| (29) Rate--Every compensation, tariff, charge, fare,
toll, rental, and classification or any of those items demanded, observed,
charged, or collected, whether directly or indirectly, by any retail
public utility, for any service, product, or commodity described in
TWC §13.002(23), and any rules, regulations, practices, or contracts
affecting that compensation, tariff, charge, fare, toll, rental, or
classification.
(30) Requested area--The area that a petitioner or
applicant seeks to obtain, add to, or remove from a retail public
utility's certificated service area.
(31) Retail public utility--Any person, corporation,
public utility, water supply or sewer service corporation, municipality,
political subdivision or agency operating, maintaining, or controlling
in this state facilities for providing potable water service or sewer
service, or both, for compensation.
(32) Retail water or sewer utility service--Potable
water service or sewer service, or both, provided by a retail public
utility to the ultimate consumer for compensation.
(33) Service--Any act performed, anything furnished
or supplied, and any facilities or lines committed or used by a retail
public utility in the performance of its duties under TWC chapter
13 to its patrons, employees, other retail public utilities, and the
public, as well as the interchange of facilities between two or more
retail public utilities.
(34) Service area--Area to which a retail public utility
is obligated to provide retail water or sewer utility service.
(35) Stand-by fee--A charge, other than a tax, imposed
on undeveloped property:
(A) with no water or wastewater connections; and
(B) for which water, sanitary sewer, or drainage facilities
and services are available; water supply, wastewater treatment plant
capacity, or drainage capacity sufficient to serve the property is
available; or major water supply lines, wastewater collection lines,
or drainage facilities with capacity sufficient to serve the property
are available.
(36) Test year--The most recent 12-month period beginning
on the first day of a calendar- or fiscal-year quarter for which operating
data for a retail public utility are available.
(37) Tract of land--An area of land that has common
ownership and is not severed by other land under different ownership,
whether owned by government entities or private parties; such other
land includes roads and railroads. A tract of land may be acquired
through multiple deeds or shown in separate surveys.
(38) Water and sewer utility, utility, or public utility--Any
person, corporation, cooperative corporation, affected county, or
any combination of those persons or entities, other than a municipal
corporation, water supply or sewer service corporation, or a political
subdivision of the state, except an affected county, or their lessees,
trustees, and receivers, owning or operating for compensation in this
state equipment or facilities for the transmission, storage, distribution,
sale, or provision of potable water to the public or for the resale
of potable water to the public for any use or for the collection,
transportation, treatment, or disposal of sewage or other operation
of a sewage disposal service for the public, other than equipment
or facilities owned and operated for either purpose by a municipality
or other political subdivision of this state or a water supply or
sewer service corporation, but does not include any person or corporation
not otherwise a public utility that furnishes the services or commodity
only to itself or its employees or tenants as an incident of that
employee service or tenancy when that service or commodity is not
resold to or used by others.
(39) Water supply or sewer service corporation--Any
nonprofit corporation organized and operating under TWC chapter 67,
that provides potable water or sewer service for compensation and
that has adopted and is operating in accordance with bylaws or articles
of incorporation which ensure that it is member-owned and member-controlled.
The term does not include a corporation that provides retail water
or sewer utility service to a person who is not a member, except that
the corporation may provide retail water or sewer utility service
to a person who is not a member if the person only builds on or develops
property to sell to another and the service is provided on an interim
basis before the property is sold.
(40) Water use restrictions--Restrictions implemented
to reduce the amount of water that may be consumed by customers of
the utility due to emergency conditions or drought.
(41) Wholesale water or sewer service--Potable water
service or sewer service, or both, provided to a person, political
subdivision, or municipality who is not the ultimate consumer of the
service.
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