I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4476 

To modernize the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 29, 2017 

Mr. WALBERG (for himself and Mr. BLUM) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To modernize the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 

1978, 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 ‘‘PURPA Modernization 

5 Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. LOCATION OF SMALL POWER PRODUCTION FACILI7 TIES. 

8 (a) REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION.—The Federal En9 ergy Regulatory Commission shall, not later than 180 

10 days after the date of enactment of this Act, publish in 


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1 the Federal Register a final rule amending its regulations 

2 implementing section 3(17)(A)(ii) of the Federal Power 

3 Act (16 U.S.C. 796(17)(A)(ii)), regarding the method for 

4 determining whether facilities are considered to be located 

5 at the same site as the facility for which qualification is 

6 sought for the purpose of calculating power production ca7 pacity, to provide a rebuttable presumption that— 

8 (1) facilities located one mile or more away 

9 from each other are not located at the same site; 

10 and 

11 (2) facilities located within one mile of each 

12 other are located at the same site. 

13 (b) OVERCOMING THE PRESUMPTION.— 

14 (1) PERSONS WHO MAY REBUT THE PRESUMP15 TION.—The Commission shall allow any person (as 

16 defined in section 385.102 of title 18, Code of Fed17 eral Regulations, as in effect on the date of enact18 ment of this Act) to rebut the presumption described 

19 in subsection (a). 

20 (2) FACTORS TO BE CONSIDERED.—In deter21 mining whether a facility is considered to be located 

22 at the same site as the facility for which qualifica23 tion is sought, the Commission shall take into ac24 count, to the extent practicable, the following fac25 tors: 


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1 (A) The extent to which the owners or op2 erators of the facilities are affiliated or associ3 ated with each other, or are under the control 

4 of the same company or person. 

5 (B) The extent to which the owners or op6 erators of the facilities have treated the facili7 ties as a single project for purposes of other 

8 regulatory filings or applications. 

9 (C) Whether the facilities use the same en10 ergy resource. 

11 (D) Whether the facilities have a common 

12 generator lead line or connect at the same or 

13 nearby interconnection points or substations. 

14 (E) The extent to which the owners or op15 erators of the facilities have a common land 

16 lease or land rights with respect to land on 

17 which the facilities are located. 

18 (F) The extent to which the owners or op19 erators of the facilities have common financing 

20 with respect to the facilities. 

21 (G) The extent to which the facilities are 

22 part of a common development plan or permit23 ting effort, even if the interconnection of the fa24 cilities occurs at separate points. 


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1 (c) AFFILIATION AND ASSOCIATION.—The Commis2 sion shall consider the owners or operators of facilities to 

3 be affiliated or associated for purposes of this section if 

4 they are affiliates or associate companies within the mean5 ing of those terms as defined in section 1262 of the Public 

6 Utility Holding Company Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16451). 

7 (d) CONTROL.—The Commission shall consider the 

8 owner or operator of a facility to be under the control of 

9 a company or person for purposes of this section if— 

10 (1) the company or person directly or indirectly 

11 owns, controls, or holds, with power to vote, 10 per12 cent or more of the outstanding voting securities of 

13 the owner or operator; or 

14 (2) the Commission determines, after notice 

15 and opportunity for hearing, that the company or 

16 person exercises, directly or indirectly (either alone 

17 or pursuant to an arrangement or understanding 

18 with one or more companies or persons), a control19 ling influence over the management of the owner or 

20 operator. 

21 SEC. 3. NONDISCRIMINATORY ACCESS. 

22 Section 210(m) of the Public Utility Regulatory Poli23 cies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 824a–3(m)) is amended by 

24 adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘(8) NONDISCRIMINATORY ACCESS.—For pur2 poses of this subsection, a qualifying small power 

3 production facility with an installed generation ca4 pacity of 2.5 megawatts or greater is presumed to 

5 have nondiscriminatory access to transmission and 

6 interconnection services and wholesale markets de7 scribed in subparagraphs (A), (B), or (C) of para8 graph (1).’’. 

9 SEC. 4. RECOGNITION OF STATE OR LOCAL DETERMINA10 TIONS. 

11 Section 210(m) of the Public Utility Regulatory Poli12 cies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 824a–3(m)), as amended by 

13 section 3, is further amended by adding at the end the 

14 following: 

15 ‘‘(9) STATE OR LOCAL DETERMINATION.—After 

16 the date of enactment of this paragraph, no electric 

17 utility shall be required to enter into a new contract 

18 or obligation to purchase electric energy from a 

19 qualifying small power production facility under this 

20 section if the appropriate State regulatory agency or 

21 non-regulated electric utility finds, and submits to 

22 the Commission a written determination, that— 

23 ‘‘(A) the electric utility has no need to pur24 chase electric energy from such qualifying small 

25 power production facility in the amounts to be 


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1 offered within the timeframe proposed by the 

2 qualifying small power production facility, con3 sistent with the needs for electric energy and 

4 the timeframe for those needs as specified in an 

5 electric utility’s integrated resource plan, in 

6 order to meet its obligation to serve customers; 

7 or 

8 ‘‘(B) the electric utility employs integrated 

9 resource planning and conducts a competitive 

10 resource procurement process for long-term en11 ergy resources that provides an opportunity for 

12 qualifying small power production facilities to 

13 supply electric energy to the electric utility in 

14 accordance with the integrated resource plan of 

15 the electric utility.’’. 

Æ 


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