El Paso Electric (EPE) was one of the first utilities in the state of Texas to address and identify a mechanism to refund Texas customers due to the reduction in the federal income tax rate.

On December 14, 2017, the unopposed settlement approved by the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) included a provision to refund EPE’s Texas customers for the reduction in the federal income tax rate.

EPE is currently calculating the changes and impacts of the new tax law to determine the amount of the refund to be filed in mid-April.  EPE expects Texas customers will begin to see the refund as a credit on their bills by mid-year 2018 following PUCT approval of its refund filing.

Background (Language in Settlement, Final Order)

The Final Order in El Paso Electric’s Texas rate case provides, among other things, for the following: a requirement that the Company file a refund tariff if the federal statutory income tax rate, as it relates to the Company, is decreased before the Company files its next rate case. El Paso Electric will file a refund tariff with the Public Utility Commission of Texas and municipal regulatory authorities within 120 days after the enactment of the law making the tax-rate change reflecting the reduction in federal-income-tax rates.