With so many types of utilities, scoring them all is a huge task. For the Texas Clean Energy Scorecard, we divided our scorecard into four main categories: the 10 largest municipal electric utilities (MOU), the 18 largest electric cooperatives (COOP), the 34 top-selling Retail Electric Providers which buy and sell electricity in the competitive markets within ERCOT region, and the eight investor owned utilities (IOU) -- 4 of which are transmission and distribution utilities serving the Customers in the ERCOT region with REPs, and the 4 that are vertically integrated (full service) utilities operating outside the ERCOT region.
Retail Electric Providers (REP)
Within ERCOT territory, customers that live in "competitive areas" can choose their REP. In contrast, Texans living in the service territories of municipal utilities, electric cooperatives, or outside the ERCOT grid are served by their utility with a monopoly on providing electric service in the area. In the competitive part of the state there is wide- spread choice on who provides you with electric service. We scored the 40 REPs that reported the highest electricity sales in 2017.
Municipal Utilities (MOU)
There are 72 municipal utilities in Texas. Many of them are relatively small and serve a single town. In 2011, the Texas legislature approved a bill, SB 924, which required municipal utilities who sold more than 500,000 megawatt-hours of electricity annually to report to the State Energy Conservation Office each year on their energy efficiency, demand response, and renewable energy programs. We took the 10 largest municipal utilities and rated them on their clean energy efforts.
Electric Cooperatives (COOP)
There are 67 electric cooperatives in Texas. In an electric cooperative, customers are also "members" with the ability to vote on many utility decisions including the governing board of directors. Many co-ops are relatively small and serve a single area, but just like municipal utilities, under SB 924 electric cooperatives that sold more than 500,000 MWh's of electricity are required to report to the State Energy Conservation Office each year on their energy efficiency, demand response, and renewable energy programs. We looked at the programs of these 18 electric cooperatives.
Investor-Owned Utilities (IOU)
There are 9 major private investor-owned utilities in Texas that provide the transmission services, including powerlines, to keep the grid reliable. Five of these are located within the ERCOT region of the state and four are located outside of ERCOT. Following SB 1125, approved in 2011 by the Texas legislature, all 9 are required to charge residential and commercial electric customers that are located in their service territories a small "Energy Efficiency Cost Recovery Fee" that generates millions of dollars each year to run energy savings programs. We looked at these and other efforts on clean energy development implemented by these private utilities.
