energy for consumption by that person; or
        3. (iii) owns or operates in this state a recreational vehicle park that provides metered electric service in accordance with Texas Utilities Code, Subchapter C, Chapter 184.
24. (24) ERCOT protocols--Body of procedures developed by ERCOT to maintain the reliability of the regional electric network and account for the production and delivery of electricity among resources and market participants. The procedures, initially approved by the commission, include a revisions process that may be appealed to the commission, and are subject to the oversight and review of the commission.
25. (25) ERCOT region--The geographic area under the jurisdiction of the commission that is served by transmission service providers that are not synchronously interconnected with transmission service providers outside of the state of Texas.
26. (26) Exempt wholesale generator--A person who is engaged directly or indirectly through one or more affiliates exclusively in the business of owning or operating all or part of a facility for generating electric energy and selling electric energy at wholesale who does not own a facility for the transmission of electricity, other than an essential interconnecting transmission facility necessary to effect a sale of electric energy at wholesale, and who is in compliance with the registration requirements of §25.105 of this title (relating to Registration and Reporting by Power Marketers, Exempt Wholesale Generators and Qualifying Facilities).
27. (27) Existing purchased power contract--A purchased power contract in effect on January 1, 1999, including any amendments and revisions to that contract resulting from litigation initiated before January 1, 1999.
28. (28) Facilities--All the plant and equipment of an electric utility, including all tangible and intangible property, without limitation, owned, operated, leased, licensed, used, controlled, or supplied for, by, or in connection with the business of an electric utility.
29. (29) Freeze period--The period beginning on January 1, 1999, and ending on December 31, 2001.
30. (30) Generation assets--All assets associated with the production of electricity, including generation plants, electrical interconnections of the generation plant to the transmission system, fuel contracts, fuel transportation contracts, water contracts, lands, surface or subsurface water rights, emissions-related allowances, and gas pipeline interconnections.
31. (31) Good utility practice--Any of the practices, methods, and acts engaged in or approved by a significant portion of the electric utility industry during the relevant time period, or any of the practices, methods, and acts that, in the exercise of reasonable judgment in light of the facts known at the time the decision was made, could have been expected to accomplish the desired result at a reasonable cost consistent with good business practices, reliability, safety, and expedition. Good utility practice is not intended to be limited to the optimum practice, method, or act, to the exclusion of all others, but rather is intended to include acceptable practices, methods, and acts generally accepted in the region.
32. (32) Hearing--Any proceeding at which evidence is taken on the merits of the matters at issue, not including prehearing conferences.
33. (33) Independent organization--An independent system operator or other person that is sufficiently independent of any producer or seller of electricity that its decisions will not be unduly influenced by any producer or seller. An entity will be deemed to be independent if it is governed by a board that has three representatives from each segment of the electric market, with the consumer segment being represented by one residential customer, one commercial customer, and one industrial retail customer.
34. (34) Independent system operator--An entity supervising the collective transmission facilities of a power region that is charged with non-discriminatory coordination of market transactions, systemwide transmission planning, and network reliability.
35. (35) License--The whole or part of any commission permit, certificate, approval, registration, or similar form of permission required by law.
36. (36) Licensing--The commission process respecting the granting, denial, renewal, revocation, suspension, annulment, withdrawal, or amendment of a license.
37. (37) Market power mitigation plan--A written proposal by an electric utility or a power generation company for reducing its ownership and control of installed generation capacity as required by the Public Utility Regulatory Act §39.154.
38. (38) Market value--For nonnuclear assets and certain nuclear assets, the value the assets would have if bought and sold in a bona fide third-party transaction or transactions on the open market under the Public Utility Regulatory Act (PURA) §39.262(h) or, for certain nuclear assets, as described by PURA §39.262(i), the value determined under the method provided by that subsection.
39. (39) Municipality--A city, incorporated village, or town, existing, created, or organized under the general, home rule, or special laws of the state.
40. (40) Municipally-owned utility--Any utility owned, operated, and controlled by a municipality or by a nonprofit corporation whose directors are appointed by one or more municipalities.
41. (41) Native load customer--A wholesale or retail customer on whose behalf an electric utility, electric cooperative, or municipally-owned utility, by statute, franchise, regulatory requirement, or contract, has an obligation to construct and operate its system to meet in a reliable manner the electric needs of the customer.
42. (42) 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.
43. (43) Pleading--A written document submitted by a party, or a person seeking to participate in a proceeding, setting forth allegations of fact, claims, requests for relief, legal argument, and/or other matters relating to a proceeding.
