II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 864 

To amend the Federal Power Act to clarify the jurisdiction of the Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 13, 2007 

Mr. BUNNING (for himself and Mr. MCCONNELL) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Federal Power Act to clarify the jurisdiction 

of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and for 

other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Access to Competitive 

5 Power Act of 2007’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF EQUAL ACCESS AND TREAT2 MENT WITH RESPECT TO FEDERAL POWER 

3 RESOURCES. 

4 Section 212(i) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 

5 824k(i)) is amended— 

6 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (2) through 

7 (5) as paragraphs (3) through (6), respectively; 

8 (2) by striking the subsection designation and 

9 heading and all that follows through the end of 

10 paragraph (1) and inserting the following: 

11 ‘‘(i) ESTABLISHMENT OF EQUAL ACCESS AND

12 TREATMENT WITH RESPECT TO FEDERAL POWER RE13 SOURCES.— 

14 ‘‘(1) DEFINITION OF GENERATOR.—In this sub15 section, the term ‘generator’ means— 

16 ‘‘(A) the Bonneville Power Administration; 

17 ‘‘(B) the Southeastern Power Administra18 tion; 

19 ‘‘(C) the Western Area Power Administra20 tion; 

21 ‘‘(D) the Southwestern Power Administra22 tion; and 

23 ‘‘(E) the Tennessee Valley Authority. 

24 ‘‘(2) AUTHORITY AND DUTIES OF COMMIS25 SION.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Pursuant to sections 

2 210, 211, and 213, the Commission— 

3 ‘‘(i) may order the administrator or 

4 board of directors, as applicable, of any 

5 generator to provide transmission service, 

6 including by establishing the terms and 

7 conditions of the service; and 

8 ‘‘(ii) shall ensure that— 

9 ‘‘(I) the provisions of otherwise 

10 applicable Federal laws shall continue 

11 in full force and effect and shall con12 tinue to be applicable to the system; 

13 ‘‘(II) the rates for the trans14 mission of electric power on the sys15 tem of each Federal power marketing 

16 agency— 

17 ‘‘(aa) are administered in 

18 accordance with applicable Fed19 eral law, other than sections 210, 

20 211, and 213; and 

21 ‘‘(bb) are not unjust, unrea22 sonable, or unduly discriminatory 

23 or preferential, as determined by 

24 the Commission. 


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1 ‘‘(B) TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY

2 RATES.— 

3 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding 

4 any other provision of law, the Commission 

5 shall have jurisdiction over the rates, 

6 terms, and conditions of the provision of 

7 transmission service in interstate com8 merce by the Tennessee Valley Authority. 

9 ‘‘(ii) TARIFF.—Notwithstanding any 

10 other provision of law, pursuant to sections 

11 205 and 206, the Board of Directors of 

12 the Tennessee Valley Authority shall have 

13 on file with the Commission an open access 

14 transmission tariff that contains just, rea15 sonable, and not unduly preferential or dis16 criminatory rates, terms, and conditions 

17 for the provision of transmission service in 

18 interstate commerce by the Tennessee Val19 ley Authority.’’; 

20 (3) in paragraph (3) (as redesignated by para21 graph (1))— 

22 (A) by striking ‘‘(3) Notwithstanding’’ and 

23 inserting the following: 

24 ‘‘(3) PROCEDURE FOR DETERMINATIONS.—Not25 withstanding’’; 


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1 (B) in the matter preceding subparagraph 

2 (A), by inserting ‘‘of a Federal power mar3 keting agency’’ after ‘‘service’’; and 

4 (C) in subparagraph (A)— 

5 (i) by striking ‘‘when the Adminis6 trator of the Bonneville Power Administra7 tion either’’ and inserting ‘‘if the Adminis8 trator of any Federal power marketing 

9 agency’’; and 

10 (ii) by striking ‘‘on the Federal Co11 lumbia River Transmission System’’; 

12 (4) in paragraph (4) (as redesignated by para13 graph (1))— 

14 (A) by striking ‘‘(4) Notwithstanding’’ and 

15 inserting the following: 

16 ‘‘(4) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—Notwithstanding’’; 

17 (B) by striking ‘‘the Administrator of the 

18 Bonneville Power Administration’’ and inserting 

19 ‘‘the Administrator of a Federal power mar20 keting agency’’; and 

21 (C) by striking ‘‘United States Court of 

22 Appeals’’ and all that follows through the end 

23 of the paragraph and inserting ‘‘United States 

24 court of appeals of jurisdiction of the Federal 

25 power marketing agency.’’; 


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1 (5) in paragraph (5) (as redesignated by para2 graph (1)), by striking ‘‘(5) To the extent the Ad3 ministrator of the Bonneville Power Administration’’ 

4 and inserting the following: 

5 ‘‘(5) EXCEPTION.—To the extent that an Ad6 ministrator of a Federal power marketing agency’’; 

7 (6) in paragraph (6) (as redesignated by para8 graph (1))— 

9 (A) by striking ‘‘(6) The Commission’’ and 

10 inserting the following: 

11 ‘‘(6) PROHIBITION.—The Commission’’; and 

12 (B) by striking ‘‘the Administrator of the 

13 Bonneville Power Administration’’ and inserting 

14 ‘‘the Administrator of a Federal power mar15 keting agency’’. 

