II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1957 

To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to authorize 

the Secretary of Energy to make loans to publicly owned electric utilities 

to finance and refinance projects to comply with any Federal energy 

efficiency resource standard, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 28, 2009 

Mr. SCHUMER introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 

to authorize the Secretary of Energy to make loans to 

publicly owned electric utilities to finance and refinance 

projects to comply with any Federal energy efficiency 

resource standard, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. LOANS TO PUBLICLY OWNED ELECTRIC UTILI2 TIES TO COMPLY WITH FEDERAL ENERGY EF3 FICIENCY RESOURCE STANDARD AND FOR 

4 OTHER PURPOSES. 

5 Title VI of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act 

6 of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.) is amended by adding 

7 at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 610. LOANS TO PUBLICLY OWNED ELECTRIC UTILI9 TIES TO COMPLY WITH FEDERAL ENERGY EF10 FICIENCY RESOURCE STANDARD AND FOR 

11 OTHER PURPOSES. 

12 ‘‘(a) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this section are— 

13 ‘‘(1) to reduce the cost incurred by publicly 

14 owned electric utilities in complying with any Fed15 eral energy efficiency resource standard and for 

16 other purposes; and 

17 ‘‘(2) to minimize the impact of compliance on 

18 electricity rates for consumers. 

19 ‘‘(b) DEFINITION OF PUBLICLY OWNED ELECTRIC

20 UTILITY.—In this section, the term ‘publicly owned elec21 tric utility’ means a State utility with a service obligation, 

22 as those terms are defined in section 217 of the Federal 

23 Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824q) (as in effect on the date of 

24 enactment of this section). 


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1 ‘‘(c) LOANS.—The Secretary shall make loans avail2 able to publicly owned electric utilities to carry out quali3 fied projects approved by the Secretary. 

4 ‘‘(d) QUALIFIED PROJECTS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A loan may be made under 

6 this section— 

7 ‘‘(A) to finance or refinance the costs of 

8 the acquisition, construction, or improvement of 

9 an electric generation, transmission, or distribu10 tion facility or utility property or assets, includ11 ing the costs of any indirect acquisition of such 

12 a facility or any utility property or assets; or 

13 ‘‘(B) to refinance bonds issued by a State 

14 utility described in section 10631(c)(3) of the 

15 Revenue Act of 1987 (Public Law 100–203; 

16 101 Stat. 1330–455). 

17 ‘‘(2) DISAPPROVAL.—The Secretary may dis18 approve an application for a loan for a project under 

19 this section if the Secretary determines that the rev20 enues available to repay the loan are unlikely to be 

21 sufficient to cover the repayment obligations of the 

22 proposed loan. 

23 ‘‘(e) TERMS.—A loan made by the Secretary to a 

24 publicly owned electric utility under this section shall— 

25 ‘‘(1) be for a term of not to exceed 30 years; 


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1 ‘‘(2) be secured in a manner that is consistent 

2 with customary financing arrangements for publicly 

3 owned electric utilities; and 

4 ‘‘(3) bear an annual interest rate that is not 

5 more than the lesser of— 

6 ‘‘(A) 50 basis points more than the Fed7 eral funds rate established by the Board of 

8 Governors of the Federal Reserve System; or 

9 ‘‘(B) 2 percent. 

10 ‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

11 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

12 such sums as are necessary.’’. 

Æ 


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