The Kay Bailey Hutchison Center for Energy, Law, and Business

The Public Utility Commission of Texas (“PUCT” or “Commission”) started out last year much the same way that it is starting out this year—the key item on its agenda will be the sale of Oncor Electric Delivery, LLC out of the EFH bankruptcy—however this sale will be to NextEra Energy Resources, LLC instead of two entities spearheaded by the Hunt family. Many of the other key issues initiated in 2016 have carried over into 2017, including the implications of Reliability Must Run, the determination of a standard for reliability, and the use and deployment of both distributed generation and emergency response service, and possible transitions of Lubbock Power & Light (“LP&L”) and Rayburn Country Electric Cooperative (“Rayburn”) load into the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (“ERCOT”). A review and discussion of these issues demonstrates that the market design, which continues to evolve around many of the same key issues and in particular renewable development, is influenced by legislative changes, agency guidance and changes to rules.