I

105TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4798

To provide for the restructuring of the electric power industry.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

OCTOBER 10, 1998

Mr. KUCINICH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To provide for the restructuring of the electric power

industry.

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 AND TABLE OF CONTENTS.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited the ‘‘Elec5 tricity Consumer, Worker, and Environmental Protection

6 Act of 1998’’.

7 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents for

8 this Act is as follows:

Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents.

Sec. 2. Findings.

Sec. 3. Definitions.

Sec. 4. Severability.

Sec. 5. Enforcement.
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TITLE I—FEDERAL STANDARDS FOR ELECTRICITY SERVICE

Sec. 101. Worker protections.

Sec. 102. Consumer privacy.

Sec. 103. Payment plans.

Sec. 104. Bills.

Sec. 105. Dispute resolution.

Sec. 106. Distribution service and supply service quality standards.

Sec. 107. Citizen utility boards.

Sec. 108. Office of Consumer Counsel.

Sec. 109. Prohibition of power plant bailouts.

Sec. 110. Prohibition of affiliate abuses and cross-subsidies.

Sec. 111. Mergers.

Sec. 112. Pollution standards.

Sec. 113. National Electric Public Benefit Board.

Sec. 114. National Electric Public Benefit Fund.

Sec. 115. Renewable energy portfolio standards.

Sec. 116. Net-metering and interconnection standards.

Sec. 117. Civil liability.

TITLE II—STATE STANDARDS FOR ELECTRICITY SERVICE

Sec. 201. State certification for retail deregulation.

Sec. 202. Prohibition of cost shifting.

Sec. 203. Prohibition of affiliate abuses and cross-subsidies.

Sec. 204. Prohibition of excessive generation market power.

Sec. 205. Basic service.

Sec. 206. Aggregation of consumers.

Sec. 207. Worker protections.

Sec. 208. Licensing and disclosure requirements for retail suppliers.

Sec. 209. Regulation of distribution companies.

Sec. 210. Change of supplier.

Sec. 211. Distribution service disconnections and supply terminations.

Sec. 212. Credit and collection practices.

Sec. 213. Unfair trade practices.

Sec. 214. Meters.

Sec. 215. Exemption rescinded from Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

Sec. 216. Consumer remedies.

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

2 øTo be supplied¿

3 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

4 For purposes of this Act:

5 (1) The term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad6 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.

7 (2) The term ‘‘affiliate’’ of a specific company

8 means any company 5 percent or more of whose out-
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1 standing voting securities are owned, controlled, or

2 held with power to vote, directly or indirectly, by

3 such specific company.

4 (3) The term ‘‘aggregator’’ means any person

5 that purchases or acquires retail electricity on behalf

6 of two or more consumers.

7 (4) The term ‘‘ancillary services’’ shall have the

8 same meaning assigned to it by the Commission.

9 (5) The term ‘‘antitrust law’’ includes ‘‘an Act

10 to protect Trade and Commerce against unlawful re11 straint and monopolies approved July 2, 1890’’ (The

12 Sherman Act, 15 U.S.C. 1–7); sections seventy-three

13 to seventy-seven, inclusive of an Act entitled ‘‘An

14 Act to reduce taxation, to provide revenue for the

15 Government and for other purposes of August 27,

16 1894’’ (The Wilson Tariff Act, 15 U.S.C. 8–11; sec17 tion 77 of The Wilson Tariff Act was not codified);

18 an Act to supplement existing laws against unlawful

19 restraint and monopolies, and for other purposes,

20 approved October 15, 1914 (The Clayton Act, 15

21 U.S.C. 12–22 and 27, and 29 U.S.C. 52 and 53);

22 and an Act to create a Federal Trade Commission,

23 to define its powers and duties, and for other pur24 poses approved September 26, 1914 (The Federal

25 Trade Commission Act, 15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.)
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1 (6) The term ‘‘associate company’’ of a com2 pany means any company in the same holding com3 pany system with such company.

4 (7) The term ‘‘basic service’’ means the supply

5 and delivery of electricity to a consumer in instances

6 where the consumer is unable or unwilling to choose

7 a supplier in States that have deregulated retail

8 sales of electricity.

9 (8) The term ‘‘Board’’ means the National

10 Electric Public Benefit Board established under sec11 tion 113.

12 (9) The term ‘‘class’’ or ‘‘customer class’’

13 means a group of customers with similar character14 istics (e.g., residential, commercial, industrial, etc.),

15 identified for the purpose of setting a rate for elec16 tric service.

17 (10) The term ‘‘commercial customer’’ means a

18 company that has traditionally receives a commercial

19 rate for electricity, as opposed to a residential or in20 dustrial rate. ‘‘Small commercial customers’’ are

21 commercial customers with a monthly peak demand

22 less than 1,000 kW, and ‘‘large commercial cus23 tomers’’ include all other commercial customers.

24 (11) The term ‘‘Commission’’ means the Fed25 eral Energy Regulatory Commission.
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1 (12) The term ‘‘company’’ means a corporation,

2 not-for-profit organization, joint stock company,

3 partnership, association, business trust, organized

4 group of persons, whether incorporated or not, or a

5 receiver or receivers, trustee or trustees of any of

6 the foregoing.

7 (13) The terms ‘‘consumer’’ and ‘‘customer’’

8 mean a person, government, corporation, or a com9 pany that purchases retail electricity for ultimate

10 consumption.

11 (14) The term ‘‘corporation’’ means any cor12 poration, not-for-profit organization, joint-stock com13 pany, partnership, association, rural electric coopera14 tive, municipal utility, business trust, organized

15 group of persons, whether incorporated or not, or a

16 receiver or receivers, trustee or trustees of any of

17 the foregoing.

18 (15) The term ‘‘distribution company’’ means

19 any company that owns or operates facilities used to

20 deliver retail electricity for ultimate consumption.

21 (16) The term ‘‘distribution facilities’’ means

22 facilities used to provide retail electricity for ulti23 mate consumption.

24 (17) The term ‘‘distributor’’ means a retail

25 electricity distributor.
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1 (18) The term ‘‘electric generator’’ means a

2 person generating electricity.

3 (19) The term ‘‘electric utility company’’ means

4 any company that owns or operates facilities used

5 for the generation, transmission, or distribution of

6 electricity for sale.

7 (20) The term ‘‘end-use consumer’’ means a

8 person that purchases electricity based on metered

9 use but does not resell electricity based on metered

10 use.

11 (21) The term ‘‘Fund’’ means the National

12 Electric Public Benefit Fund established by section

13 113.

14 (22) The term ‘‘gas utility company’’ means

15 any company that owns or operates facilities used

16 for distribution at retail (other than the distribution

17 only in enclosed portable containers) of natural or

18 manufactured gas for heat, light, or power.

19 (23) The term ‘‘high-level nuclear waste’’

20 means nuclear fuel that has undergone nuclear fis21 sion, or any nuclear fuel contaminated by nuclear

22 fuel that has undergone nuclear fission.

23 (24) The term ‘‘holding company system’’

24 means a holding company together with its subsidi25 ary companies.
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1 (25) The term ‘‘investor-owned company’’

2 means any company whose shares are owned by pri3 vate individuals or companies.

4 (26) The term ‘‘large hydroelectric facility’’

5 means a facility which has a power production ca6 pacity which, together with any other facilities lo7 cated at the same site, is greater than 80

8 megawatts.

9 (27) The term ‘‘load pocket’’ means a portion

10 of the generation, transmission, and distribution net11 work in which most of the electricity consumed by

12 electric loads is supplied by generating plants lo13 cated close to the loads, because transmission con14 straints limit the amount of electricity available from

15 more distant generating plants.

16 (28) The term ‘‘low-level nuclear waste’’ means

17 radioactive waste not classified as high-level radio18 active waste, transuranic waste, spent nuclear fuel,

19 or byproduct materials as defined in section 11e(2)

20 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C.

21 2021). This definition shall apply notwithstanding

22 any declaration by the Federal Government or any

23 State that any radioactive material is exempt from

24 any regulatory control.
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1 (29) The term ‘‘municipal utility’’ means a city,

2 county, irrigation district, drainage district, public

3 utility district, or other political subdivision or agen4 cy of a State competent under the laws thereof to

5 carry on the business of a retail electricity distribu6 tor and/or a retail electricity supplier.

7 (30) The term ‘‘person’’ means an individual or

8 corporation.

9 (31) The term ‘‘public utility company’’ means

10 an electric utility company or gas utility company

11 but does not mean a qualifying facility as defined in

12 the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act, or an ex13 empt wholesale generator or a foreign utility com14 pany defined in the Energy Policy Act of 1992.

15 (32) The term ‘‘public utility holding company’’

16 means—

17 (A) any company that directly or indirectly

18 owns, controls, or holds with power to vote, 10

19 percent or more of the outstanding voting secu20 rities of a public utility company or of a holding

21 company of any public utility company; and

22 (B) any person, determined by the Securi23 ties and Exchange Commission, after notice and

24 opportunity for hearing, to exercise directly or

25 indirectly (either alone or pursuant to an ar-
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1 rangement or understanding with one or more

2 persons) such a controlling influence over the

3 management or policies of any public utility or

4 holding company as to make it necessary or ap5 propriate for the protection of consumers with

6 respect to rates that such person be subject to

7 the obligations, duties, and liabilities imposed in

8 this title upon holding companies.

9 (33) The term ‘‘regulated service’’ means a

10 wholesale or retail service of which the price or rate

11 is regulated by a Federal, State, or local agency or

12 board.

13 (34) The term ‘‘renewable energy’’ means elec14 tricity generated from organic waste biomass (not

15 including municipal solid waste or black liquor),

16 dedicated biomass energy crops, landfill gas, geo17 thermal, solar, or wind resources.

18 (35) The term ‘‘renewable energy credit’’ means

19 a tradable certificate of proof that one kilowatt-hour

20 of renewable energy was generated by any person.

21 (36) The term ‘‘retail deregulation’’ means any

22 action taken by a State, with respect to retail elec23 tricity service, that reduces the public control and

24 oversight of business practices that affect the public

25 interest.
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1 (37) The term ‘‘retail electricity’’ means elec2 tricity and ancillary services sold for ultimate con3 sumption.

4 (38) The term ‘‘retail electricity distributor’’

5 means any person who delivers retail electricity to

6 consumers regardless of whether the consumers pur7 chase such electricity from the distributor or an al8 ternative supplier. A retail electricity distributor may

9 also be a retail electricity supplier.

10 (39) The term ‘‘retail electricity service’’ means

11 the production, generation, retail transmission, dis12 tribution, aggregation, retail marketing, retail

13 brokering, retail selling, or other retail supplying of

14 electricity, but does not mean transmission in inter15 state commerce.

16 (40) The term ‘‘retail electricity supplier’’

17 means any person that sells retail electricity to con18 sumers, including without limitation regulated utility

19 companies or affiliates or associates of such compa20 nies, companies unaffiliated or not associated with

21 regulated utility companies, municipal utilities, coop22 erative utilities, local governments, and special dis23 tricts.

24 (41) The term ‘‘rural electric cooperative’’

25 means an enterprise or organization owned by and
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1 operated for the benefit of those receiving retail elec2 tricity (usually distribution and supply) and other

3 services from the cooperative, many of which have

4 received loans from the Administrator of the Rural

5 Electrification Administration or the Rural Utilities

6 Service under the Rural Electrification Act of 1936.

7 (42) The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary

8 of Energy.

