NOTICE DATE: February 27, 2024

NOTICE TYPE: M-A022724-01 Legal

SHORT DESCRIPTION: March 4, 2024 start date of competitive retail service in the Lubbock Power & Light service area and Notice of Declaratory Order issued in Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) Docket No. 56122

INTENDED AUDIENCE:  All Market Participants

DAYS AFFECTED: March 4, 2024 and thereafter

LONG DESCRIPTION:  Beginning on March 4, 2024, through April 1, 2024, retail electric service for customers in the service area of the City of Lubbock, acting by and through Lubbock Power and Light, (LP&L) will be transferred to competitive Retail Electric Providers (REPs).  

Additionally, the PUC granted ERCOT’s petition for an expedited Declaratory Order in PUC Docket No. 56122, Petition of Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc. for Expedited Declaratory Order Regarding Public Utility Regulatory Act Chapter 39, Subchapter M.  The PUC, inter alia, ordered that

• the exemption currently applicable to LP&L under PURA § 39.151(j-1) and the Debt Obligation Order in PUC Docket No. 52321, related to default charges, will remain in effect for current and future end-use customers in LP&L's service area upon the commencement of the City of Lubbock's transition to retail competition; 
• ERCOT must continue to exclude LP&L from the imposition of default charges;
• ERCOT must implement a process to exclude those current and future electric service identifiers registered to LP&L as a transmission and distribution provider from the calculation of default charges.  (The Commission notes that such exclusion is limited to only market activity used to calculate default charges based on the volume of load activity for current and future end-use customers in LP&L's service area); and
• Qualified Scheduling Entities representing Load Serving Entities providing retail electric service to current and future end-use customers in LP&L's service area, and Congestion Revenue Right (CRR) Account Holders managing CRR activity related to current and future end-use customers in LP&L's service area, are prohibited from assessing or passing through to those customers any costs or charges related to default charges.

ERCOT has been preparing for system changes necessary to implement the Commission-ordered exclusions and expects that such system changes will be in place to be effective on or before March 4, 2024, the day on which the transfer of LP&L retail customers to REPs will begin.

The system changes include updates to the calculation of Securitization Default Charge Real-Time Adjusted Metered Load (SDCRTAML) in ERCOT Nodal Protocols Section 26.2, Securitization Default Charges.  A new billing determinant was created to exclude the load activity for current and future end-use customers in LP&L's service area, replacing the existing Real-Time Adjusted Metered Load (RTAML) billing determinant in this calculation. Market Participants will see this new billing determinant utilized in the calculation of SDCRTAML with the Initial March Securitization Default Charge estimates.

New Settlement Billing Determinant:

ERCOT has also begun working on a Nodal Protocol Revision Request that ERCOT will submit to reflect the Commission’s Declaratory Orders issued in PUC Docket No. 56122 and the related PUC Docket No. 56119, Petition of Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc. for Expedited Declaratory Order Regarding Public Utility Regulatory Act Chapter 39, Subchapter N.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:  Please refer to the PUC’s Declaratory Order in PUC Docket No. 56122 for additional information.

CONTACT: If you have any questions, please contact your ERCOT Account Manager. You may also call the general ERCOT Client Services phone number at (512) 248-3900 or contact ERCOT Client Services via email at ClientServices@ercot.com.

If you are receiving email from a public ERCOT distribution list that you no longer wish to receive, please follow this link in order to unsubscribe from this list: http://lists.ercot.com.

dg