Senate Bill 7 deregulated the electricity market in Texas and gave the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT- www.puc.state.tx.us ) certain responsibilities as regulator.
The PUC is responsible for:
- Regulating rates and terms for intra-state transmission service and for distribution service in areas where customer choice has been introduced.
- Oversight of the ERCOT market, including market monitoring and the ERCOT administrative fee.
- Adopting and enforcing rules relating to retail competition, including customer protection, the price to beat, and the renewable energy goal.
- Licensing of retail electric providers and registration of power generation companies, power marketers and aggregators.
- Reviewing proposals for the construction of new transmission facilities.
- Regulation of rates and service for integrated utilities.
Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) www.ercot.com is to direct and ensure reliable and cost-effective operation of the electric grid.
ERCOT is responsible for:
- Ensuring the grid can accommodate scheduled energy transfers.
- ERCOT monitors schedules submitted by wholesale buyers and sellers for the next day’s electricity supply.
- ERCOT ensures the system can accommodate those schedules and, if necessary, creates a new market to fill the gap.
- Ensuring grid reliability. ERCOT ensures electricity transmission reliability by managing the incoming and outgoing supply of electricity over the grid. ERCOT monitors the flow of power and issues instructions to generation and transmission companies to maintain balance.
- Overseeing retail transactions. ERCOT serves as the central hub for retail transactions. When a consumer chooses a retail electric provider, ERCOT ensures the information related to that transaction is conveyed to the appropriate companies in a timely manner.