9 (43) The term ‘‘seller’’ means a retail electricity

10 distributor or a retail electricity supplier.

11 (44) The term ‘‘State’’ means any State, admit12 ted to the union, the District of Columbia, and any

13 organized territory of the United States.

14 (45) The term ‘‘State regulatory authority’’

15 means the regulatory body of a State or municipality

16 having sole jurisdiction to regulate rates and charges

17 for the distribution of electricity to consumers within

18 the State or municipality.

19 (46) The term ‘‘subsidiary company’’ of a hold20 ing company means—

21 (A) any company 10 percent or more of

22 the outstanding voting securities of which are

23 directly or indirectly owned, controlled, or held

24 with power to vote, by such holding company;

25 and
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1 (B) any person the management or policies

2 of which the Securities and Exchange Commis3 sion, after notice and opportunity for hearing,

4 determines to be subject to a controlling influ5 ence, directly or indirectly, by such holding

6 company (either alone or pursuant to an ar7 rangement or understanding with one or more

8 other persons) so as to make it necessary for

9 the protection of consumers that such person be

10 subject to the obligations, duties, and liabilities

11 imposed upon subsidiary companies of public

12 utility holding companies.

13 (47) The term ‘‘supplier’’ means a retail elec14 tricity supplier.

15 (48) The term ‘‘transmission company’’ means

16 any company that owns or operates facilities used to

17 transmit electricity, but does not include distribution

18 facilities as determined by the Commission.

19 (49) The term ‘‘transmission system’’ means all

20 facilities, including federally owned facilities, trans21 mitting electricity in interstate commerce in a par22 ticular region, including all facilities transmitting

23 electricity in the State of Texas and those providing

24 international interconnections, but does not include
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1 local distribution facilities as determined by the

2 Commission.

3 (50) The term ‘‘universal service’’ means any

4 State or Federal program that ensures safe, afford5 able, and reliable access to retail electricity services

6 by any consumer regardless of age, race, creed,

7 color, national origin, ancestry, sex, marital status,

8 sexual orientation, lawful source of income, amount

9 of income, disability, or familial status or location of

10 domicile or business, or whether the consumer is lo11 cated in an economically distressed geographic area.

12 (51) The term ‘‘wholesale electricity’’ means

13 electricity and ancillary services sold for resale.

14 (52) The term ‘‘wholesale electricity supplier’’

15 means any person that sells wholesale electricity.

16 (53) The term ‘‘voting security’’ means any se17 curity presently entitling the owner or holder thereof

18 to vote in the direction or management of the affairs

19 of a company.

20 SEC. 4. SEVERABILITY.

21 If any provision of this Act, or the application of such

22 provision to any person or circumstance, shall be held in23 valid, the remainder of the Act, and the application of

24 such provision to persons or circumstances other than
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1 those as to which it is held invalid, shall not be affected

2 thereby.

3 SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—If any individual or corporation

5 or any other retail electricity distributor or supplier fails

6 to comply with the requirements of this Act, any aggrieved

7 person may bring an action against such entity to enforce

8 the requirements of this Act in the appropriate Federal

9 district court.

10 (b) COURT ACTION.—Notwithstanding any other pro11 vision of law, any person seeking redress from an order,

12 rule, or other action taken pursuant to the Act by the

13 Commission, or any other Federal agency, or a regulatory

14 board created by this Act may file a petition for review

15 of such order, rule, or other action within 30 days in the

16 United States Court of Appeals where such person resides

17 or in the United States Court of Appeals for the District

18 of Columbia circuit.

19 (c) STATE LAW.—Notwithstanding any other provi20 sion of law, any person seeking redress from an order,

21 rule, or other action taken pursuant to the Act by a State

22 agency may appeal the order, rule, or other action in ac23 cordance with State law.
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1 TITLE I—FEDERAL STANDARDS

2 FOR ELECTRICITY SERVICE

3 SEC. 101. WORKER PROTECTIONS.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Workers of companies that in5 stall, operate, and maintain generation, transmission, or

6 distribution facilities, or any person or company that en7 ters into a contract to perform these functions, shall have

8 the requisite knowledge, skills, and competence to perform

9 these functions in a safe and responsible manner in order

10 to provide safe and reliable service. Given the critical ne11 cessity for trained and qualified personnel to operate all

12 segments of the electric utility industry, the provisions of

13 the 1994 National Skills Standards Act and title V of the

14 Goals 2000: Educate America Act shall take effect for all

15 electric utility workers within 180 days after the effective

16 date of this Act.

17 (b) GENERATING PLANTS.—All generating plants

18 shall be subject to State and Federal general industry re19 quirements as established by the Occupational Safety and

20 Health Administration and shall undergo periodic govern21 ment inspection.

22 (c) TRANSFER OF OWNERSHIP.—(1) In the event of

23 a sale, purchase, or any other transfer of ownership of

24 one or more divisions or business units, generating sta25 tions, and/or generating units of an electric utility, the
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1 electric utility’s contract and/or agreements with the ac2 quiring entity or persons shall require that the entity or

3 persons hire a sufficient number of nonsupervisory em4 ployees to operate and maintain the station, division or

5 unit by initially making offers of employment to the non6 supervisory workforce of the electric utility’s division, busi7 ness unit, generating station or generating unit at no less

8 than the wage rates, and substantially equivalent fringe

9 benefits and terms and conditions of employment, that are

10 in effect at the time of transfer of ownership of said divi11 sion, business unit, generating station and/or generating

12 units; and said wage rates and substantially equivalent

13 fringe benefits and terms and conditions of employment

14 shall continue for at least 30 months from the time of

15 said transfer of ownership unless the parties mutually

16 agree to different terms and conditions of employment

17 within that 30-month period. If there is litigation concern18 ing the sale, or other transfer of ownership of the electric

19 utility’s divisions, business units, generating station, or

20 generating units, the 30-month period will begin on the

21 date the acquiring entity or persons take control or man22 agement of the divisions, business units, generating sta23 tion or generating units of the electric utility.

24 (2) If a utility transfers ownership of one or more

25 divisions, business units, generating stations, and/or gen-
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1 erating units of an electric utility to a majority-owned sub2 sidiary, that subsidiary shall continue to employ the util3 ity’s employees who were employed by the utility at such

4 division, business unit, or generating station at the time

5 of the transfer under the same terms and conditions of

6 employment as those employees enjoyed at the time of the

7 transfer.

8 (3) If ownership of the subsidiary is subsequently

9 sold or transferred to a third party, the transition provi10 sions of paragraph (1) shall apply.

11 (4) An electric utility company shall offer a transition

12 plan to those employees who are not offered jobs by the

13 acquiring entity if that entity has a need for fewer work14 ers.

15 SEC. 102. CONSUMER PRIVACY.

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—A consumer shall have a right to

17 the privacy of billing, payment, and specific usage and ap18 pliance information that is obtained by the seller in the

19 normal course of business.

20 (b) CUSTOMER-SPECIFIC INFORMATION.—A seller

21 shall obtain the permission of the consumer in writing be22 fore releasing customer-specific information. A customer’s

23 permission cannot be provided with a clause in a contract

24 for the sale of electricity. Permission can only be obtained

25 in writing on a separate document. Any form provided to
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1 the consumer to grant permission for the release of cus2 tomer-specific information must clearly specify the type of

3 recipient, the category of information proposed to be re4 leased, and how the consumer can rescind this permission

5 at any time.

6 (c) RESCISSION.—A consumer may rescind pre7 viously-granted permission at any time in writing to the

8 person who solicited the permission. A rescission is effec9 tive no later than three business days after the consumer

10 deposits it in the United States mail.

11 (d) GENERAL INFORMATION.—A seller may at any

12 time release generic information about a customer class

13 or its customers in general, such as load and usage data,

14 appliance penetration, demographic information, and pay15 ment experience. Generic customer information shall not

16 be released without permission of the affected customers

17 when the information concerns a customer class or group

18 of customers that is small enough to reveal the probable

19 usage, billing, or payment behavior of individual members

20 of the customer group or class. There shall be a rebuttable

21 presumption that a customer class or group with three or

22 fewer members meets this criteria. Furthermore, no seller

23 shall sell or release information within its possession that

24 would, if used as a basis to grant credit, result in a credit
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1 decision on a prohibited basis set forth in the Federal

2 Equal Credit Opportunity Act (15 U.S.C. 1691 et seq.).

3 (e) CUSTOMER NAMES AND ADDRESSES.—A dis4 tributor shall make available a list of its current customer

5 names and mailing addresses to any supplier upon request

6 and for a reasonable fee. The revenues received by a dis7 tributor for the sale of this information shall be included

8 in the determination of the distributor’s revenue require9 ment. The State regulatory authority may impute reve10 nues to the distributor to reflect the market value of the

11 information sold or provided to any supplier.

12 (f) LAW ENFORCEMENT.—Federal or State authori13 ties or any law enforcement agency may have access to

14 individual customer records without the permission of the

15 customer as necessary to conduct its regulatory duties and

16 supervise sellers for compliance with Federal and State

17 law and this Act. Federal or State authorities or any law

18 enforcement agency shall retain any such records in its

19 files as confidential and such records shall not be consid20 ered available to the public under any ‘‘right to know’’

21 or disclosure law without the written consent of the cus22 tomer.

23 (g) CREDIT HISTORY.—A seller may release a cus24 tomer’s credit history to a third party in an attempt to

25 collect an unpaid debt or to report on the customer’s pay-
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1 ment history to a credit reporting agency under the terms

2 of applicable State and Federal law.

3 SEC. 103. PAYMENT PLANS.

4 All distributors and suppliers shall make available de5 ferred payment plans and equal monthly budget billing

6 plans.

7 SEC. 104. BILLS.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—A bill issued by a retail electricity

9 distributor or supplier shall contain the following informa10 tion in a format understandable by the average customer:

11 (1) The identity of the person issuing the bill,

12 and if the bill is issued by a retail electricity dis13 tributor under contract with a supplier, the identity

14 of the supplier, respective addresses, and telephone

15 numbers where the customer can call or write with

16 inquiries.

17 (2) The type of meter in use by the customer,

18 the meter reading from the last bill, the current

19 meter reading, and the total kilowatt-hours used by

20 the customer for the billing period.

21 (3) If the bill is based on an estimated reading,

22 a conspicuous disclosure of this fact.

23 (4) Any additional services or products provided

24 since the issuance of the last bill.
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1 (5) The nature of the service being offered, in2 cluding information about interruptibility or curtail3 ment of service.

4 (6) The variable price (in dollars per kilowatt5 hour, as appropriate) and the fixed price (in dollars,

6 as appropriate) of electricity, transmission services,

7 distribution services, taxes; any charges, fees or pen8 alties, and the price for other products or services

9 bought by or provided to the customer, all stated in

10 a manner that allows the customer to recalculate the

11 entire bill amount.

12 (7) A clear and understandable description of

13 all charges associated with the service being offered,

14 including access charges, back-up service charges,

15 and customer service charges, except that all dis16 tributors shall not itemize any program or charge in17 cluded in the rates for services provided by or in18 cluded in the rates of the distributor other than

19 those specifically authorized by the State authority

20 that regulates a distributor’s terms and conditions.

21 This itemization shall not include the costs of any

22 public benefit program authorized by any Federal or

23 State authority.
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1 (8) Every supplier shall, on at least a monthly

2 basis, provide in billing inserts the following infor3 mation, in a clearly legible manner.

