This Act requires the electric industry to restructure its operations. It also allows community-owned utilities and member-owned cooperatives to choose whether they will compete with investor-owned utilities.

This Act can impact transportation projects. As these electric utilities break up into multiple companies, the number of entities involved in a transportation project may increase. Therefore, it is important to identify each of the parties early in transportation project development and include them in “ .” This also applies to the Telecommunications Deregulation Act.

The Public Utility Commission (PUC) is the state agency responsible for regulating electric and telecommunication utilities in Texas. The PUC regulates the delivery of electricity and has limited regulatory authority over retail electric providers.