II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1222 

To amend the Federal Power Act to provide for reports relating to electric 

capacity resources of transmission organizations and the amendment 

of certain tariffs to address the procurement of electric capacity resources, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 6, 2015 

Ms. MURKOWSKI 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 provide for reports 

relating to electric capacity resources of transmission 

organizations and the amendment of certain tariffs to 

address the procurement of electric capacity resources, 

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 ‘‘Continuity of Electric 

5 Capacity Resources Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DIVERSITY OF SUPPLY AND CONTINUITY OF ELEC2 TRIC CAPACITY RESOURCES. 

3 Title II of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824 

4 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 224. DIVERSITY OF SUPPLY AND CONTINUITY OF 

6 ELECTRIC CAPACITY RESOURCES. 

7 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

8 ‘‘(1) BULK-POWER SYSTEM; TRANSMISSION OR9 GANIZATION.—The terms ‘bulk-power system’ and 

10 ‘transmission organization’ have the meaning given 

11 the terms in section 215. 

12 ‘‘(2) ELECTRIC CAPACITY RESOURCE.—The 

13 term ‘electric capacity resource’ means an electric 

14 generating resource, as measured by the maximum 

15 load-carrying ability of the resource, exclusive of sta16 tion use and planned, unplanned, or other outage or 

17 derating. 

18 ‘‘(3) REGIONAL RELIABILITY COORDINATOR.— 

19 The term ‘regional reliability coordinator’ has the 

20 meaning given the term ‘reliability coordinator’ (as 

21 defined by the Electric Reliability Organization). 

22 ‘‘(b) ELECTRIC CAPACITY RESOURCES REPORT.— 

23 ‘‘(1) NOTICE.—Not later than 14 days after the 

24 date of enactment of this section, the Commission 

25 shall submit to each transmission organization with 

26 a tariff on file with the Commission that includes 


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1 provisions addressing the procurement of electric ca2 pacity resources notice that the transmission organi3 zation is required to file with the Commission a re4 port in accordance with paragraph (2). 

5 ‘‘(2) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 

6 the date on which a transmission organization re7 ceives a notice under paragraph (1), the trans8 mission organization shall submit to the Commission 

9 a report that— 

10 ‘‘(A)(i) identifies electric capacity resources 

11 that are available to the transmission organiza12 tion as of the date of the report; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) describes the fuel sources and oper14 ational characteristics of each electric capacity 

15 resource identified under clause (i); 

16 ‘‘(B) evaluates, using generally accepted 

17 metrics, the financial health, viability, and pro18 jected remaining years of service of the avail19 able electric capacity resources identified under 

20 subparagraph (A)(i); 

21 ‘‘(C) identifies— 

22 ‘‘(i) over the short- and long-term pe23 riods in the planning cycle of the trans24 mission organization, announced and proVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:31 May 13, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1222.IS S1222

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1 jected retirements of the available electric 

2 capacity resources; 

3 ‘‘(ii) the projected future needs of the 

4 transmission organization for electric ca5 pacity resources; and 

6 ‘‘(iii) the availability of transmission 

7 facilities and transmission support services 

8 necessary to provide for the transmission 

9 organization reasonable assurances of es10 sential reliability services, including ade11 quate voltage support; 

12 ‘‘(D) assesses the current and projected 

13 status of the reliability of the elements of the 

14 bulk-power system under the control of the 

15 transmission organization, over the short- and 

16 long-term periods in the planning cycle of the 

17 transmission organization (including the cur18 rent and projected status of electric capacity re19 sources), as determined by the regional reli20 ability coordinator that has been designated by 

21 the Electric Reliability Organization to have 

22 oversight over the bulk-power system elements 

23 under the control of the transmission organiza24 tion; and 


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1 ‘‘(E) prior to the submission of the report, 

2 has been made available to members of the 

3 transmission organization and to the public for 

4 comment. 

5 ‘‘(c) TARIFF AMENDMENTS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

7 after the date on which the Commission receives a 

8 report submitted under subsection (b), the trans9 mission organization that submitted the report shall 

10 file with the Commission— 

11 ‘‘(A) 1 or more tariff amendments that 

12 would achieve each of the objectives described 

13 in paragraph (2) with respect to the trans14 mission organization; and 

15 ‘‘(B) supporting information that dem16 onstrates the manner in which the amendments 

17 would achieve each of those objectives, taking 

18 into account the report submitted under sub19 section (b)(2). 

20 ‘‘(2) OBJECTIVES.—The objectives referred to 

21 in paragraph (1) are the following: 

22 ‘‘(A) A diverse generation portfolio and the 

23 availability of transmission facilities and trans24 mission support services necessary to provide 

25 reasonable assurances of a continuous supply of 


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1 electricity for customers of the transmission or2 ganization at the proper voltage and frequency. 

3 ‘‘(B) An enhanced opportunity for self-sup4 ply of electric capacity resources by electric co5 operatives, Federal power marketing agencies, 

6 and State utilities with a service obligation (as 

7 those terms are defined in section 217(a)), with 

8 the term ‘self-supply’ to be defined in the sup9 porting information filed under paragraph (1). 

10 ‘‘(C) A reasonable assurance of short- and 

11 long-term reliability, with the terms ‘short-term 

12 reliability’ and ‘long-term reliability’ to be de13 fined by the applicable regional reliability coor14 dinator referred to in subsection (b)(2)(D). 

15 ‘‘(D) A reasonable likelihood of prudent in16 vestment in, and adequate fuel supply for, exist17 ing and future electric capacity resources over 

18 the short- and long-term periods in the plan19 ning cycle identified in the applicable report 

20 submitted under subsection (b)(2).’’. 

21 SEC. 3. ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT UNDER AN AUTHORIZA22 TION DURING WAR OR EMERGENCY. 

23 Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 

24 824a(c)) is amended— 


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1 (1) in the first sentence, by striking ‘‘(c) Dur2 ing’’ and inserting the following: 

3 ‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION DURING WAR OR EMER4 GENCY.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—During’’; and 

6 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(2) NO LIABILITY.—Any person subject to an 

8 order issued under this subsection shall not be liable 

9 for actions carried out in compliance with the 

10 order.’’. 

Æ 


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