4 (A) a breakdown, on a percentage basis, of

5 the known sources of electricity sold or other6 wise supplied to the consumer. This breakdown

7 shall provide percentages of biomass power,

8 coal-fired power, hydropower, natural gas fired

9 power, nuclear power, oil-fired power, solar

10 power, wind power, power from municipal waste

11 incinerators, other resources, and unknown re12 sources purchased from other companies respec13 tively. When a supplier has obtained electricity

14 from a power poor, this fact shall be disclosed,

15 and the supplier shall disclose the generic cat16 egories (with percentages where applicable) of

17 power dispatched by the pool during the pre18 vious billing cycle—

19 (i) the percentage used shall be

20 rounded to the nearest whole number; and

21 (ii) any source of electricity in para22 graph (8)(A) that is not used shall be list23 ed in the table and depicted as ‘‘0 per24 cent’’.
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1 (B) A pie-chart, which graphically depicts

2 the information in paragraph (8)(A), shall also

3 be provided—

4 (i) any source of electricity in para5 graph (8)(A) that is not used shall be list6 ed next to the pie-chart; and

7 (ii) each segment in the pie-chart

8 shall be depicted in the following colors:

9 biomass power—light brown; coal-fired

10 power—black; hydropower—blue; natural

11 gas-fired power—grey; nuclear power—red;

12 oil-fired power—dark brown; power from

13 municipal waste incinerators—orange;

14 solar power—yellow; wind power—green;

15 and other resources—white.

16 (C) A table shall be provided which depicts

17 the actual emissions of particulate matter be18 tween 10 micrometers and 2.5 micrometers in

19 diameter, particulate matter 2.5 micrometers or

20 less in diameter, carbon dioxide, nitrogen ox21 ides, sulfur dioxide, mercury, and high-level and

22 low-level nuclear waste attributable to the

23 sources of electricity identified in paragraph

24 (8)(A). The table shall also show the theoretical

25 emissions of such pollutants attributable to the
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1 sources of electricity identified in paragraph

2 (8)(A), based on application of the Generation

3 Pollution Standards defined in subsection

4 112(c). The table shall also show the word

5 ‘‘Good’’ if the actual emissions of such pollut6 ants are less than or equal to the theoretical

7 emissions, and the word ‘‘Bad’’ if the actual

8 emissions of such pollutants are greater than

9 the theoretical emissions—

10 (i) the particulate matter emissions,

11 carbon dioxide emissions, nitrogen oxides

12 emissions, and sulfur dioxide emissions

13 shall be stated in pounds;

14 (ii) the high-level nuclear waste shall

15 be stated in pounds and curies; and

16 (iii) the low-level nuclear waste shall

17 be stated in cubic feet and curies.

18 (9) A disclosure of the customer’s annual and

19 monthly usage for each of the previous 12 months

20 (or a shorter period for a customer who does not

21 have a 12-month history with the supplier). A dis22 tributor and supplier may coordinate this disclosure

23 to avoid duplication and enhance customer under24 standing.
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1 (b) SERVICES OR PRODUCTS.—A seller may include

2 services or products on the customer’s bill other than for

3 the transmission, distribution and retail sale of electricity,

4 but any such service or product shall be clearly identified

5 and totaled separately from the sales of electricity.

6 (c) PENALTY.—The failure of a seller to accurately

7 disclose information as required by this section shall be

8 treated as a deceptive act in commerce under section 5

9 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45).

10 SEC. 105. DISPUTE RESOLUTION.

11 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each seller shall maintain a writ12 ten policy to govern the receipt, investigation, and resolu13 tion of customer inquiries and complaints. This policy

14 shall be available to any customer upon request, including

15 requests that occur by a consumer on a walk-in basis dur16 ing normal business hours. Each distributor shall main17 tain and make publicly available on a walk-in basis during

18 normal business hours the written policies of each seller

19 that in any way uses the distribution facilities of the dis20 tribution. At a minimum this policy must include a method

21 to track complaints by category and the retention of com22 plaint records for a period of at least one year.

23 (b) COMPLAINTS.—A consumer may initiate com24 plaints against the distributor or against any seller that

25 in any way uses the distribution facilities of the distributor
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1 through a filing at the distributor’s offices, or at the of2 fices of the seller, or at the offices of the State regulatory

3 authority. A consumer must be able to file a complaint

4 on a walk-in basis during normal business hours, in addi5 tion to any other complaint process established by the sell6 er or the State regulatory authority. If a seller has pro7 vided a good faith response to the customer and the cus8 tomer remains dissatisfied, the seller shall refer the cus9 tomer to the State regulatory authority’s toll-free number

10 for customer complaints. For a three-business-day period

11 after the referral, the seller shall not take any adverse ac12 tion with respect to the customer’s complaint. Upon re13 ceipt of any complaint from a customer who has attempted

14 to resolve the matter with the seller, the State authority

15 with jurisdiction shall promptly notify the seller who shall

16 take no further adverse action with respect to the disputed

17 amount prior to the State authority’s decision on the com18 plaint. The State authority may investigate and take

19 whatever action it deems appropriate to resolve the com20 plaint, including setting the terms for application for serv21 ice, payment arrangement, billing error or dispute, allega22 tion of violation of these rules or other matters within the

23 jurisdiction of the State authority.
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1 (c) DISCONNECTIONS.—There shall be no disconnec2 tions from service (distribution or supply) while a com3 plaint is pending.

4 (d) ARBITRATION.—There shall be no mandatory ar5 bitration of complaints.

6 (e) RIGHT TO DISPUTE RESOLUTION.—No customer

7 can be forced to pay a disputed bill in order to assert a

8 customer’s right to dispute resolution.

9 SEC. 106. DISTRIBUTION SERVICE AND SUPPLY SERVICE

10 QUALITY STANDARDS.

11 (a) REPORTS.—On a monthly basis each seller shall

12 submit reports to the appropriate State regulatory author13 ity and to the Energy Information Administration that de14 scribe, document, and measure the quantity, quality, and

15 prices for distribution service and supply service.

16 (b) INDEX.—The data reported in subsection (a)

17 shall be used to create an index that shall track the per18 formance of sellers in selected performance areas on an

19 annual basis. The index shall be designed to conform to

20 the following minimum requirements:

21 (1) The index shall track a distributor’s and

22 supplier’s performance in a range of service quality

23 and reliability services for electricity consumers, in24 cluding without limitation, rates and prices for elec25 tricity service for all customers, variable charges, ac-
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•HR 4798 IH

1 cess charges, back-up service charges, customer serv2 ice charges, customer satisfaction surveys, business

3 office and phone center performance, repair and in4 stallation of new service, connection and disconnec5 tion of service, delivery of State or federally man6 dated programs, duration and frequency of outages,

7 storm response, customer complaint ratio, accuracy

8 of meter readings and bills, as well as compliance

9 with specific service quality and credit and collection

10 rules applicable to both residential and business cus11 tomers.

12 (2) In addition to items specifically mentioned

13 in this Act, the National Association of State Utility

14 Consumer Advocates, the National Association of

15 Regulatory Utility Commissioners, and the Energy

16 Information Administration shall determine the spe17 cific items to be measured and reported by distribu18 tors and suppliers, with input by other government

19 and nongovernment organizations as needed.

20 (3) The index shall specify the source and re21 porting format of the data to be used by the dis22 tributors and suppliers in their filings with State

23 regulatory authorities and the Energy Information

24 Administration, and the State regulatory authorities

25 or the Energy Information Administration may
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•HR 4798 IH

1 audit the data provided by the distributors or suppli2 ers at the expense of the distributor or the supplier.

3 (4) The index shall track the performance of

4 the sellers in selected performance areas on an an5 nual basis in comparison to a baseline performance

6 level that shall be set to reflect either recent histori7 cal performance of the seller, taking into account a

8 reasonable margin of error, or at a higher perform9 ance level if a State regulatory authority determines

10 that the seller’s recent historical performance is not

11 adequate. If the seller has not maintained historical

12 data sufficient to establish a baseline for a particu13 lar performance area and a State regulatory author14 ity determines that the performance area should be

15 measured, the State regulatory authority may au16 thorize the use of recent data from comparable sell17 ers.

18 (5) Each item in the index shall be worth an

19 equal number of points. Performance for one item

20 shall not offset performance in any other item in the

21 index. If the seller’s annual performance is equal to

22 or better than the baseline performance level, the

23 maximum number of points for that item shall be

24 awarded. If the seller’s performance is below the

25 level established as the baseline, a percentage of the
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•HR 4798 IH

1 maximum points shall be awarded equal to the per2 centage deterioration in performance reported by the

3 seller. In other words, if the seller performs at 80

4 percent of the baseline performance level, 80 percent

5 of the maximum points will be awarded for that

6 item.

7 (6) A specific measurement shall be adopted to

8 assure the seller fulfills its Universal Service obliga9 tions. A distributor shall annually survey the ability

10 of its customers to afford electric service. The survey

11 shall specifically target customers with annual

12 household income of 150 percent of Federal poverty

13 guidelines or less but may also target higher income

14 households as well. The survey shall obtain data on

15 the affordability of electric service by measuring the

16 impact of low, average, and high use customers at

17 0–50 percent, 51–100 percent, and 101–150 percent

18 of Federal poverty guidelines, using the average

19 price charged for basic service during the 12-month

20 period prior to the survey. The distributor shall re21 port the results of this survey to the State regu22 latory authority and to the Energy Information Ad23 ministration, both of which will make them available

24 for free to the general public. When the results of

25 the survey indicate that one or more groups of cus-
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•HR 4798 IH

1 tomers with income of 150 percent of Federal pov2 erty guidelines or less pay, on average, over ten per3 cent of their annual income for electricity (15 per4 cent if the household uses electricity as the primary

5 heating source), the distributor shall expand or initi6 ate programs to assist the affected customer classes

7 in the payment of their electric bill, to reduce the

8 amount of the bill with energy efficiency programs,

9 or both.

10 (c) PENALTY.—A penalty shall be established for dis11 tributors that fail to achieve the baseline performance level

12 in any year with a dollar amount specified for each point

13 in the index that is below the baseline performance level.

14 The maximum penalty shall be determined by the State

15 regulatory authority after taking into account the recent

16 history of the distributor in achieving reasonable service

17 quality and reliability. The dollar amount of penalty in any

18 one year may vary with the degree of deterioration of per19 formance by the distributor, but the entire penalty shall

20 be assessed if the distributor’s performance in any one

21 year shows a 30 percent deterioration in performance in

22 the overall index. A distributor shall not be awarded in23 creased earnings for performance above the baseline level

24 in any item.
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1 (d) CREDIT OR REBATE.—Any penalties incurred

2 under the index may be returned to all customers in the

3 form of a one-time credit or rebate or paid to customers

4 affected by the degradation of service, such as a failure

5 to install new service on time, or both. In either case, in

6 any year in which penalties are triggered, the distributor

7 shall inform its customers of its failure to achieve the

8 baseline level of service quality in a manner approved by

9 the State regulatory authority.

10 (e) REPORT.—Annually the Energy Information Ad11 ministration shall make publicly available for free a report

12 (including all supporting documentation) showing the

13 scores of each retail electricity distributor and each retail

14 electricity supplier for every item measured by the index.

15 The report and all supporting data and documentation

16 must be posted on the Internet for free downloading in

17 a form usable with off-the-shelf spreadsheet and database

18 software.

