Order in which items were taken up: 3, 6, 19, 23, 17, 20, 22, 28, 33, 35, 36, 37, 38, 41, 49, 47, 57
0.1 - Chairman Gleeson asks for motion to approve items on Consent Agenda
Commissioners' recusal memos filed in Project No. 527611.
Chairman Gleeson recused from Items 8, 17, 20, 22, 28.
Commissioner Hjaltman recused from Items 5, 20, 21, 22.
Items placed on the consent agenda by individual ballot: 2, 4, 5, 7-16, 18, 21, 24-27.
Additional items on the consent agenda where no one signed up to speak: 30, 31, 56.
Chairman Gleeson requests a motion to approve consent items.
Motion is approved unanimously.
3 - Docket No. 53063; SOAH Docket No. 473-22-2236.WS – Petition by Outside City Ratepayers Appealing the Water Rates Established by the City of Leander.
Motion to approve the good cause exception as discussed in the memo.
All members in favor; motion approved.
17 - Docket No. 56273 – Rate-Case Expense Issues Severed from Docket No. 50788 (Ratepayers Appeal of the Decision by Windermere Oaks Water Supply Corporation to Change Water and Sewer Rates)
The Commission approved a proposal modified to grant Windermere's request to recover zero in rate case expenses, following Commissioner Cobos' memo.
The motion passed unanimously.
19 - Docket No. 56589 – Petition by Residents of Grand Lakes Municipal Utility District No. 2, Appealing the Water Rates Established by the District’s Board of Directors
Motion to modify the PFD consistent with Chairman Gleeson’s memo to appeal water rates established by board for residents of Grand Lakes Municipal Utility District No. 2 .
Motion passed without opposition.
20 - Docket No. 54657; SOAH Docket No. 473-24-04313 – Application of the City of Lubbock Acting by and through Lubbock Power & Light (LP&L) to Change Rates for Wholesale Transmission Service.
Motion made to adopt in part and reject in part the ALJ's PFD, consistent with recommendations made Commissioner Cobos’ memo.
Approval of 1.5 debt service coverage ratio
Approval of the recovery of the franchise fee
Rejection of ALJ's recommendation to include LP&L's payment in lieu of property taxes in costs, based on PURA 35.009.
Motion passed.
22 - Docket No. 56125 – Commission Staff’s Petition for Declaratory Order Regarding OptOut of Securitization Uplift Charges by Transmission-Voltage Customers.
Commissioner Cobos’ memo recommends approving the proposed declaratory order with modifications.
The modifications involve removing the conclusion on whether TIEC's issue should be addressed in the declaratory order.
The determination clarifies that the opt-out by transmission voltage customers is non-transferable to another entity.
No decision will be made regarding TIEC's issue at this time.
Commissioner Glotfelty found the issue of uplift charges confusing and sought additional time to understand it.
The decision was paused and deferred to the next meeting.
23 - Docket No. 56142 – Joint Application of Southwestern Public Service Company and City of Lubbock, Acting by and through Lubbock Power and Light to Transfer Certificate of Convenience and Necessity Rights
Chairman Gleeson’s memo expressed concerns about the record being light and unclear
Recommends remanding the application back to OPDM as the applicant bears the burden of proof for compliance with the statute.
Motion passed to remand the proceeding to OPDM
28 - Docket No. 56651 – Application of Energywell Texas, LLC for a Retail Electric Provider Certificate.
Commissioner Glotfelty questioned whether rules in 25.107 were made following legislation that prevented companies like Gritty from forming, related to Winter Storm Uri.
Glotfelty noted that many Gritty customers were pleased with the service before the storm and questioned the necessity of prohibiting participation of similar companies.
Discussion on whether to reconsider rules that prohibit re-entry of principals under specific circumstances, originally set post-Uri.
Emphasis on need for more retail electric market competition.
Counterpoint that post-Uri actions were focused on fixing issues which led to stricter rules against market re-entry by principals of problematic companies.
