Energy Assurance Program

The Energy Assurance (EA) Program will provide funding to update the Energy and Utilities portion, Annex L, of the State of Texas Emergency Management Plan (EMP). SECO will serve as the lead on the EA Program and will work in partnership, through sub-awards, with the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) and the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC). The SECO Team, consisting of the PUC and the RRC, will partner and coordinate with the following entities: the Texas Governor's Division of Emergency Management (GDEM); the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT); the Southwest Power Pool (SPP); the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX); the Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR); investor-owned utilities, power generation companies, municipal utilities, river authorities, and wind providers; and city, county, and federal government officials.

This group will work collaboratively to update Annex L (PDF, 168 KB) to the EMP as it relates to energy reliability in Texas. The updated EMP and newly implemented policies will:

• Strengthen and expand State and local government energy assurance planning and resiliency efforts by incorporating response actions for new energy portfolios and Smart Grid applications
• Build in-house State and local government energy assurance expertise

State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) Allocated: $2,432,068

Program Status:

• SECO submitted its application to DOE on 7/30/09.
• DOE approval was received on 8/11/09.
• Interagency agreements between the Comptroller's Office and the PUC and RRC were executed as of 11/04/09.

Legal Authority:

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Pub. L. 111-5 (PDF, 1.2 MB), Titles XV and XVI of the Act