71st OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2001 Regular Session
HA to HB 3733
LC 3485/HB 3733-1
HOUSE AMENDMENTS TO
HOUSE BILL 3733
By COMMITTEE ON SMART GROWTH AND COMMERCE
April 10
On page 1 of the printed bill, line 2, after '469.185 ' insert
a comma and delete the rest of the line.
In line 3, after '470.050' insert ', 757.600 and 757.676'.
On page 6, after line 8, insert:
' { + SECTION 4. + } ORS 757.600 is amended to read:
' 757.600. As used in ORS 757.600 to 757.687, unless the
context requires otherwise:
' (1) 'Aggregate' means combining retail electricity consumers
into a buying group for the purchase of electricity and related
services.
' (2) 'Ancillary services' means services necessary or
incidental to the transmission and delivery of electricity from
generating facilities to retail electricity consumers, including
but not limited to scheduling, load shaping, reactive power,
voltage control and energy balancing services.
' (3) 'Commission' means the Public Utility Commission.
' (4) 'Consumer-owned utility' means a municipal electric
utility, a people's utility district or an electric cooperative.
' (5) 'Default supplier' means an electricity service supplier
or electric company that has a legal obligation to provide
electricity services to a consumer, as determined by the
commission.
' (6) 'Direct access' means the ability of a retail electricity
consumer to purchase electricity and certain ancillary services,
as determined by the commission for an electric company or the
governing body of a consumer-owned utility, directly from an
entity other than the distribution utility.
' (7) 'Direct service industrial consumer' means an end user of
electricity that obtains electricity directly from the
transmission grid and not through a distribution utility.
' (8) 'Distribution' means the delivery of electricity to
retail electricity consumers through a distribution system
consisting of local area power poles, transformers, conductors,
meters, substations and other equipment.
' (9) 'Distribution utility' means an electric utility that
owns and operates a distribution system connecting the
transmission grid to the retail electricity consumer.
' (10) 'Economic utility investment' means all electric company
investments made prior to the date the electric company offers
direct access under ORS 757.600 to 757.667, including plants and
equipment and contractual or other legal obligations, properly
dedicated to generation or conservation, that were prudent at the
time the obligations were assumed but the full benefits of which
are no longer available to consumers as a direct result of ORS
757.600 to 757.667, absent transition credits. ' Economic
utility investment' does not include costs or expenses disallowed
by the commission in a prudence review or other proceeding, to
the extent of such disallowance, and does not include fines or
penalties authorized and imposed under state or federal law.
' (11) 'Electric company' means an entity engaged in the
business of distributing electricity to retail electricity
consumers in this state, but does not include a consumer-owned
utility.
' (12) 'Electric cooperative' means an electric cooperative
corporation organized under ORS chapter 62 or under the laws of
another state if the service territory of the electric
cooperative includes a portion of this state.
' (13) 'Electric utility' means an electric company or
consumer-owned utility that is engaged in the business of
distributing electricity to retail electricity consumers in this
state.
' (14) 'Electricity' means electric energy, measured in
kilowatt-hours, or electric capacity, measured in kilowatts, or
both.
' (15) 'Electricity services' means electricity distribution,
transmission, generation or generation-related services.
' (16) 'Electricity service supplier' means a person or entity
that offers to sell electricity services available pursuant to
direct access to more than one retail electricity consumer. '
Electricity service supplier' does not include an electric
utility selling electricity to retail electricity consumers in
its own service territory.
' { + (17) 'Energy conservation measures' includes the
installation of smart energy devices and related equipment that
reduce electricity consumption or that modify the timing of
electricity consumption. + }
' { - (17) - } { + (18) + } 'Governing body' means the board
of directors or the commissioners of an electric cooperative or
people's utility district, or the council or board of a city with
respect to a municipal electric utility.
' { - (18) - } { + (19) + } 'Load' means the amount of
electricity delivered to or required by a retail electricity
consumer at a specific point of delivery.