19 SEC. 107. CITIZEN UTILITY BOARDS.

20 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Unless already in existence,

21 each State shall create a not-for-profit membership cor22 poration to be known as the ‘‘Citizens’ Utility Board,

23 Inc.’’ herein referred to as the State CUB. An existing

24 not-for-profit membership corporation located in a State
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•HR 4798 IH

1 may become the State CUB provided it meets all the re2 quirements of this section.

3 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The membership of the State

4 CUB shall consist of all residential consumers of elec5 tricity or natural gas 16 years of age or older who have

6 contributed to the State CUB an annual membership fee,

7 provided, that any person may resign from membership.

8 (c) DUTIES, RIGHTS AND POWERS OF THE STATE

9 CUB.—(1) The State CUB shall—

10 (A) represent and promote the interests of a

11 State’s residential consumers of electricity or natural

12 gas. All actions by the State CUB under this section

13 shall be directed toward such duty;

14 (B) inform, insofar as possible, all residential

15 consumers of electricity or natural gas about the

16 State CUB including the procedure for obtaining

17 membership in the State CUB;

18 (C) establish an annual membership fee which

19 shall be set at a level that provides sufficient fund20 ing for the State CUB to effectively perform its

21 powers and duties, and is affordable for as many

22 electricity or natural gas consumers as is possible,

23 but nevertheless is not less than five dollars; and

24 (D) have all rights and powers accorded gen25 erally to, and be subject to all duties imposed gen-
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•HR 4798 IH

1 erally upon, not-for-profit membership corporations

2 under the laws of a State.

3 (2) In addition, the State CUB shall have the follow4 ing rights and powers:

5 (A) To solicit and accept gifts, loans, grants or

6 other aid in order to support activities concerning

7 the interests of residential consumers of electricity

8 or natural gas, except that the State CUB may not

9 accept gifts, loans or other aid from any person or

10 company that generates, transmits, distributes, or

11 supplies electricity or natural gas, or from any direc12 tor, employee or agent or member of the immediate

13 family of a director, employee or agent of any com14 pany that generates, transmits, distributes, or sup15 plies electricity or natural gas.

16 (B) To seek tax-exempt status under State and

17 Federal law.

18 (C) To conduct, support, and assist research,

19 surveys, investigations, planning activities, con20 ferences, demonstration projects, and public infor21 mation activities concerning the interests of residen22 tial consumers of electricity or natural gas. The

23 State CUB may accept grants, contributions, and

24 legislative appropriations for such activities.
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•HR 4798 IH

1 (D) To contract for services which cannot rea2 sonably be performed by its employees.

3 (E) To represent the interests of residential

4 consumers of electricity or natural gas before regu5 latory agencies, legislative bodies and other public

6 bodies.

7 (F) To initiate, to intervene as a party, to

8 maintain, or to otherwise participate on behalf of

9 residential consumers of electricity or natural gas in

10 any proceeding that affects the interests of residen11 tial consumers of electricity or natural gas.

12 (G) To support or oppose ballot propositions

13 concerning matters that it determines may affect the

14 interests of residential consumers of electricity or

15 natural gas.

16 (3) The State CUB shall have, in addition to the

17 rights and powers enumerated in this section, such other

18 incidental rights and powers as are reasonably necessary

19 for the effective representation and protection of the inter20 ests of residential consumers of electricity or natural gas.

21 (4) The State CUB shall not sponsor, endorse, or

22 otherwise support, nor shall it oppose, any political party

23 or the candidacy of any person for public office.

24 (d) STATE-ASSISTED FUNDRAISING BY THE STATE

25 CUB.—(1) The State CUB shall have the authority to
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•HR 4798 IH

1 prepare and furnish to any State agency an enclosure that

2 the State agency shall include within any mailing des3 ignated by the State CUB. The State CUB shall provide

4 the agency with any such enclosure at a time reasonably

5 in advance of the mailing. The State CUB may not require

6 any State agency to mail an enclosure more than four

7 times in any calendar year.

8 (2) Enclosures furnished by the State CUB under

9 this section shall be limited to soliciting information and

10 money from consumers and explaining—

11 (A) the purpose, history, nature, activities, and

12 achievements of the State CUB;

13 (B) that the State CUB is open to membership

14 by residential consumers;

15 (C) that the State CUB is not connected to any

16 utility company or governmental agency;

17 (D) that the State CUB is a not-for-profit cor18 poration directed by its consumer members;

19 (E) the procedure for contributing to or becom20 ing a member of the State CUB; and

21 (F) the yearly membership fee.

22 (3) Prior to furnishing an enclosure to a State agency

23 for mailing, the State CUB shall seek and obtain the ap24 proval of the appropriate State authority of the content
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•HR 4798 IH

1 of the enclosure. The State authority shall approve the en2 closure if it determines that the enclosure—

3 (A) is not false or misleading, and

4 (B) contains and is limited to the information

5 permitted by this section. The State authority shall

6 be deemed to have approved the enclosure unless it

7 disapproves the enclosure within fourteen days of re8 ceipt.

9 (4) The State CUB shall reimburse each State agen10 cy for all reasonable incremental costs incurred by the

11 State agency in complying with this section above the

12 agency’s normal mailing and handling costs, provided

13 that—

14 (A) the State agency shall first furnish the

15 State CUB with an itemized accounting of such ad16 ditional costs; and

17 (B) the State CUB shall not be required to re18 imburse the State agency for postage costs if the

19 weight of the State CUB’s enclosure does not in20 crease the cost of the State agency mailing. If the

21 State CUB’s enclosure increases the cost of the

22 State agency mailing, then it will be required to re23 imburse the State agency for postage cost over and

24 above what the agency’s postage cost would have

25 been without the State CUB’s enclosure.
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•HR 4798 IH

1 SEC. 108. OFFICE OF CONSUMER COUNSEL.

2 The Federal Power Act is hereby amended by adding

3 the following new section after section 320:

4 ‘‘SEC. 320A. OFFICE OF CONSUMER COUNSEL.

5 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby established

6 within the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission an Of7 fice of the Consumer Counsel. The Office shall be under

8 the direction and supervision of the Consumer Counsel.

9 The Consumer Counsel shall be appointed by the Commis10 sion for a term of not less than 5 years, which term may

11 be renewed at the discretion of the Commission.

12 ‘‘(b) FINDINGS.—There is authorized to be appro13 priated in each fiscal year to the Office of Consumer

14 Counsel $10,000,000, adjusted for inflation.

15 ‘‘(c) STAFFING.—Staffing for the Office of Consumer

16 Counsel may include attorneys, economists, utility ana17 lysts, engineers, human services experts, and other staff,

18 professional and nonprofessional, and may include consult19 ants to provide advice, analysis, testimony, and represen20 tation of the Consumer Counsel before the Commission.

21 ‘‘(d) DUTIES.—The Consumer Counsel shall rep22 resent the energy using and consuming public in proceed23 ings before the Commission that may affect wholesale or

24 retail electric or gas service, prices, and practices. The

25 Consumer Counsel may intervene in any proceeding under

26 this Act.
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1 ‘‘(e) REPORTS.—The Consumer Counsel shall annu2 ally report to the Commission and the Congress on the

3 impact of wholesale and retail deregulation in the elec4 tricity and gas industries on the using and consuming

5 public, and on affordable access to such services, and shall

6 make recommendations for policies to address such prob7 lems in these areas as the Consumer Counsel shall iden8 tify.

9 ‘‘(f) REMOVAL.—The Consumer Counsel may be re10 moved by the Commission for cause, after a hearing on

11 any allegations giving rise to such cause.’’.

12 SEC. 109. PROHIBITION OF POWER PLANT BAILOUTS.

13 (a) PROHIBITION.—It shall be unlawful for any Fed14 eral or State authority to require consumers to subsidize,

15 directly or indirectly, the costs of owning or operating any

16 power plant owned by an investor-owned company.

17 (b) EXEMPTION.—Subsection (a) shall not apply to

18 any facility or power plant that qualifies for support from

19 the National Electric Public Benefit Fund or that pro20 duces renewable energy credits.

21 (c) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this section af22 fects the rights and remedies of any party with respect

23 to the purchase of electricity or capacity from or to a facil24 ity determined to be a qualifying small power production

25 facility or a qualifying cogeneration facility under section
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1 210 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978

2 pursuant to any contract or obligation to purchase or to

3 sell electricity or capacity, including the right to recover

4 the costs of purchasing such electricity or capacity.

5 (d) ESCROW.—On the effective date of this Act, every

6 investor-owned company that holds a license to operate a

7 nuclear reactor shall place in escrow $1,000,000,000 per

8 reactor to cover costs for nuclear reactor decommissioning,

9 $500,000,000 per reactor for low-level radioactive waste

10 disposal, and $500,000,000 per reactor for high-level ra11 dioactive waste disposal.

12 SEC. 110. PROHIBITION OF AFFILIATE ABUSES AND CROSS13 SUBSIDIES.

14 It shall be unlawful for any State-regulated investor15 owned electric utility company, or associated holding com16 pany or any subsidiary thereof, to own directly or indi17 rectly any voting security of any company that provides

18 a nonregulated service, or that provides any type of service

19 outside the United States, or to provide any nonregulated

20 service.

21 SEC. 111. MERGERS.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—No transactions subject to section

23 203 of the Federal Power Act shall be deemed to be con24 sistent with the public interest within the meaning of sec25 tion 203 if the Commission finds that the transaction may
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1 create or maintain a situation inconsistent with the anti2 trust laws in any product and geographic market in which

3 electricity or capacity is offered for sale to wholesale or

4 retail customers in the form of—

5 (1) generation capacity;

6 (2) transmission capacity; or

7 (3) electricity.

8 (b) PROBABLE EFFICIENCIES.—Probable efficiencies,

9 including savings and benefits resulting from a merger,

10 will not be weighed against the effects of a merger that

11 may substantially lessen competition in any geographic

12 market for electricity if such efficiencies could be achieved

13 by means other than the merger.

14 (c) PLAN.—Any claim by applicants that a merger

15 will produce probable efficiencies, including benefits and

16 savings, must be supported by a plan accounting for such

17 efficiencies, and explaining how they will be allocated

18 among the merging utilities wholesale, retail, and trans19 mission customers.

20 (d) OPEN ACCESS.—No merger of transmission-own21 ing public utilities or disposition of transmission facilities

22 shall be deemed to be consistent with the public interest

23 within the meaning of section 203 of the Federal Power

24 Act, unless the applicants agree to offer comparable open

25 access transmission with single system pricing.
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1 (e) REDUCTION OF TRANSMISSION CAPACITY.—No

2 transaction subject to section 203 of the Federal Power

3 Act shall be deemed to be consistent with the public inter4 est within the meaning of section 203 if it would result

5 in a reduction of transmission capacity presently available

6 for use by transmission customers.

7 (f) AUTHORIZATION.—Section 203(a) of the Federal

8 Power Act is amended by inserting after the first sentence

9 the following: ‘‘It shall be unlawful for a holding company

10 in a holding company system that includes an electric util11 ity company to directly or indirectly purchase, acquire, or

12 take any security of any electric utility company or of a

13 holding company in a holding company system that in14 cludes an electric utility company, without first having se15 cured an order of the Commission authorizing it to do so.’’

16 SEC. 112. POLLUTION STANDARDS.

17 (a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section:

18 (1) COVERED GENERATION FACILITY.—The

19 term ‘‘covered generation facility’’ means an electric

20 generation facility with a nameplate capacity of 15

21 megawatts or greater that uses a combustion device

22 or nuclear reactor to generate electricity for sale.