Mention that ERCOT also updated protocols to enforce these prohibitions.
Acknowledgment that original strict prohibitions were placed for specific reasons, suggesting possible future amendments.
Barksdale English noted that the wholesale index rule came about following Winter Storm Uri.
Prior to Winter Storm Uri, retail electric provider rule 25.107 already prohibited principals with revoked rep certificates from serving as principals or controlling members of new representatives.
Amendments to rule 25.107 included clarifications on the definition of control.
The principle that revoked certificate holders should not return to the market existed before Winter Storm Uri.
This is the first instance post-Uri where these specific rules are being applied to a new rep application.
No other company principals who had faced such revocations have reapplied for rep certificates.
CPS commits to coordinate with ERCOT if the plants are selected for a Reliability Must-Run (RMR) contract.
Additional inspections and maintenance would be required if the plants are to operate beyond the planned retirement date. An estimate of costs associated have been shared with ERCOT.
Questioned if fewer outages were taken due to potential plant retirements, leading to possible increased damage.
Response indicated that maintenance has been conducted as usual and planned, ensuring operational and employee safety. No essential maintenance has been avoided.
Mentioned unplanned outages were due to unit age, which is expected.
Estimated costs for outages and inspections: $22 million for unit three, $15.8 million for unit two, and $17.3 million for unit one
Includes outage opportunity cost and repairs to extend unit life
Clarified that repairs and inspection costs will be more accurate post-inspection
Commissioner Cobos suggested considering the MRA process to mitigate costs and emphasized the importance of fair calculation of opportunity costs and load costs
Commissioner Glotfelty asked if the IROL limit considers all 8760 hours of the year or specific times?
Woody Rickerson answered that calculations are done in real-time, analysis considers 8760 hours with separate summer and winter ratings.
35 - Project No. 54584 – Reliability Standard for the ERCOT Market
Staff identified several key issues from comments on the proposal for adoption to be reviewed at the August 29 meeting.
Primary topic of concern was the application of the reliability standard, with conflicting views on whether it should be a target or require mandatory action. Commenters are looking for clarity on how this standard would be applied in the PFP.
Current rule requires ERCOT to assess reliability every two or five years but does not compel the Commission to act on recommendations.
Requests to establish a standard for reliability metrics through either Expected Unserved Energy (EUE) or Normalized Expected Unserved Energy (MEUE), with preference for a three-metric reliability standard.
Consideration of whether explicit exceedance tolerances should be mandated in the rule; staff recommends maintaining them for clear policy goals.
Acknowledged need to formalize public comment periods in the rule, proposing 30-day windows after key ERCOT assessments.
Proposed increasing the frequency of reliability assessments from every five years to every two years.
Addressed concerns about the magnitude metric's clarity and proposed relaxing the tolerance level from 0.25% to 1%.
Highlighted the importance of cost estimates in the results of the assessment, adding a requirement for ERCOT to include these estimates and allow public commentary on them.
Initial recommendations provided on final values for design parameters, focusing on parameter 20: framework for complying with the net cost cap.
Current method calculates net cost by comparing a PCM world to a non-PCM world with added/retired capacity.
Staff believes ensuring compliance with the $1 billion annual net cost cap is only possible by capping compensation for performance credits at $1 billion, with adjustments for peak and inflation.
Two downsides of this cap: potential unaccounted savings from PCM, and PCM's limited ability to achieve reliability standards independently.
Commission must decide on the 37 design parameters at the next open meeting.
ERCOT and E3 to file reports with recommendations soon; staff to file final recommendations before August 29 meeting.
Discussion on the challenges of counterfactual scenarios and assumptions impacting compliance assessments.
Will discuss the recommendation and any necessary changes at the next meeting.
Two concerns raised: allocation of hours between Winter and Spring, and metric for determining PC hours based on lowest surplus of total available generation capacity relative to load.
