
§ 11.003. DEFINITIONS.  In this title:                                      
		(1)  "Affected person" means:                                                 
			(A)  a public utility or electric cooperative 
affected by an action of a regulatory authority;
			(B)  a person whose utility service or rates are 
affected by a proceeding before a regulatory authority;  or
			(C)  a person who:                                                           
				(i)  is a competitor of a public utility with 
respect to a service performed by the utility;  or
				(ii)  wants to enter into competition with a 
public utility.              
		(2)  "Affiliate" means:                                                       
			(A)  a person who directly or indirectly owns or 
holds at least five percent of the voting securities of a public 
utility;
			(B)  a person in a chain of successive ownership 
of at least five percent of the voting securities of a public 
utility;
			(C)  a corporation that has at least five percent 
of its voting securities owned or controlled, directly or 
indirectly, by a public utility;
			(D)  a corporation that has at least five percent 
of its voting securities owned or controlled, directly or 
indirectly, by:
				(i)  a person who directly or indirectly 
owns or controls at least five percent of the voting securities of a 
public utility;  or
				(ii)  a person in a chain of successive 
ownership of at least five percent of the voting securities of a 
public utility;
			(E)  a person who is an officer or director of a 
public utility or of a corporation in a chain of successive 
ownership of at least five percent of the voting securities of a 
public utility;  or
			(F)  a person determined to be an affiliate under 
Section 11.006.          
		(3)  "Allocation" means the division among 
municipalities or among municipalities and unincorporated areas of 
the plant, revenues, expenses, taxes, and reserves of a utility 
used to provide public utility service in a municipality or for a 
municipality and unincorporated areas.
		(4)  "Commission" means the Public Utility Commission 
of Texas.             
		(5)  "Commissioner" means a member of the Public 
Utility Commission of Texas.
		(6)  "Cooperative corporation" means:                                         
			(A)  an electric cooperative;  or                                            
			(B)  a telephone cooperative corporation 
organized under Chapter 162 or a predecessor statute to Chapter 162 
and operating under that chapter.
		(7)  "Corporation" means a domestic or foreign 
corporation, joint-stock company, or association, and each lessee, 
assignee, trustee, receiver, or other successor in interest of the 
corporation, company, or association, that has any of the powers or 
privileges of a corporation not possessed by an individual or 
partnership.  The term does not include a municipal corporation or 
electric cooperative, except as expressly provided by this title.
		(8)  "Counsellor" means the public utility counsel.                           
		(9)  "Electric cooperative" means:                                            
			(A)  a corporation organized under Chapter 161 or 
a predecessor statute to Chapter 161 and operating under that 
chapter;  or
			(B)  a corporation organized as an electric 
cooperative in a state other than Texas that has obtained a 
certificate of authority to conduct affairs in the State of Texas
			(C)  Deleted by Acts 2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1327, 
§ 1.                    
		(10)  "Facilities" means all of the plant and equipment 
of a public utility, and includes the tangible and intangible 
property, without limitation, owned, operated, leased, licensed, 
used, controlled, or supplied for, by, or in connection with the 
business of the public utility.
		(11)  "Municipally owned utility" means a utility 
owned, operated, and controlled by a municipality or by a nonprofit 
corporation the directors of which are appointed by one or more 
municipalities.
		(12)  "Office" means the Office of Public Utility 
Counsel.                  
		(13)  "Order" means all or a part of a final disposition 
by a regulatory authority in a matter other than rulemaking, 
without regard to whether the disposition is affirmative or 
negative or injunctive or declaratory.  The term includes:
			(A)  the issuance of a certificate of convenience 
and necessity;  and      
			(B)  the setting of a rate.                                                  
		(14)  "Person" includes an individual, a partnership of 
two or more persons having a joint or common interest, a mutual or 
cooperative association, and a corporation, but does not include an 
electric cooperative.
		(15)  "Proceeding" means a hearing, investigation, 
inquiry, or other procedure for finding facts or making a decision 
under this title.  The term includes a denial of relief or dismissal 
of a complaint.
		(16)  "Rate" includes:                                                        
			(A)  any compensation, tariff, charge, fare, 
toll, rental, or classification that is directly or indirectly 
demanded, observed, charged, or collected by a public utility for a 
service, product, or commodity described in the definition of 
utility in Section 31.002 or 51.002;  and
			(B)  a rule, practice, or contract affecting the 
compensation, tariff, charge, fare, toll, rental, or 
classification.
		(17)  "Ratemaking proceeding" means a proceeding in 
which a rate is changed.
		(18)  "Regulatory authority" means either the 
commission or the governing body of a municipality, in accordance 
with the context.
		(19)  "Service" has its broadest and most inclusive 
meaning.  The term includes any act performed, anything supplied, 
and any facilities used or supplied by a public utility in the 
performance of the utility's duties under this title to its 
patrons, employees, other public utilities, an electric 
cooperative, and the public.  The term also includes the 
interchange of facilities between two or more public utilities.  
The term does not include the printing, distribution, or sale of 
advertising in a telephone directory.
		(20)  "Test year" means the most recent 12 months, 
beginning on the first day of a calendar or fiscal year quarter, for 
which operating data for a public utility are available.
		(21)  "Trade association" means a nonprofit, 
cooperative, and voluntarily joined association of business or 
professional persons who are employed by public utilities or 
utility competitors to assist the public utility industry, a 
utility competitor, or the industry's or competitor's employees in 
dealing with mutual business or professional problems and in 
promoting their common interest.

Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 166, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.  Amended 
by Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 405, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1999;  Acts 
2003, 78th Leg., ch. 1327, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003.
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Last modified: August 10, 2007