44. (44) Power cost recovery factor--A charge or credit that reflects an increase or decrease in purchased power costs not in base rates.

45. (45) Power generation company--A person that:

    1. (A) generates electricity that is intended to be sold at wholesale;
    2. (B) does not own a transmission or distribution facility in this state, other than an essential interconnecting facility, a facility not dedicated to public use, or a facility otherwise excluded from the definition of "electric utility" under this section; and
    3. (C) does not have a certificated service area, although its affiliated electric utility or transmission and distribution utility may have a certificated service area.
46. (46) Power marketer--A person who becomes an owner of electric energy in this state for the purpose of selling the electric energy at wholesale; does not own generation, transmission, or distribution facilities in this state; does not have a certificated service area; and who is in compliance with the registration requirements of §25.105 of this title (relating to Registration and Reporting by Power Marketers).
47. (47) Power region--A contiguous geographical area which is a distinct region of the North American Electric Reliability Council.
48. (48) Premises--A tract of land or real estate including buildings and other appurtenances thereon.
49. (49) Proceeding--A hearing, investigation, inquiry, or other procedure for finding facts or making a decision. The term includes a denial of relief or dismissal of a complaint. It may be rulemaking or nonrulemaking; rate setting or non-rate setting.
50. (50) Public utility or utility--means an electric utility as that term is defined in this section, or a public utility or utility as those terms are defined in the Public Utility Regulatory Act §51.002.
51. (51) Public Utility Regulatory Act (PURA)--The enabling statute for the Public Utility Commission of Texas, located in the Texas Utilities Code Annotated, §§11.001 et. seq.
52. (52) Purchased power market value--The value of demand and energy bought and sold in a bona fide third-party transaction or transactions on the open market and determined by using the weighted average costs of the highest three offers from the market for purchase of the demand and energy available under the existing purchased power contracts.
53. (53) Qualifying cogenerator--The meaning as assigned this term by 16 U.S.C. §796(18)(C). A qualifying cogenerator that provides electricity to the purchaser of the cogenerator's thermal output is not for that reason considered to be a retail electric provider or a power generation company.
54. (54) Qualifying facility--A qualifying cogenerator or qualifying small power producer.
55. (55) Qualifying small power producer--The meaning as assigned this term by 16 U.S.C. §796(17)(D).
56. (56) Rate--A compensation, tariff, charge, fare, toll, rental, or classification that is directly or indirectly demanded, observed, charged, or collected by an electric utility for a service, product, or commodity described in the definition of electric utility in this section and a rule, practice, or contract affecting the compensation, tariff, charge, fare, toll, rental, or classification that must be approved by a regulatory authority.
57. (57) Rate class--A group of customers taking electric service under the same rate schedule.
58. (58) Rate year--The 12-month period beginning with the first date that rates become effective. The first date that rates become effective may include, but is not limited to, the effective date for bonded rates or the effective date for interim or temporary rates.
59. (59) Ratemaking proceeding--A proceeding in which a rate may be changed.
60. (60) Regulatory authority--In accordance with the context where it is found, either the commission or the governing body of a municipality.
61. (61) Renewable energy technology--Any technology that exclusively relies on an energy source that is naturally regenerated over a short time and derived directly from the sun, indirectly from the sun or from moving water or other natural movements and mechanisms of the environment. Renewable energy technologies include those that rely on energy derived directly from the sun, on wind, geothermal, hydroelectric, wave, or tidal energy, or on biomass or biomass-based waste products, including landfill gas. A renewable energy technology does not rely on energy resources derived from fossil fuels, waste products from fossil fuels, or waste products from inorganic sources.
62. (62) Renewable resource--A resource that relies on renewable energy technology.
63. (63) Retail customer--The separately metered end-use customer who purchases and ultimately consumes electricity.
64. (64) Retail electric provider--A person that sells electric energy to retail customers in this state. A retail electric provider may not own or operate generation assets.
65. (65) Retail stranded costs--That part of net stranded cost associated with the provision of retail service.
66. (66) River authority--A conservation and reclamation district created pursuant to the Texas Constitution, Article 16, Section 59, including any nonprofit corporation created by such a district pursuant to the Texas Water Code, Chapter 152, that is an electric utility.
67. (67) Rule--A statement of general applicability that implements, interprets, or prescribes law or policy, or describes the procedure or practice requirements of the commission. The term includes the amendment or repeal of a prior rule, but does not include statements concerning only the internal management or organization of the commission and not affecting private rights or procedures.
