Title
A resolution suspending the April 21, 2017, effective date of Oncor Electric Delivery Company’s requested rate change to permit the City time to study the request and to establish reasonable rates; approving cooperation with the Steering Committee of Cities Served by Oncor to hire legal and consulting services and to negotiate with the Company and direct any necessary litigation and appeals; finding that the meeting at which this Resolution is passed is open to the public as required by law; requiring notice of this Resolution to the Company and legal counsel for the Steering Committee.
Body
On March 17, 2017, Oncor Electric Delivery Company (Oncor) filed an application with the Texas Public Utilities Commission (PUC) seeking to increase system-wide transmission and distribution rates by $317 million or approximately 7.5 percent over present revenues. The Company is requesting approval of an 11.8 percent increase in residential rates and a 0.5 percent increase in street lighting rates. If approved, a residential customer consuming 1,300 kWh of electricity per month would see a monthly bill increase of about $6.80. Although Oncor has increased various tariffs like the Energy Efficiency Cost Recovery Factor many times over the past few years, this is the first comprehensive base rate case for the Company since January 2011.
This resolution suspends the April 21, 2017, effective date of the Company’s rate increase for the maximum period permitted by law to allow the City, working in conjunction with the Steering Committee of Cities Served by Oncor, to evaluate the filing, determine whether the filing complies with law, and if lawful, to determine what further strategy, including settlement, to pursue. The law provides that a rate request made by an electric utility cannot become effective until at least 35 days following the filing of the application to change rates. The law permits the City to suspend the rate change for 90 days after the date the rate change would otherwise be effective. If the City fails to take some action regarding the filing before the effective date, Oncor’s rate request is deemed administratively approved.
The City is a member of a 156-city coalition known as the Steering Committee of Cities Served by Oncor (OCSC). The Steering Committee has been in existence since the late 1980s. It took on a formal structure in the early 1990s when cities served by the former TXU gave up their statutory right to rate case expense reimbursement in exchange for higher franchise fee payments. The Steering Committee has been the primary public interest advocate before the PUC, the courts and the Legislature on electric utility regulation matters for the last 30 years.
Recommended/Desired Action
Approve the proposed Suspension Resolution.
Attachment(s)
Resolution
List of Steering Committee Cities
Drafter
Ted Chinn
Head of Department
Ted Chinn