' { - (19) - } { + (20) + } 'Low-income weatherization'
means repairs, weatherization and installation of energy
efficient appliances and fixtures for low-income residences for
the purpose of enhancing energy efficiency.
' { - (20) - } { + (21) + } 'Municipal electric utility'
means an electric distribution utility owned and operated by or
on behalf of a city.
' { - (21) - } { + (22) + } 'New renewable energy resource'
means a renewable energy resource project, or a new addition to
an existing renewable energy resource project, or the electricity
produced by the project, that is not in operation on July 23,
1999. 'New renewable energy resource' does not include any
portion of a renewable energy resource project under contract to
the Bonneville Power Administration on or before July 23, 1999.
' { - (22) - } { + (23) + } 'Office of Energy' means the
Office of Energy created under ORS 469.030.
' { - (23) - } { + (24) + } 'One average megawatt' means
8,760,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.
' { - (24) - } { + (25) + } 'People's utility district' has
the meaning given that term in ORS 261.010.
' { - (25) - } { + (26) + } 'Portfolio access' means the
ability of a retail electricity consumer to choose from a set of
product and pricing options for electricity determined by the
governing board of a consumer-owned utility and may include
product and pricing options offered by the utility or by an
electricity service supplier.
' { - (26) - } { + (27) + } 'Power generation company' means
a company engaged in the production and sale of electricity to
wholesale customers, including but not limited to independent
power producers, affiliated generation companies, municipal and
state authorities, provided the company is not regulated by the
commission.
' { - (27) - } { + (28) + } 'Qualifying expenditures' means
those expenditures for energy conservation measures that have a
simple payback period of not less than one year and not more than
10 years, and expenditures for the above-market costs of new
renewable energy resources, provided that the Office of Energy by
rule may establish a limit on the maximum above-market cost for
renewable energy that is allowed as a credit.
' { - (28) - } { + (29) + } 'Renewable energy resources'
means:
' (a) Electricity generation facilities fueled by wind, waste,
solar or geothermal power or by low-emission nontoxic biomass
based on solid organic fuels from wood, forest and field
residues.
' (b) Dedicated energy crops available on a renewable basis.
' (c) Landfill gas and digester gas.
' (d) Hydroelectric facilities located outside protected areas
as defined by federal law in effect on July 23, 1999.
' { - (29) - } { + (30) + } 'Residential electricity
consumer' means an electricity consumer who resides at a dwelling
primarily used for residential purposes. 'Residential electricity
consumer' does not include retail electricity consumers in a
dwelling typically used for residency periods of less than 30
days, including hotels, motels, camps, lodges and clubs. As used
in this subsection, ' dwelling' includes but is not limited to
single family dwellings, separately metered apartments, adult
foster homes, manufactured dwellings, recreational vehicles and
floating homes.
' { - (30) - } { + (31) + } 'Retail electricity consumer'
means the end user of electricity for specific purposes such as
heating, lighting or operating equipment, and includes all end
users of electricity served through the distribution system of an
electric utility on or after July 23, 1999, whether or not each
end user purchases the electricity from the electric utility.
' { - (31) - } { + (32) + } 'Site' means a single contiguous
area of land containing buildings or other structures that are
separated by not more than 1,000 feet, or buildings and related
structures that are interconnected by facilities owned by a
single retail electricity consumer and that are served through a
single electric meter.
' { - (32) - } { + (33) + } 'Transition charge' means a
charge or fee that recovers all or a portion of an uneconomic
utility investment.
' { - (33) - } { + (34) + } 'Transition credit' means a
credit that returns to consumers all or a portion of the benefits
from an economic utility investment.
' { - (34) - } { + (35) + } 'Transmission facility' means
the plant and equipment used to transmit electricity in
interstate commerce.
' { - (35) - } { + (36) + } 'Undue market power' means the
unfair or improper exercise of influence to increase or decrease
the availability or price of a service or product in a manner
inconsistent with competitive markets.