68. (68) Rulemaking proceeding--A proceeding conducted pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, Texas Government Code, Chapter 2001, Subchapter B, to adopt, amend, or repeal a commission rule.
69. (69) Separately metered--Metered by an individual meter that is used to measure electric energy consumption by a retail customer and for which the customer is directly billed by a utility, retail electric provider, electric cooperative, or municipally owned utility.
70. (70) Service--Has its broadest and most inclusive meaning. The term includes any act performed, anything supplied, and any facilities used or supplied by an electric utility in the performance of its duties under the Public Utility Regulatory Act to its patrons, employees, other public utilities or electric utilities, an electric cooperative, and the public. The term also includes the interchange of facilities between two or more public utilities or electric utilities.
71. (71) Spanish-speaking person--A person who speaks any dialect of the Spanish language exclusively or as their primary language.
72. (72) Stranded cost--The positive excess of the net book value of generation assets over the market value of the assets, taking into account all of the electric utility's generation assets, any above-market purchased power costs, and any deferred debit related to a utility's discontinuance of the application of Statement of Financial Accounting Standards Number 71 ("Accounting for the Effect of Certain Types of Regulation") for generation-related assets if required by the provisions of the Public Utility Regulatory Act, Chapter 39. For purposes of §39.262, book value shall be established as of December 31, 2001, or the date a market value is established through a market valuation method under §39.262(h), whichever is earlier, and shall include stranded costs incurred under §39.263.
73. (73) Submetering--Metering of electricity consumption on the customer side of the point at which the electric utility meters electricity consumption for billing purposes.
74. (74) Supply-side resource--A resource, including a storage device, that provides electricity from fuels or renewable resources.
75. (75) Tariff--The schedule of a utility, municipally-owned utility, or electric cooperative containing all rates and charges stated separately by type of service, the rules and regulations of the utility, and any contracts that affect rates, charges, terms or conditions of service.
76. (76) Tenant--A person who is entitled to occupy a dwelling unit to the exclusion of others and who is obligated to pay for the occupancy under a written or oral rental agreement.
77. (77) Test year--The most recent 12 months for which operating data for an electric utility, electric cooperative, or municipally-owned utility are available and shall commence with a calendar quarter or a fiscal year quarter.
78. (78) Transmission and distribution utility--A person or river authority that owns, or operates for compensation in this state equipment or facilities to transmit or distribute electricity, except for facilities necessary to interconnect a generation facility with the transmission or distribution network, a facility not dedicated to public use, or a facility otherwise excluded from the definition of "electric utility" under this section, in a qualifying power region certified under the Public Utility Regulatory Act (PURA) §39.152, but does not include a municipally owned utility or an electric cooperative.
79. (79) Transmission line--A power line that is operated at 60,000 volts or above, when measured phase-to-phase.
80. (80) Transmission service--Service that allows a transmission service customer to use the transmission and distribution facilities of electric utilities, electric cooperatives and municipally owned utilities to efficiently and economically utilize generation resources to reliably serve its loads and to deliver power to another transmission service customer. Includes construction or enlargement of facilities, transmission over distribution facilities, control area services, scheduling resources, regulation services, reactive power support, voltage control, provision of operating reserves, and any other associated electrical service the commission determines appropriate, except that, on and after the implementation of customer choice in any portion of the ERCOT region, control area services, scheduling resources, regulation services, provision of operating reserves, and reactive power support, voltage control and other services provided by generation resources are not "transmission service".
81. (81) Transmission service customer--A transmission service provider, distribution service provider, river authority, municipally-owned utility, electric cooperative, power generation company, retail electric provider, federal power marketing agency, exempt wholesale generator, qualifying facility, power marketer, or other person whom the commission has determined to be eligible to be a transmission service customer. A retail customer, as defined in this section, may not be a transmission service customer.
82. (82) Transmission service provider (TSP)--An electric utility, municipally-owned utility, or electric cooperative that owns or operates facilities used for the transmission of electricity.
83. (83) Transmission system--The transmission facilities at or above 60 kilovolts owned, controlled, operated, or supported by a transmission service provider or transmission service customer that are used to provide transmission service.

Source Note:The provisions of this §25.5 adopted to be effective September 16, 1998, 23 TexReg 9310; amended to be effective May 23, 1999, 24 TexReg 3708; amended to be effective February 24, 2000, 25 TexReg 1357; amended to be effective June 20, 2001, 26 TexReg 4440.