NOTICE DATE:  February 27, 2024

NOTICE TYPE: M-B022724-01 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. 56119

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. 56119, Petition of Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc. for Expedited Declaratory Order Regarding Public Utility Regulatory Act Chapter 39, Subchapter N.  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. 52322, related to uplift 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 not assess uplift charges to Qualified Scheduling Entities (QSEs) representing Load Serving Entities (LSEs) for the portion of load they serve that is associated with those current and future electric service identifiers registered to LP&L as a transmission and distribution provider in LP&L's service area;
• ERCOT must implement a process to exclude current and future end-use customers in LP&L's service area from any other load served by an LSE to ensure that current and future end-use customers in LP&L's service area are not assessed uplift charges and are not included in the calculation of uplift charges; and
• LSEs (and the QSEs that represent them) providing retail electric service 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 uplift 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 incorporate the load activity for current and future end-use customers in LP&L's service area to the billing determinant Opt-Out LSE Real-Time Adjusted Metered Load (OPTOUTLSERTAML) in ERCOT Nodal Protocols Section 27.3, Securitization Uplift Charge.

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. 56119 and the related 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.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:  Please refer to the PUC’s Declaratory Order in PUC Docket No. 56119 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.

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