Texas Reliability Entity
The Texas Reliability Entity (Texas RE) is one of the regional electric reliability councils (Regional Entities) under North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) authority. Each Regional Entity is tasked with compliance, monitoring, and enforcement on the behalf of NERC to ensure bulk power system reliability. Texas RE was formed on January 1, 2010 to succeed Texas Regional Entity as the Regional Entity for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). ERCOT is located in Texas, covering 75% of the state's land area and 90% of its electric load, making it the only Regional Entity that serves  both a single interconnection (the Texas Interconnection) and a single state. Users, owners, and operators within ERCOT are eligible for membership in Texas RE at no cost. Members are categorized in one of seven membership Sectors: Cooperative Utility, Generation, Load-Serving, Marketing, Municipal Utility, System Coordination and Planning, and Transmission and Distribution. As of May 2019, Fred N. Day, IV serves as the Chair of the Texas RE Board of Directors. W. Lane Lanford serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer. In addition to having a Board of Directors as well as officers, Texas RE has a Member Representatives  Committee (MRC) consisting of 11 representatives. The MRC is composed of two representatives from each Sector, with the exception of Sectors with only one corporate member, which only have one representative on the MRC. The MRC directly advises the Board with respect to Texas RE's annual budgets, business plans, and funding mechanisms. It also advises the Board on the reliability of the bulk power system, the development of Regional Reliability Standards and Regional Variances, and other concerns related to Texas RE's purpose and operations. The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) has authorized Texas RE to serve as  its Reliability Monitor for the state of Texas and for ERCOT.