' { - (36) - } { + (37) + } 'Uneconomic utility investment'
means all investments made by an electric company prior to the
date the electric company offers direct access under ORS 757.600
to 757.667, including plants and equipment and contractual or
other legal obligations, properly dedicated to generation,
conservation and workforce commitments, that were prudent at the
time the obligations were assumed but the full costs of which are
no longer recoverable as a direct result of ORS 757.600 to
757.667, absent transition charges. 'Uneconomic utility
investment' does not include costs or expenses disallowed by the
commission in a prudence review or other proceeding, to the
extent of such disallowance, and does not include fines or
penalties as authorized by state or federal law.
' { + SECTION 5. + } ORS 757.676 is amended to read:
' 757.676. The governing body of a consumer-owned utility is
authorized to determine whether and under what terms and
conditions it will offer its retail electricity consumers direct
access, portfolio access or other forms of access to electric
service suppliers. In making such determination, the governing
body of a consumer-owned utility shall consider such factors as
it deems appropriate. A consumer-owned utility shall have sole
authority to determine:
' (1) The quality and nature of electric service, including but
not limited to different product and pricing options, which shall
be made available to its retail electricity consumers.
' (2) The extent to which products and services will be
unbundled and the rates, tariffs, terms and conditions on which
they may be offered.
' (3) Whether one or more pilot programs for direct access,
portfolio access or other forms of access to alternative
suppliers will be offered.
' (4) Notwithstanding ORS 757.600 (10) and { - (36) - } { +
(37) + }, what constitutes an economic or uneconomic utility
investment, the value of such investments and, in the case of
uneconomic utility investments, the manner and means of
mitigating such investments.
' (5) Whether and on what basis a transition charge will be
adopted, assessed and collected from a retail electricity
consumer located within the utility's service territory,
including but not limited to a nonbypassable distribution charge,
the amount and period of recovery for the charges, the allocation
of the charges among retail electricity consumers located within
the utility's service territory and the method of collecting such
charges including but not limited to whether to impose a
nonbypassable distribution charge.
' (6) The manner of collecting stranded distribution charges,
systems benefit charges, franchise fees, taxes and payments made
in lieu of taxes from retail electricity consumers located within
the utility's service territory for electric power transactions
using transmission facilities, whether or not such transactions
use distribution facilities. The governing body may assign
charges on the basis of usage, demand or any combination or
method it finds appropriate. Charges need not be assigned to
specific facilities.
' (7) The collection from retail electricity consumers located
within the utility's service territory through rates, fees or
charges, including the imposition of a nonbypassable distribution
charge, in amounts sufficient to recover 100 percent of stranded
costs imposed by, or incurred pursuant to the purchase of
cost-based electric power from, the Bonneville Power
Administration. Such stranded cost charges may include the
difference in cost associated with purchasing electric power from
the Bonneville Power Administration and the cost of purchasing a
like and similar amount of electric power at market prices.
' (8) The establishment of technical capability requirements,
financial responsibility requirements and other protections for
retail electricity consumers located within the utility's service
territory and the consumer-owned utility in dealings with
electric service suppliers.
' (9) Access to or use of the utility's transmission facilities
or distribution system by retail electricity consumers or
electric service suppliers.
' (10) The utility's qualification standards for energy service
suppliers in addition to any certification standards established
by the Public Utility Commission, provided that the qualification
standards are uniformly applied to electricity service providers
in a nondiscriminatory manner.
' { + SECTION 6. + } { + The Oregon Department of
Administrative Services, in consultation with the Office of
Energy, shall report on energy technologies used by state
agencies to reduce energy consumption to the Seventy-sixth
Legislative Assembly, and thereafter to the Legislative Assembly
at the end of every 10-year period that coincides with the
federal decennial census. + } ' .
In line 9, delete '4' and insert '7'.
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