23 (2) COGENERATION.—The term ‘‘cogeneration’’

24 means a process of simultaneously generating elec25 tricity and thermal energy in which a portion of the
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1 energy value of fuel consumed is recovered as heat

2 that is used to meet heating or cooling loads outside

3 the generation facility.

4 (3) POLLUTANT.—The term ‘‘pollutant’’

5 means—

6 (A) nitrogen oxides;

7 (B) sulfur dioxide;

8 (C) carbon dioxide;

9 (D) mercury;

10 (E) high-level nuclear waste;

11 (F) low-level nuclear waste; or

12 (G) any other substance that the Adminis13 trator may identify by regulation as a substance

14 the emission of which into the air from a com15 bustion device or nuclear reactor used in the

16 generation of electricity endangers public health

17 or welfare.

18 (b) NATIONWIDE POLLUTION STANDARDS.—

19 (1) SCHEDULE.—Not later than July 1, 1999,

20 the Administrator shall promulgate a final regula21 tion that establishes a schedule of limits on the

22 amount of each pollutant that all covered generation

23 facilities in the aggregate nationwide shall be per24 mitted to pollute in each calendar year beginning in

25 calendar year 2000.
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1 (2) LIMIT.—The nationwide pollution standard

2 for calendar year 2005 and each year thereafter, un3 less otherwise specified, established under paragraph

4 (1) shall be not greater than the following:

5 (A) For nitrogen oxides, 1,660,000 tons.

6 (B) For sulfur dioxide, 3,580,000 tons.

7 (C) For carbon dioxide, 1,710,000,000

8 tons, decreasing each year after 2005 in equal

9 increments to 1,425,000,000 tons by 2010, de10 creasing each year after 2010 in equal incre11 ments to 380,000,000 tons by 2030.

12 (D) For mercury, the Administrator shall

13 determine a standard that allows for the elimi14 nation of mercury emissions by 2010.

15 (E) For high-level waste, the Adminis16 trator shall determine a standard that allows

17 for the reduction of the production of radiation

18 (in curies) by 5 percent from levels in 2000,

19 and 2 percent for each year after 2005 radi20 ation.

21 (F) For low-level nuclear waste, the Ad22 ministrator shall determine a standard that al23 lows for the reduction of the production of radi24 ation (in curies) by 25 percent from levels in

25 2000, and 5 percent for each year after 2005.
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1 (3) ADJUSTMENT.—The Administrator may ad2 just the schedule established under paragraph (1),

3 within the limits established by paragraph (2), if the

4 Administrator determines that an adjustment would

5 be in the best interests of the public health and wel6 fare.

7 (c) GENERATION POLLUTION STANDARD.—

8 (1) ANNUAL DETERMINATION.—

9 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than October

10 1 of each year, the Administrator, in consulta11 tion with the Commission, shall determine the

12 generation pollution standard for nitrogen ox13 ides, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and mer14 cury pollution in pounds per kilowatt-hour of

15 electric production by covered generation facili16 ties for the next calendar year; and high-level

17 nuclear waste in pounds per kilowatt-hour and

18 curies per kilowatt-hour and low-level nuclear

19 waste in cubic feet per kilowatt-hour and curies

20 per kilowatt-hour of electric production by cov21 ered generation facilities for the next calendar

22 year.

23 (B) METHOD.—The Administrator shall

24 determine by regulation the method to be used
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•HR 4798 IH

1 in determining an estimate under subparagraph

2 (A).

3 (2) FORMULA.—The generation pollution stand4 ard shall be determined by dividing the annual na5 tionwide pollution standard as established under

6 subsection (b) by the Administrator’s estimate of the

7 nationwide kilowatt-hour production for the next cal8 endar year by all covered generation facilities.

9 (d) INDIVIDUAL POLLUTION ALLOCATION.—Only

10 covered generation facilities that emit a pollutant shall re11 ceive an allocation for that pollutant, and such allocation

12 shall be equal to—

13 (1) the facility’s annual generation of kilowatt14 hours of electricity multiplied by the generation pol15 lution standard as established in subsection (c); plus

16 (2) the facility’s annual generation of thermal

17 energy used to meet heating and cooling loads re18 sulting from the cogeneration process, which shall be

19 expressed by the Administrator in units of measure20 ment that provide a reasonable comparison between

21 energy generated in the form of electricity and en22 ergy generated in the form of thermal energy and

23 then multiplied by the generation pollution standard

24 as established under subsection (c).

25 (f) MONITORING.—
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1 (1) ESTABLISHMENT OF SYSTEM.—The Admin2 istrator shall establish a system for the accurate

3 monitoring of the amount of each pollutant that a

4 covered generation facility emits during a year.

5 (2) REQUIREMENTS.—The monitoring system

6 under paragraph (1) shall require—

7 (A) installation on each combustion device

8 of a continuous monitoring system for each pol9 lutant; or

10 (B) use of an alternative mechanism that

11 the Administrator determines will provide data

12 with precision, reliability, accessibility, and

13 timeliness that are equal to or greater than

14 those that would be achieved by a continuous

15 emissions monitoring system.

16 (g) POWERS.—The Administrator may promulgate

17 such regulations, conduct such investigations, and take

18 such other actions as are necessary to appropriate to im19 plement and obtain compliance with this section and regu20 lations promulgated under this section.

21 SEC. 113. NATIONAL ELECTRIC PUBLIC BENEFIT BOARD.

22 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Secretary shall establish

23 a National Electric Public Benefit Board to carry out the

24 functions and responsibilities described in this section and

25 in section 114.
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•HR 4798 IH

1 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Board shall be composed

2 of—

3 (1) 1 representative of the Commission ap4 pointed by the Commission;

5 (2) 1 representative of the Secretary appointed

6 by the Secretary;

7 (3) 1 representative appointed by the Secretary

8 of the Department of Health and Human Services;

9 (4) 1 representative appointed by the Adminis10 trator of the Rural Utilities Service of the Depart11 ment of Agriculture;

12 (5) 1 representative appointed by the Secretary

13 of the Department of Housing and Urban Develop14 ment;

15 (6) 1 representative appointed by the Secretary

16 of the Department of Labor.

17 (7) 1 person nominated by the national organi18 zation representing State regulatory commissioners

19 and appointed by the Secretary;

20 (8) 1 person nominated by the national organi21 zation representing State utility consumer advocates

22 and appointed by the Secretary;

23 (9) 1 person nominated by the national organi24 zation representing State energy offices and ap25 pointed by the Secretary;
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•HR 4798 IH

1 (10) 1 person nominated by the national orga2 nization representing energy assistance directors and

3 appointed by the Secretary; and

4 (11) 1 representative of the Environmental Pro5 tection Agency appointed by the Administrator.

6 (c) CHAIRPERSON.—The Secretary shall select a

7 member of the Board to serve as Chairperson of the

8 Board.

9 (d) MANAGER.—

10 (1) APPOINTMENT.—The Board shall by con11 tract appoint a public benefits manager for a term

12 of not more than 3 years, which term may be re13 newed by the Board.

14 (2) COMPENSATION.—The compensation and

15 other terms and conditions of employment of the

16 manager shall be determined by a contract between

17 the Board and the individual or the other entity ap18 pointed as manager.

19 (3) FUNCTIONS.—The manager shall—

20 (A) monitor the amounts in the Fund;

21 (B) receive, review, and make rec22 ommendations to the Board regarding applica23 tions from States under subsection 5(b); and
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1 (C) perform such other functions as the

2 Board may require to assist the Board in carry3 ing out its duties under this Act.

4 SEC. 114. NATIONAL ELECTRIC PUBLIC BENEFIT FUND.

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Board shall establish an

7 account or accounts at 1 or more financial institu8 tions, which account or accounts shall be known as

9 the ‘‘National Electric Public Benefit Fund’’, con10 sisting of amounts deposited in the fund under sub11 section (c).

12 (2) STATUS OF FUND.—The wires charges col13 lected under subsection (c) and deposited in the

14 Fund—

15 (A) shall constitute electric system reve16 nues and shall not constitute funds of the

17 United States;

18 (B) shall be held in trust by the manager

19 of the Fund solely for the purposes stated in

20 subsection (b); and

21 (C) shall not be available to meet any obli22 gations of the United States.

23 (b) USE OF FUND.—

24 (1) FUNDING OF UNIVERSAL ELECTRIC SERV25 ICE.—One third of the amount in the Fund shall be
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1 used by the Board to provide funds to States for

2 the support of affordable electric service for low and

3 moderate income residential customers.

4 (2) FUNDING OF OTHER PUBLIC PURPOSE PRO5 GRAMS.—The balance of the amounts in the Fund

6 shall be used by the Board to provide matching

7 funds to States for the support of State public pur8 pose programs relating to—

9 (A) the impacts on employees and their

10 communities of any necessary reductions in the

11 utility workforce directly caused by electricity

12 deregulation. These impacts shall be mitigated

13 to the extent practicable through such means as

14 offers of voluntary severance, job retraining,

15 early retirement, continued health care, out16 placement and related benefits;

17 (B) renewable energy sources;

18 (C) energy conservation and efficiency; or

19 (D) research and development in areas de20 scribed in subparagraphs (B) and (C).

21 (3) DISTRIBUTION.—

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except for amounts

23 needed to pay costs of the Board in carrying

24 out its duties under this section, the Board

25 shall instruct the manager of the Fund to dis-
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1 tribute all amounts in the Fund to States to

2 fund public purpose programs under para3 graphs (1) and (2).

4 (B) FUND SHARE; UNIVERSAL ELECTRIC

5 SERVICE PROGRAMS.—Funds for public purpose

6 programs funded under paragraph (1) shall be

7 distributed to the States in proportion to the

8 State’s relative share of the Nation’s aggregate

9 annual consumption of electricity by low- and

10 moderate-income households.

11 (C) FUND SHARE; OTHER PUBLIC PUR12 POSE PROGRAMS.—

13 (i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clause

14 (iii), the Fund share of a public purpose

15 program funded under paragraph (2) shall

16 be 50 percent.

17 (ii) PROPORTIONATE REDUCTION.—

18 To the extent that the amount of matching

19 funds requested by States for public pur20 pose programs funded under paragraph (2)

21 exceeds two-thirds of the maximum pro22 jected revenues of the Fund, the matching

23 funds distributed to the States shall be re24 duced by an amount that is proportionate

25 to each State’s annual consumption of elec-
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•HR 4798 IH

1 tricity compared to the Nation’s aggregate

2 annual consumption of electricity.

3 (iii) ADDITIONAL STATE FUNDING.—

4 A State may apply funds to public purpose

5 programs funded under paragraph (2) in

6 addition to the amount of funds applied for

7 the purpose of matching the Fund share.

8 (4) PROGRAM CRITERIA; UNIVERSAL ELECTRIC

9 SERVICE PROGRAMS.—

10 (A) ADVANCE FUNDING FOR CERTIFIED

11 PROGRAMS.—States that implement programs

12 conforming to the standards set forth in this

13 section shall be eligible for advance funding of

14 such programs. The Board shall annually cer15 tify to the Secretary the compliance of State

16 programs with this section. The Secretary shall

17 provide a mechanism to ensure that universal

18 electric service is provided to qualifying low-in19 come consumers in States that do not have a

20 State program or whose State program does not

21 qualify for funds under this section.

