(46) Energy efficiency service provider (EESP)--A person
who installs energy efficiency measures or performs other energy efficiency
services. An energy efficiency service provider may be a retail electric
provider or large commercial customer, if the person has executed
a standard offer contract.
(47) Energy savings--A quantifiable reduction in a
customer's consumption of energy.
(48) 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.
(49) 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.
(50) 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.
(51) 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.
(52) 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.
(53) Financing order--An order of the commission adopted
under PURA §39.201 or §39.262 approving the issuance of
transition bonds and the creation of transition charges for the recovery
of qualified costs.
(54) Freeze period--The period beginning on January
1, 1999, and ending on December 31, 2001.
(55) 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.
(56) Generation service--The production and purchase
of electricity for retail customers and the production, purchase,
and sale of electricity in the wholesale power market.
(57) Good utility practice--Any of the practices, methods,
or 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, or 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.
(58) Hearing--Any proceeding at which evidence is taken
on the merits of the matters at issue, not including prehearing conferences.
(59) 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.
(60) 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.
(61) Installed generation capacity--All potentially
marketable electric generation capacity, including the capacity of:
(A) generating facilities that are connected with a
transmission or distribution system;
(B) generating facilities used to generate electricity
for consumption by the person owning or controlling the facility;
and
(C) generating facilities that will be connected with
a transmission or distribution system and operating within 12 months.
(62) Interconnection agreement--The standard form of
agreement that has been approved by the commission. The interconnection
agreement sets forth the contractual conditions under which a company
and a customer agree that one or more facilities may be interconnected
with the company's utility system.
(63) Licensing--The commission process for granting,
denial, renewal, revocation, suspension, annulment, withdrawal, or
amendment of a license.
(64) Load factor--The ratio of average load to peak
load during a specific period of time, expressed as a percent. The
load factor indicates to what degree energy has been consumed compared
to maximum demand or utilization of units relative to total system
capability.
(65) Low-income customer--An electric customer who
receives assistance under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP) from Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) or medical
assistance from a state agency administering a part of the medical
assistance program.
(66) Low-Income List Administrator (LILA)--A third-party
administrator contracted by the commission to administer aspects of
the low-income customer identification process established under PURA §17.007.
(67) 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 PURA §39.154.
(68) 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 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.
(69) Master meter--A meter used to measure, for billing
purposes, all electric usage of an apartment house or mobile home
park, including common areas, common facilities, and dwelling units.
(70) Municipality--A city, incorporated village, or
town, existing, created, or organized under the general, home rule,
or special laws of the state.
(71) Municipally-owned utility (MOU)--Any utility owned,
operated, and controlled by a municipality or by a nonprofit corporation
whose directors are appointed by one or more municipalities.
(72) Nameplate rating--The full-load continuous rating
of a generator under specified conditions as designated by the manufacturer.
(73) 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.
(74) Natural gas energy credit (NGEC)--A tradable instrument
representing each megawatt of new generating capacity fueled by natural
gas, as authorized by PURA §39.9044 and implemented under §25.172
of this title (relating to Goal for Natural Gas).
(75) Net book value--The original cost of an asset
less accumulated depreciation.
(76) Net dependable capability--The maximum load in
megawatts, net of station use, that a generating unit or generating
station can carry under specified conditions for a given period of
time without exceeding approved limits of temperature and stress.
(77) New on-site generation--Electric generation with
capacity greater than ten megawatts capable of being lawfully delivered
to the site without use of utility distribution or transmission facilities,
which was not, on or before December 31, 1999, either:
(A) A fully operational facility; or
(B) A project supported by substantially complete filings
for all necessary site-specific environmental permits under the rules
of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) in effect
at the time of filing.
(78) Off-grid renewable generation--The generation
of renewable energy in an application that is not interconnected to
a utility transmission or distribution system.
(79) Other generation sources--A competitive retailer's
or affiliated retail electric provider's supply of generated electricity
that is not accounted for by a direct supply contract with an owner
of generation assets.
Cont'd... |