II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 282

To provide that no electric utility shall be required to enter into a new

contract or obligation to purchase or to sell electricity or capacity under

section 210 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JANUARY 21, 1999

Mr. MACK (for himself and Mr. GRAHAM) introduced the following bill; which

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

Resources

A BILL

To provide that no electric utility shall be required to enter

into a new contract or obligation to purchase or to sell

electricity or capacity under section 210 of the Public

Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978.

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 ‘‘Transition to Competi5 tion in the Electric Industry Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—
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1 (1) implementation of section 210 of the Public

2 Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C.

3 824a–3) resulted in many consumers paying exces4 sive rates for electricity;

5 (2) amendments made by title VII of the En6 ergy Policy Act of 1992 (106 Stat. 2905) give non7 regulated producers of electricity additional access to

8 the wholesale electric market through transmission

9 access and exemption from the Public Utility Hold10 ing Company Act of 1935 (15 U.S.C. 79 et seq.);

11 and

12 (3) in light of the competitive wholesale electric

13 marketplace brought about by the Energy Policy Act

14 of 1992, section 210 of the Public Utility Regulatory

15 Policies Act of 1978 need no longer be in effect.

16 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

17 In this Act:

18 (1) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’

19 means the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

20 (2) ELECTRIC UTILITY.—The term ‘‘electric

21 utility’’ means a person, State agency, or Federal

22 agency that sells electricity.

23 (3) QUALIFYING COGENERATION FACILITY.—

24 The term ‘‘qualifying cogeneration facility’’ has the
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1 meaning given the term in section 3 of the Federal

2 Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796).

3 (4) QUALIFYING FACILITY.—The term ‘‘qualify4 ing facility’’ means—

5 (A) a qualifying small power production fa6 cility; and

7 (B) a qualifying cogeneration facility.

8 (5) QUALIFYING SMALL POWER PRODUCTION

9 FACILITY.—The term ‘‘qualifying small power pro10 duction facility’’ has the meaning given the term in

11 section 3 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796).

12 SEC. 4. PROSPECTIVE REPEAL.

13 (a) NEW CONTRACTS.—No electric utility shall be re14 quired to enter into a new contract or obligation to pur15 chase or to sell electricity or capacity under section 210

16 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16

17 U.S.C. 824a–3).

18 (b) EXISTING RIGHTS AND REMEDIES.—Nothing in

19 this section affects the rights or remedies of any party

20 with respect to the purchase or sale of electricity or capac21 ity from or to a facility determined to be a qualifying small

22 power production facility or a qualifying cogeneration fa23 cility under section 210 of the Public Utility Regulatory

24 Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 824a–3) under any con25 tract or obligation to purchase or to sell electricity or ca-
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1 pacity in effect on the date of enactment of this Act, in2 cluding the right to recover the costs of purchasing the

3 electricity or capacity.

4 (c) INTERPRETATIONS AND ACTIONS TAKEN.—Noth5 ing in this Act implies congressional ratification of any

6 interpretation of, or any action taken under, the Public

7 Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2601

8 et seq.).

9 SEC. 5. RECOVERY OF COSTS.

10 (a) REGULATION.—To ensure recovery, by any elec11 tric utility that purchases electricity or capacity from a

12 qualifying facility pursuant to any legally enforceable obli13 gation entered into or imposed under section 210 of the

14 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C.

15 824a–3) before the date of enactment of this Act, of all

16 costs associated with the purchases, the Commission shall

17 promulgate and enforce such regulations as are required

18 to ensure that no utility shall be required directly or indi19 rectly to absorb the costs associated with the purchases.

20 (b) TREATMENT.—A regulation under subsection (a)

21 shall be treated as a rule enforceable under the Federal

22 Power Act (16 U.S.C. 791a et seq.).

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