38 - Project No. 56896 – Texas Energy Fund In-ERCOT Loan Program Reports and Filings.
Staff filed a memo outlining the process for the next open meeting.
ERCOT has received over 70 applications seeking more than $24 billion, with 38,000 MW potential new generation.
Applications are evaluated based on four categories: project technical and regional attributes, project financial attributes, application sponsor history, and application sponsor financial characteristics.
Five policy priorities include diversity of applicant types and siting location, speed to market, ability to relieve transmission constraints, and diversity of generation technology types.
Assessment binders, either in paper or electronic format, will be provided to Commissioners next week.
On August 29, the recommended portfolio will be consolidated and presented for consideration.
The portfolio will include applicant name, MWs, project location, ranking criteria, and policy priorities satisfaction.
Commissioners will approve an order delegating to Connie the ability to enter into loan agreements post due diligence.
Action taken at the August 29th meeting will not make a formal declaration on any of the applicants that will not be invited to due diligence.
Legislature has appropriated $5 billion out of $10 billion.
Approval and fund allocation need to be completed by the end of February or beginning of March due to an 8-month due diligence process and 60-day loan agreement execution.
41 - Project No. 53911 – Aggregate Distributed Energy Resource (ADER) ERCOT Pilot Project.
SPP RSC met on August 5 and approved increasing the summer Planning Reserve Margin (PRM) from 15% to 16%, effective summer 2026.
A winter PRM of 36% was established, effective winter 2026-2027 and applying to 2027-2028 winter seasons.
These PRM changes were passed with a majority in favor, Texas and Oklahoma opposed.
SPP staff is expected to discuss further increasing the summer PRM to 17% and establishing a 44% winter PRM by the end of this year or early next year.
Concerns exist about the ability of Load Serving Entities (LSEs) in SPP to comply with these new PRMs due to the need for investments in generation capacity.
Options to meet PRM requirements include investing in existing generation, building new capacity, or purchasing excess capacity from other LSEs or merchant generators.
Failure to meet PRM requirements results in deficiency payments, though SPP has a sliding scale for these payments based on the actual deficiency amount.
The PRM changes will put pressure on LREs operating in SPP within Texas and may impact the switchability of generation units between ERCOT and SPP.
49 - Discussion and possible action on electric reliability; electric market development; power to-choose website; ERCOT oversight; transmission planning, construction, and cost recovery; and electric reliability standards and organizations arising under federal law
Reminder of workshop on August 22, plan for the Permian basin will be reviewed.
57 - Discussion and possible action regarding agency review by Sunset Advisory Commission, operating budget, strategic plan, appropriations request, project assignments, correspondence, staff reports, agency administrative issues, agency organization, fiscal matters and personnel policy.
Hayley Hall presented the legislative appropriations request for FY '26-'27, starting next September.
The baseline budget remains the same as FY '25, with no across-the-board cuts asked by the legislature.
Five exceptional items requested in addition to the baseline budget:
Additional staffing focused on the contested case process due to demand for services and caseload growth.
Development of a case management system to gather better data, automate processes, and analyze data efficiently per the Sunset Commission's recommendation.
Staffing for infrastructure, reliability, and resiliency, including additional CCN volumes relating to Permian Basin reliability plans and other reliability plans, and a Texas version of the federal eagle eye outage tracking database.
Expansion of TEF with a few additional staff due to higher than anticipated response volumes, preparing for the monitoring phase of all four programs.
Replacement of the Power to Choose system with a modern architecture and user interface, last updated significantly in 2015.
Current FTE cap is 283, with an additional request for 53 FTEs, taking the total to approximately 330.
Currently, about 253 FTEs are filled, with an additional 50 FTEs being added from the last legislative session.
Recognition of substantial workload in the Permian Basin CCN proceedings and other expedited contested cases.
Acknowledgement of Commissioner Jackson's early advocacy for a case management system.
Expected joint budget hearings or other hearings to be scheduled in the fall.