22 (B) UNIVERSAL ELECTRIC SERVICE PRO23 GRAM CRITERIA.—To be certified under this

24 section, State programs must contain the fol25 lowing provisions:
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•HR 4798 IH

1 (i) Be designed and implemented to

2 reduce the basic electricity cost burden of

3 a State’s low-income households to no

4 more than twice the burden of a national

5 average of non-low-income households.

6 (ii) Target benefits to the most vul7 nerable households.

8 (iii) Be available to all households

9 with annual incomes at or below 150 per10 cent of the Federal poverty guidelines, or

11 60 percent of the median State income,

12 but States may determine a higher income

13 level as the cutoff for eligibility.

14 (iv) Set aside no less than 30 percent

15 of annual program funding for energy con16 servation and education programs provid17 ing direct efficiency services to qualifying

18 low-income households.

19 (v) Reach the maximum eligible popu20 lation, using the most cost-effective out21 reach and intake techniques.

22 (vi) Encourage, rather than discour23 age, energy conservation, and the prompt

24 payment of bills.
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•HR 4798 IH

1 (vii) Spend no more than 10 percent

2 of program funds on administration of the

3 program.

4 (viii) The program shall be coordi5 nated with the delivery of low-income en6 ergy assistance and weatherization pro7 grams administered by State and local

8 agencies, making use, to the fullest extent

9 practicable, of existing community-based

10 organizations who administer one or more

11 fuel assistance and energy efficiency pro12 grams.

13 (ix) On an annual basis hold a public

14 hearing on the design and implementation

15 of such Universal Electric Service pro16 gram.

17 (x) Provide intervenor funding to

18 allow low-income consumers the oppor19 tunity to participate in State or Federal

20 administrative proceedings establishing,

21 monitoring, and overseeing the State re22 structuring plan.

23 (5) PROGRAM CRITERIA; OTHER PUBLIC PUR24 POSE PROGRAMS.—The Board shall recommend eli-
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•HR 4798 IH

1 gibility criteria for public benefit programs funded

2 under paragraph (2) for approval by the Secretary.

3 (6) APPLICATION.—Not later than August 1 of

4 each year beginning in 1999, a State seeking funds

5 under paragraph (1) or matching funds under para6 graph (2) for the following year shall file with the

7 Board, in such form as the Board may require, an

8 application—

9 (A) certifying that the funds will be used

10 for an eligible public purpose program; and

11 specifying what funds are requested and for

12 programs under which paragraph; and

13 (B) stating the amount of State funds ear14 marked for the programs, and to be used for

15 any required matching.

16 (c) WIRES CHARGE.—

17 (1) DETERMINATION OF NEEDED FUNDING.—

18 Not later than August 1 of each year, the Board

19 shall determine and inform the Commission of the

20 aggregate amount of wires charges that it will be

21 necessary to have paid into the Fund to pay match22 ing funds to States and pay the operating costs of

23 the Board in the following year.

24 (2) IMPOSITION OF WIRES CHARGE.—
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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than Decem2 ber 15 of each year, the Commission shall im3 pose a nonbypassable wires charge to be paid

4 directly into the Fund by the operator of the

5 wire on electricity carried through the wire, this

6 electricity to be measured as it exits the busbar

7 at a generation facility, and which impacts on

8 interstate commerce.

9 (B) AMOUNT.—The wires charge shall be

10 set at a rate equal to the greater of—

11 (i) 7 mills per kilowatt-hour; or

12 (ii) a rate that is estimated to result

13 in the collection of an amount of wires

14 charges that is as nearly as possible equal

15 to the amount of needed funding deter16 mined under paragraph (1).

17 (3) DEPOSIT IN THE FUND.—The wires charge

18 shall be paid by the operator of the wire directly into

19 the Fund at the end of each month during the cal20 endar year for distribution by the public benefit

21 manager.

22 (4) PENALTIES.—The Commission shall assess

23 against a wire operator that fails to pay a wires

24 charge as required by this subsection a civil penalty
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•HR 4798 IH

1 in an amount equal to triple the amount of the un2 paid wires charge.

3 (d) AUDITING.—

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Fund shall be audited

5 annually by a firm of independent certified public

6 accountants in accordance with generally accepted

7 auditing standards.

8 (2) ACCESS TO RECORDS.—Representatives of

9 the Secretary and the Commission shall have access

10 to all books, accounts, reports, files, and other

11 records pertaining to the Fund as necessary to fa12 cilitate and verify the audit.

13 (3) REPORTS.—

14 (A) IN GENERAL.—A report on each audit

15 shall be submitted to the Secretary, the Com16 mission, and the Secretary of the Treasury, who

17 shall submit the report to the President and

18 Congress not later than 180 days after the

19 close of the fiscal year.

20 (B) REQUIREMENTS.—An audit report

21 shall—

22 (i) set forth the scope of the audit;

23 and

24 (ii) include—
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•HR 4798 IH

1 (I) a statement of assets and li2 abilities, capital, and surplus or defi3 cit;

4 (II) a statement of surplus or

5 deficit analysis;

6 (III) a statement of income and

7 expenses;

8 (IV) any other information that

9 may be considered necessary to keep

10 the President and Congress informed

11 of the operations and financial condi12 tion of the Fund; and

13 (V) any recommendations with

14 respect to the Fund that the Sec15 retary or the Commission may have.

16 SEC. 115. RENEWABLE ENERGY PORTFOLIO STANDARDS.

17 (a) MINIMUM RENEWABLE GENERATION REQUIRE18 MENT.—(1) By March 22 of each calendar year after

19 2000, each retail electricity supplier shall submit to the

20 Secretary renewable energy credits in an amount equal to

21 the required annual percentage of the supplier’s total kilo22 watt-hour sales to end-use customers in the preceding cal23 endar year.

24 (2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to pro25 hibit any State from requiring additional renewable energy
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•HR 4798 IH

1 generation in that State under any program adopted by

2 the State. A State may limit the benefits of any State re3 newable energy program to renewable energy generators

4 located within the State’s boundaries.

5 (b) REQUIRED ANNUAL PERCENTAGE.—For end-use

6 customer sales in calendar year 2000, the required annual

7 percentage for each retail electricity supplier shall be set

8 equal to the amount of renewable energy in the United

9 States as of December 1997, and shall be known as the

10 ‘‘baseline.’’ The Secretary shall establish this baseline by

11 rule based on an advance registration process for renew12 able energy credits or by conducting a survey of renewable

13 energy generation plants. Such baseline shall be estab14 lished after notice and opportunity for hearing but not

15 later than 180 days after the enactment of this Act.

16 Thereafter the required annual percentage for each such

17 supplier shall increase as set forth in the following table:

Calendar year: Minimum Percentage Increase

(cumulative):

2001 ......................................................................................... baseline plus

0.50%

2002 ......................................................................................... baseline plus

1.00%

2003 ......................................................................................... baseline plus

1.50%

2004 ......................................................................................... baseline plus

2.00%

2005 ......................................................................................... baseline plus

3.00%

2006 ......................................................................................... baseline plus

4.00%

2007 ......................................................................................... baseline plus

5.00%

2008 ......................................................................................... baseline plus

6.00%
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Calendar year: Minimum Percentage Increase

(cumulative):

2009 ......................................................................................... baseline plus

7.00%

2010 ......................................................................................... baseline plus

8.00%

2011 and beyond ...................................................................... 1.00%

additional to

the previous

year

1 (c) SUBMISSION OF CREDITS.—An electric generator

2 may satisfy the requirements of subsection (a) through the

3 submission, by March 22 of the year following each cal4 endar year, of renewable energy credits issued by the Sec5 retary under this section for renewable energy generated

6 in such calendar year or the previous calendar year. A re7 newable energy credit that is submitted to the Secretary

8 may not be used for any other purposes thereafter.

9 (d) ISSUANCE OF RENEWABLE ENERGY CREDITS.—

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall estab11 lish, by rule after notice and opportunity for hearing

12 but not later than 120 days after the enactment of

13 this Act, a program to issue renewable energy cred14 its to renewable energy electric generators that sell

15 electricity to any other person. Renewable energy

16 credits shall be identified by type of generation and

17 State where the generator is located. Under such

18 program, the Secretary shall issue one renewable en19 ergy credit to any person who generates and sells to
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•HR 4798 IH

1 any other person one kilowatt-hour of renewable en2 ergy net of any on-site consumption.

3 (2) FEES.—The Secretary shall impose and col4 lect a fee on electric generators awarded renewable

5 energy credits in an amount equal to the reasonable

6 costs of administering the Renewables Portfolio

7 Standard program established under this section

8 which shall be due at the time such credits are

9 issued.

10 (3) PURPA CONTRACTS.—In the case of re11 newable energy sold by the renewable energy electric

12 generator at above-market rates to a State regulated

13 electric utility under a contract entered into before

14 the date of enactment of this Act that is subject to

15 section 210 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies

16 Act of 1978, for the duration of such contract, the

17 utility shall be treated for purposes of the other pro18 visions of this section as the generator of such en19 ergy unless such generator and utility agree to ter20 minate such contract prior to the expiration date set

21 forth in the contract. The Secretary shall settle any

22 disputes regarding the calculation of above-market

23 rates as it pertains to this section.

24 (e) SALE OR EXCHANGE.—Renewable energy credits

25 may be sold or exchanged by the person to whom issued
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•HR 4798 IH

1 or by any other person who acquires the credit. A renew2 able energy credit generated in any year that is not used

3 to satisfy the minimum renewable generation requirement

4 of subsection (a) for that year may be carried forward for

5 use in the following year, but may not be carried forward

6 for use in any subsequent year.

7 (f) RULES AND REGULATIONS.—(1) The Secretary

8 shall promulgate such rules and regulations as may be

9 necessary to carry out this section, including but not lim10 ited to such rules and regulations requiring the submission

11 of such information as may be necessary to verify renew12 able energy generation by persons applying for renewable

13 energy credits under subsection (d), total end-use cus14 tomer sales of any person submitting renewable energy

15 credits for compliance under subsection (a), and to vali16 date the renewable energy credits submitted by any person

17 to the Secretary.

18 (2) At the request of any State, the Secretary shall

19 develop administrative procedures and promulgate addi20 tional rules and regulations as necessary to facilitate joint

21 implementation of the national renewables portfolio stand22 ard and any renewables portfolio standard adopted by any

23 State pursuant to subsection (a)(2).

24 (g) ANNUAL REPORTS.—The Secretary shall gather

25 available data and devise measures to gauge compliance
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•HR 4798 IH

1 with the requirements of this section and the success of

2 the Renewables Portfolio Standard program established

3 under this section. On an annual basis not later than May

4 31 of each year, the Secretary shall publish a report for

5 the previous year that includes compliance data, program

6 results, and steps taken to improve the program results.

7 (h) SUNSET.—The requirements of this section shall

8 cease to apply 90 days after the Secretary certifies in the

9 annual report under subsection (g) that for the preceding

10 year the market value of renewable energy credits or the

11 number of credits traded or both has declined to such

12 nominal levels that the administrative cost to implement

13 the program is no longer justified.

14 (i) ENFORCEMENT.—(1) The failure or refusal of any

15 person to submit any required quantity of renewable en16 ergy credits shall be subject to a civil penalty of 3 times

17 the estimated national average market value (as deter18 mined by the Secretary) for the calendar year concerned

19 of such quantity of renewable energy credits. Any such

20 penalty shall be due and payable without demand to the

21 Secretary as provided in regulations to be issued by the

22 Secretary pursuant to subsection (f). Any such payment

23 shall be deposited in the United States Treasury pursuant

24 to the Miscellaneous Receipts Act. Any penalty due and

25 payable under this section shall not diminish the liability
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•HR 4798 IH

1 of the unit’s owner or operator for any fine, penalty or

2 assessment against the unit for the same violation under

3 any other section of this Act.