16 SEC. 3. EQUITABILITY WITHIN TERRITORY RESTRICTED 

17 ELECTRIC SYSTEMS. 

18 Section 212(j) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 

19 824k(j)) is amended— 

20 (1) by striking ‘‘With respect to’’ and inserting 

21 the following: 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para23 graph (2), with respect to’’; 


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1 (2) by striking ‘‘electric utility:’’ and all that 

2 follows through ‘‘electric utility.’’ and inserting 

3 ‘‘electric utility.’’; and 

4 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) and sub6 section (f) shall not apply to any area served at re7 tail by a distributor that— 

8 ‘‘(A) on October 24, 1992, served as a dis9 tributor for an electric utility described in para10 graph (1); and 

11 ‘‘(B) before December 31, 2006, provided 

12 to the Commission a notice of termination of 

13 the power supply contract between the dis14 tributor and the electric utility, regardless of 

15 whether the notice was later withdrawn or re16 scinded. 

17 ‘‘(3) STRANDED COSTS.—An electric utility de18 scribed in paragraph (1) that provides transmission 

19 service pursuant to an order of the Commission or 

20 a contract may not recover any stranded cost associ21 ated with the provision of transmission services to a 

22 distributor. 

23 ‘‘(4) RIGHTS OF DISTRIBUTORS.— 

24 ‘‘(A) NOTICE NOT PROVIDED.—A dis25 tributor described in paragraph (2) that did not 


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1 provide a notice described in paragraph (2)(B) 

2 by December 31, 2006, may— 

3 ‘‘(i) construct, own, and operate any 

4 generation facility, individually or jointly 

5 with another distributor; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) receive from any electric utility 

7 described in paragraph (1) partial require8 ments services, unless the cumulative 

9 quantity of energy provided by the electric 

10 utility exceeds a ratable limit that is equal 

11 to a proxy for load growth on the electric 

12 utility, based on— 

13 ‘‘(I) the total quantity of energy 

14 sold by each affected agency, corpora15 tion, or unit of the electric utility dur16 ing calendar year 2006; and 

17 ‘‘(II) a 3-percent compounded 

18 annual growth rate. 

19 ‘‘(B) NOTICE PROVIDED.— 

20 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—A distributor de21 scribed in paragraph (2) that provided a 

22 notice described in paragraph (2)(B) by 

23 December 31, 2006, may— 


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1 ‘‘(I) construct, own, and operate 

2 any generation facility, individually or 

3 jointly with another distributor; 

4 ‘‘(II) receive from any electric 

5 utility described in paragraph (1) par6 tial requirements services; 

7 ‘‘(III) receive from any electric 

8 utility described in paragraph (1) 

9 transmission services that are suffi10 cient to meet all electric energy re11 quirements of the distributor, regard12 less of whether an applicable contract, 

13 or any portion of such a contract, has 

14 been terminated under this section; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(IV) not later than 180 days 

17 after the date of enactment of this 

18 paragraph, elect to rescind the notice 

19 of termination of the distributor with20 out the imposition of a reintegration 

21 fee or any similar fee. 

22 ‘‘(ii) TREATMENT.—On an election by 

23 a distributor under clause (i)(IV), the dis24 tributor shall be entitled to all rights and 


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1 benefits of a distributor described in sub2 paragraph (A). 

3 ‘‘(5) RIGHT TO RETAIN ACCESS TO SERVICES.— 

4 ‘‘(A) DEFINITIONS.—In this paragraph: 

5 ‘‘(i) AFFECTED DISTRIBUTOR.—The 

6 term ‘affected distributor’ means a dis7 tributor that receives any electric service or 

8 power from at least 2 generators. 

9 ‘‘(ii) GENERATOR.—The term ‘gener10 ator’ means an entity referred to in any of 

11 subparagraphs (A) through (E) of sub12 section (i)(1). 

13 ‘‘(B) RETENTION OF SERVICES.—An af14 fected distributor may elect to retain any elec15 tric service or power provided by a generator, 

16 regardless of whether an applicable contract, or 

17 any portion of such a contract, has been termi18 nated under this section. 

19 ‘‘(C) EFFECT OF NOTICE OF TERMI20 NATION.— 

21 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The provision or 

22 execution by an affected distributor of a 

23 notice of termination described in para24 graph (2)(B) with 1 generator shall not af25 fect the quantity of electric service or 


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1 power provided to the affected distributor 

2 by another generator. 

3 ‘‘(ii) PRICE.—The price of electric 

4 services or power provided to an affected 

5 distributor described in clause (i) shall be 

6 equal to the price charged by the applica7 ble generator for the provision of similar 

8 services or power to a distributor that did 

9 not provide a notice described in para10 graph (2)(B). 

11 ‘‘(D) TRANSMISSION SERVICE.—On an 

12 election by an affected distributor under sub13 paragraph (B) to retain an electric service or 

14 power, the affected distributor shall be entitled 

15 to receive from a generator transmission service 

16 to 1 or more delivery points of the affected dis17 tributor, as determined by the affected dis18 tributor, regardless of whether an applicable 

19 contract, or any portion of such a contract, has 

20 been terminated under this section.’’. 

21 SEC. 4. STUDY OF PRIVATIZATION OF TENNESSEE VALLEY 

22 AUTHORITY. 

23 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United 

24 States shall conduct a study of the costs, benefits, and 


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1 other effects of privatizing the Tennessee Valley Author2 ity. 

3 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

4 of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 

5 United States shall submit to Congress a report that de6 scribes the results of the study conducted under this sec7 tion. 

8 SEC. 5. STUDY OF DEBT LEVEL OF TENNESSEE VALLEY AU9 THORITY. 

10 (a) STUDY.—The Comptroller General of the United 

11 States shall conduct a study of the financial structure of, 

12 and the amount of debt held by, the Tennessee Valley Au13 thority, which (as of February 1, 2007) is approximately 

14 $25,000,000,000. 

15 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

16 of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 

17 United States shall submit to Congress a report that de18 scribes the results of the study conducted under this sec19 tion. 

Æ 


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