4 (2) The Secretary shall bring an action in the appro5 priate United States district court to impose a civil penalty

6 on any person who fails or refuses to comply with sub7 section (a) or who fails to pay such penalty.

8 SEC. 116. NET-METERING AND INTERCONNECTION STAND9 ARDS.

10 The Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978

11 is amended by adding the following new section after sec12 tion 604:

13 ‘‘SEC. 605. NET-METERING FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY.

14 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section:

15 ‘‘(1) The term ‘eligible on-site generating facil16 ity’ means a facility on the site of an electric con17 sumer with a peak generating capacity of 2

18 megawatts or less that is fueled solely by a renew19 able energy resource.

20 ‘‘(2) The term ‘renewable energy resource’

21 means organic waste biomass (not including munici22 pal solid waste of black liquor), dedicated biomass

23 energy crops, landfill gas, geothermal, solar, or wind

24 resources.
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1 ‘‘(3) The term ‘net-metering service’ means a

2 service to an electricity consumer under which elec3 tricity generated by that consumer from an eligible

4 on-site generating facility and delivered to the dis5 tribution system through the same meter through

6 which purchased electricity is received may be used

7 to offset electricity provided by the retail electricity

8 supplier to the consumer during the applicable bill9 ing period so that a consumer is billed only for the

10 net electricity consumed during the billing period. If

11 the net electricity consumed is less than zero, then

12 the consumer shall be paid during the next billing

13 period the average spot market price for the elec14 tricity generated.

15 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE NET METERING

16 SERVICE.—Each retail electricity supplier shall make

17 available upon request net metering service to any retail

18 consumer whom the supplier currently serves or solicits

19 for service.

20 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE INTERCONNEC21 TION.—A retail electricity distributor shall permit the

22 interconnection to its distribution system of an on-site

23 generating facility if the facility meets the safety and

24 power quality standards established by the Commission.
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•HR 4798 IH

1 ‘‘(d) RULES.—The Commission shall prescribe safety

2 and power quality standards and rules necessary to carry

3 out this section. These standards and rules apply to any

4 interconnections of an on-site generating facility with a

5 distribution system, regardless of the size of the facility

6 or the type of fuel used by the facility.’’.

7 SEC. 117. CIVIL LIABILITY.

8 (a) LIABILITY.—A person who fails to abide by the

9 requirements of this Act with respect to any person is lia10 ble to such person in the amount of—

11 (1) any actual damage sustained by such person

12 as a result of such failure;

13 (2) an amount not less than $100 nor more

14 than $1,000 per violation; and

15 (3) in the case of any action to enforce this sec16 tion, the costs of the action, together with reason17 able attorneys fees as determined by the court.

18 (b) COURT ACTION.—Any action under this section

19 may be brought in any United States District Court, or

20 in any other court of competent jurisdiction, within three

21 years from the date of violation.

22 (c) ACTIONS TO ENFORCE.—An action to enforce

23 this Act may also be brought by any State Attorney Gen24 eral of any other agency responsible for its enforcement.
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•HR 4798 IH

1 TITLE II—STATE STANDARDS

2 FOR ELECTRICITY SERVICE

3 SEC. 201. RETAIL DEREGULATION.

4 (a) PRIOR DEREGULATION.—If a State has enacted

5 laws or regulations to deregulate retail sales of electricity

6 prior to the effective date of this Act, a State shall meet

7 the requirements of sections 202 and 205 through 216

8 inclusive within 2 years after the effective date of this Act.

9 (b) FUTURE DEREGULATION.—For States that con10 tinue to regulate retail sales of electricity after the effec11 tive date of this Act, a State shall meet the requirements

12 of sections 202 and 205 through 216 inclusive before en13 acting laws or regulations that deregulate retail sales of

14 electricity.

15 SEC. 202. PROHIBITION OF COST SHIFTING.

16 (a) RATES.—No class of consumers in a State shall

17 be charged rates for transmission or distribution service

18 (or other regulated services) in excess of the class’s pro19 portional responsibility for the costs of providing these

20 services.

21 (b) RATE DIFFERENTIAL.—On an annual basis, each

22 State regulatory authority shall compute the rate differen23 tial for retail electric service between residential and in24 dustrial customers by comparing the total average residen25 tial rate and the total average industrial rate, based on
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•HR 4798 IH

1 monthly reports by suppliers to the State regulatory au2 thority and the Energy Information Administration. As

3 used in this subsection, ‘‘total average residential rate’’

4 means the total residential revenues divided by the total

5 residential kilowatt-hour sales; ‘‘total average industrial

6 rate’’ means the total industrial revenues divided by total

7 industrial kilowatt-hour sales; and ‘‘rate differential’’

8 means the difference between the total average residential

9 rate and the total average industrial rate, divided by the

10 total average residential rate.

11 (c) THREE PERCENT DIFFERENTIAL.—If the State

12 regulatory authority determines that the rate differential

13 for electric service between residential and industrial cus14 tomers has increased by three percentage points or more

15 from the rate differential that existed on the day before

16 the State enacted laws or regulations to deregulate retail

17 sales of electricity, the State regulatory authority shall

18 order each distributor to increase the access charge per

19 kilowatt-hour to all industrial customers, and to reduce

20 the access charge per kilowatt-hour to all residential cus21 tomers, so that the rate differential remains within three

22 percentage points or less of the rate differential that ex23 isted on the day before the State enacted laws or regula24 tions to deregulate retail sales of electricity.
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•HR 4798 IH

1 SEC. 203. PROHIBITION OF AFFILIATE ABUSES AND CROSS2 SUBSIDIES.

3 (a) TRANSFER OF ASSETS.—Within 1 year after a

4 State has enacted laws or regulations to deregulate retail

5 sales of electricity, the State’s investor-owned utilities

6 shall—

7 (1) transfer transmission assets to a regulated

8 transmission company; and

9 (2) transfer the distribution assets to a regu10 lated distribution company.

11 (b) DEFINITIONS.—For the purposes of this section,

12 the terms ‘‘transmission company’’ and ‘‘distribution com13 pany’’ mean transmission companies and distribution com14 panies created to comply with subsection (a).

15 (c) PROHIBITION.—It shall be unlawful for any per16 son who owns directly or indirectly any voting security of

17 any company that owns, operates, or leases generation fa18 cilities, or for any person who owns directly or indirectly

19 any voting security of any company that sells electricity

20 in wholesale or retail markets, to own directly or indirectly

21 any portion of a transmission company or a distribution

22 company.

23 (d) OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES.—It shall be

24 unlawful for any officer, director, or employee of a trans25 mission company or a distribution company to have any

26 affiliation with, or to own any security of any company,
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•HR 4798 IH

1 or any associated company thereof, that owns, operates,

2 or leases generation facilities, or that sells electricity in

3 wholesale or retail markets.

4 (e) OWNERSHIP OF SECURITIES.—It shall be unlaw5 ful for any transmission company or any distribution com6 pany to own directly or indirectly any security of any other

7 company.

8 (f) LOANS.—It shall be unlawful for any transmission

9 company or any distribution company to borrow from any

10 company, or any associated or affiliated company thereof,

11 that owns, operates, or leases generation facilities, or that

12 sells electricity in wholesale or retail markets.

13 (g) LOANS FROM TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION

14 COMPANIES.—It shall be unlawful for any person to bor15 row from any transmission company or any distribution

16 company.

17 (h) SERVICE, SALES, OR CONSTRUCTION CON18 TRACTS.—It shall be unlawful for any transmission com19 pany or any distribution company to enter into any serv20 ice, sales, or construction contract with any company, or

21 any associated or affiliated company thereof, that owns,

22 operates, or leases generation facilities, except for the pro23 vision of generation services that allow for the safe, reli24 able, and economical operation of a transmission system
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•HR 4798 IH

1 or a distribution system as determined through the use

2 of the principles of distributed resources.

3 (i) USE OF NAMES, ETC.—It shall be unlawful for

4 any transmission company or any distribution company to

5 use, or to resemble in anyway, the name, logo, service

6 mark, trademark, or trade name of any company, or any

7 associated company thereof, that owns, operates, or leases

8 generation facilities, or that sells electricity in wholesale

9 or retail markets.

10 (j) ADDITIONAL PROHIBITIONS.—An investor-owned

11 electric utility, a transmission company, and a distribution

12 company—

13 (1) may not discriminate against any other per14 son or company in the provision of goods, services,

15 facilities, and information, or in the establishment of

16 standards;

17 (2) shall provide all goods, services, facilities, or

18 information, including marketing leads, to all other

19 persons on reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms

20 and conditions; and

21 (3) shall not provide, transfer, or permit the

22 use of, or access to, tangible or intangible assets of

23 the investor-owned electric utility, transmission com24 pany, or distribution company.
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1 SEC. 204. PROHIBITION OF EXCESSIVE GENERATION MAR2 KET POWER.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Within 1 year after a State has

4 enacted laws or regulations to deregulate retail sales of

5 electricity, it shall be unlawful for any investor-owned gen6 eration company, or associated holding company or sub7 sidiary thereof, or an affiliated company, to own, operate,

8 lease, or otherwise control more than 20 percent of the

9 State’s power plants within the following categories:

10 (1) Baseload power plants, defined as power

11 plants with a capacity factor greater than or equal

12 to 50 percent.

13 (2) Peaking power plants; defined as power

14 plants with a capacity factor less than 50 percent.

15 (3) Power plants that primarily provide ancil16 lary services, including without limitation, load-fol17 lowing, spinning reserve, replacement reserves, fre18 quency regulation, and voltage regulation.

19 (b) LOAD POCKETS.—If transmission constraints

20 create load pockets within a State, then subsection (a) ap21 plies to the ownership, operation, or leasing of power

22 plants located within each load pocket.

23 SEC. 205. BASIC SERVICE.

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—A distributor shall arrange for the

25 provision of basic service to any residential and small com26 mercial customer who has not chosen a supplier after hav-
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•HR 4798 IH

1 ing been notified of their opportunity to do so, and those

2 whose supplier has failed or refused to provide further

3 service to the customer. A distributor may arrange for the

4 provision of basic service to any other customer upon re5 quest and upon mutually agreeable terms. The distributor

6 shall automatically provide basic service to any customer

7 whose supplier has failed or refused to provide service to

8 that customer unless the customer has given instructions

9 to either disconnect service or switch to a different sup10 plier.

11 (b) BIDS.—The distributor shall annually solicit com12 petitive bids for the provision of basic service from all sup13 pliers licensed to do business in the State. If three or more

14 suppliers submit proposals that meet the minimum terms

15 contained in the bid document, the distributor shall accept

16 the bid that best meets the terms of the bid requirements

17 and offers the lowest price for electricity. If there are less

18 than three suppliers submitting proposals meeting mini19 mum terms, the State regulatory authority shall approve

20 the price for basic service prior to the award of any bid

21 by the distributor.

22 (c) TERMS.—The distributor shall include the follow23 ing terms in the solicitation for proposals for provision of

24 basic service:
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•HR 4798 IH

1 (1) The supplier shall provide customers with a

2 choice between a price for electricity which does not

3 vary by time of day or season and a price that varies

4 by time of day and season.

5 (2) There shall be no administrative fee or

6 extra charge for a customer to obtain basic service.

7 There shall be no fee charged for any customer when

8 the service is provided as a result of a supplier’s fail9 ure or refusal to serve a customer.

10 (3) The current rules in effect governing credit

11 and collection activities, deposits, disconnection, late

12 fees, reconnection fees, winter disconnection rules or

13 other restrictions on disconnection for vulnerable

14 customers, payment arrangements, medical emer15 gencies and other customer protections shall be ap16 plicable to basic service.

17 (4) The distributor shall bill and collect for

18 basic service charges, and the supplier shall reim19 burse the distributor an agreed-upon amount to re20 flect the costs avoided by the supplier due to this ar21 rangement. The costs of basic service in excess of

22 the revenues received, including any costs incurred

23 to collect overdue amounts, shall be included in the

24 rates charged by the distributor to all its customers.
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1 SEC. 206. AGGREGATION OF CONSUMERS.

2 (a) POWERS OF CONSUMERS.—(1) A State shall

3 allow consumers to establish options for nonprofit public

4 aggregation. A State shall allow consumers to utilize a tra5 ditional public process at the local level to authorize public

6 aggregation in the form of new municipal electric systems;

7 franchise contracts; community choice aggregation; coop8 erative buying clubs in unincorporated areas.

9 (2) A State shall not diminish, restrict, or otherwise

10 render ineffective the process or ability of consumers to

11 establish or conduct public aggregation options. State reg12 ulatory bodies are to work cooperatively with local govern13 ments to enhance the process for carrying out the provi14 sions of subsections (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), and (h)

15 below.

16 (b) MUNICIPALIZATION.—A State shall facilitate the

17 opportunities for consumers to establish new nonprofit

18 municipal electric systems. Such facilitation shall include

19 an arbitration process for asset valuation at original cost

20 minus depreciation. Existing municipal electric systems

21 and existing rural electric cooperative systems, as self-reg22 ulated by consumers, are to be exempted from all provi23 sions of this section.

24 (c) FRANCHISE CONTRACT.—A State shall facilitate

25 the ability of consumers to utilize local franchise powers.

26 A State shall allow municipalities or counties that have
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•HR 4798 IH

1 granted franchises to utilities at a prior time, whether the

2 term of such franchise has expired or remains in effect,

3 to offer such franchise for competitive bidding and con4 tract award, provided such measures are authorized by

5 consumers in a public process. Such franchises may con6 tain terms to address combined distribution and power

7 supply, or any segment of operations for retail electricity

8 service.

9 (d) COMMUNITY CHOICE AGGREGATION.—A State

10 shall allow consumers the option to establish nonfranchise

11 aggregation of all consumers through their local govern12 ment. Municipalities or counties shall be allowed to pass

13 ordinances to undertake public aggregation of all classes

14 of consumers, provided such measures are authorized by

15 consumers in a public process. To accommodate those who

16 may not wish to participate, at local discretion, the aggre17 gation structure may include a process for individual con18 sumers to ‘‘opt-out’’ during a defined time period. Com19 munity choice aggregation may address competitive bid20 ding and contract award for power supply only, or addi21 tional services related to electric supply.

22 (e) BUYING COOPERATIVES IN UNINCORPORATED

23 AREAS.—Consumers in unincorporated areas without the

24 benefit of organized local governments shall be allowed to

25 combine their buying power in cooperative organizations;
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1 provided such organizations are nonprofit and nondiscrim2 inatory.

3 (f) ENERGY EFFICIENCY FUNDS.—If a State author4 izes or mandates collection of funds for energy efficiency

5 programs, consumers who establish aggregation through

6 a public process can recover and utilize funds collected

7 from consumers within the aggregated jurisdiction. A plan

8 for utilization of such funds is to be prepared and subject

9 to approval at the local level, then submitted to State reg10 ulators for review of consistency with State energy goals.

11 (g) RENEWABLE ENERGY FUNDS.—If a State au12 thorizes or mandates collection of funds for renewable en13 ergy education, support, or development, consumers who

14 establish aggregation through a public process can recover

15 and utilize funds collected from consumers within the ag16 gregated jurisdiction. A plan for utilization of such funds

17 is to be prepared and subject to approval at the local level,

18 then submitted to State regulators for review of consist19 ency with State energy goals.

20 (h) CONVERGENCE OF UTILITY SERVICES.—If a

21 State authorizes retail marketing of combined ‘‘wires’’ or

22 energy services such as cable television, Internet, natural

23 gas, electricity, telephone, and other related technologies,

24 an entity established by consumers through a public proc25 ess shall be allowed to combine any and all services
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1 deemed appropriate for provision to the aggregated con2 sumers.

3 SEC. 207. WORKER PROTECTIONS.

4 (a) RECOVERY OF COSTS.—Electric utilities shall be

5 allowed to recover reasonable employee-related transition

6 costs incurred and projected for programs that provide for

7 offers of voluntary severance, job retraining, early retire8 ment, continued health care, outplacement and related

9 benefits. However, there shall be no recovery for employee10 related transition costs associated with officers and senior

11 supervisory employees performing predominantly regu12 latory functions.

13 (b) UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS.—States should con14 sider extended unemployment benefits to any employee of

15 an electric utility company who is terminated through no

16 fault of his own as a result of electricity deregulation and

17 is otherwise eligible for unemployment benefits. No such

18 employee shall be denied or be determined to be ineligible

19 for any such benefits if the employer has provided notice

20 of the cessation of employment.

21 (c) PLAN.—Before any such reduction in the work22 force, an electric utility shall present to its employees and

23 their representatives a workforce reduction plan outlining

24 the means by which the electric utility intends to mitigate

25 the impact of such workforce reduction on its employees.
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1 SEC. 208. LICENSING AND DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS

2 FOR RETAIL SUPPLIERS.

3 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to es4 tablish the jurisdiction of the State regulatory authority

5 over retail electricity suppliers and to set forth the condi6 tions under which such suppliers may obtain a license to

7 sell retail electricity in a State.

8 (b) LICENSE.—No retail electricity supplier shall en9 gage in the business of the sale, marketing, brokering, or

10 aggregating for the sale of electricity in a State without

11 a valid license from the State regulatory authority. All re12 tail electric suppliers who seek to do business in a State

13 shall file an application with the State regulatory author14 ity that includes the following information:

15 (1) Legal name.

16 (2) Business address.

17 (3) That State where incorporated; date or or18 ganization; copy of the articles of incorporation, as19 sociation or other form of organization.

20 (4) Names and business address of all officers

21 and directors, partners; or other similar officials.

22 (5) Name, title, and telephone number of cus23 tomer service contact person.

24 (6) Name, title, and telephone number of regu25 latory contact person.
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1 (7) Name, title, and address of registered agent

2 in this State for service of process.

3 (8) Description of the nature of the business to

4 be conducted, a map showing the geographic area of

5 the supplier’s intended marketing area, and a list of

6 any restrictions on the type or number of customers

7 the supplier will seek to serve.

8 (9) Evidence of the supplier’s right, title, or in9 terest in generation supplies sufficient to meet the

10 existing and projected demands of its customers.

11 (10) A copy of the standard contract proposed

12 to be used by the supplier for residential and small

13 commercial customers.

14 (11) Whether the applicant or any member of

15 its board of directors or officers have been or are the

16 subject of State or Federal investigation, license rev17 ocation or lawsuit, and, if so, the identification of

18 such States and proceedings.

19 (12) Proof of holding a bond or other evidence

20 of insurance approved by the State regulatory au21 thority in the amount reflecting number of cus22 tomers served and the amount of electricity sold.

23 The bond must be updated annually on the anniver24 sary of the approval of the license, based on the sup25 plier’s average number of customers and the amount
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1 of electricity sold. The bond shall carry an endorse2 ment that shall allow the issuer of the bond or in3 surer to pay such amounts and in such a manner as

4 ordered by the State regulatory authority upon a

5 finding of fraudulent conduct toward consumers, ac6 tions which cause the electricity supply system to be7 come unreliable, revocation of the supplier’s license,

8 abandonment by the supplier, or, upon complaint, a

9 failure to comply with the settlement’s contract with

10 the distributor. The State regulatory authority may

11 order the bond proceeds to be paid to customers as

12 restitution for fraudulent conduct, violation of State

13 law or State regulatory authority rule, or to other

14 individuals adversely affected by the supplier’s con15 duct.

16 (c) APPROVAL.—The application shall be deemed ap17 proved after 90 days, unless the State regulatory authority

18 initiates an adjudicatory proceeding by public notice that

19 states the reason(s) why there is reason to believe that

20 the application should be denied. The applicant shall have

21 an opportunity to correct any deficiency noted by the State

22 regulatory authority in writing or request a public hearing.

23 A failure to comply with the application requirements or

24 evidence that indicates a pattern of violation of State or

25 Federal consumer protection laws and rules, including
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1 antitrust laws and securities rules, shall be sufficient to

2 deny an application. A license shall remain valid for a pe3 riod of five years unless sooner revoked.

4 (d) CHARGES.—After a license is issued, a retail elec5 tricity supplier must inform the State regulatory authority

6 in writing of any substantial change in the information

7 submitted to obtain a license from the State regulatory

8 authority within ten days of the event. The failure to pro9 vide such information in a timely manner shall be grounds

10 for revocation of the license.

11 (e) REVOCATION.—The State regulatory authority

12 may revoke a license for the retail sale of electricity for

13 cause after opportunity for public hearing. The State reg14 ulatory authority may issue an order that prevents a sup15 plier from marketing or signing up new customers during

16 the pendency of an investigation or revocation proceedings

17 when it finds that there is probable cause to believe that

18 consumers will be harmed or that the reliability of the elec19 tricity supply of a State will be harmed by the actions of

20 the supplier.

21 (f) OBLIGATIONS TO DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES.—A

22 retail electricity supplier shall enter into a contract with

23 each distributor that services its customers. The contract

24 shall describe the billing arrangements between the dis25 tributor and the supplier, how information concerning cus-
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1 tomer status will be transmitted between the two entities,

2 whether and under what conditions upstream metering

3 will occur to facilitate settlements of nonhourly metered

4 customers and other settlement issues. The contract shall

5 be filed with the State regulatory authority by the retail

6 electric supplier prior to the commencement of business

7 by the supplier in this State.

8 (g) DISCLOSURE OF UNIVERSAL SERVICE PRO9 GRAMS.—A retail electric supplier shall inform every pro10 spective customer of the availability of universal service

11 programs for qualified customers and how customers can

12 apply for such programs. A summary of such programs

13 shall be provided in writing within ten days of commence14 ment of service for residential customers.

15 (h) STATE REGULATORY AUTHORITY ACCESS TO

16 BOOKS AND RECORDS; INVESTIGATIONS; FINES.—The

17 State regulatory authority shall have access to a retail

18 electric supplier’s books and records concerning its busi19 ness within this State upon reasonable notice in order to

20 investigate, upon reasonable cause, any alleged violation

21 of this Act. The supplier shall make such books and

22 records available to the State regulatory authority within

23 this State at a location convenient to both parties. Upon

24 reasonable cause, the State regulatory authority may initi25 ate an investigation of the supplier’s business in this State
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1 for the purpose of determining compliance with any provi2 sion of this Act. Upon initiating such investigation, the

3 State regulatory authority shall notify the supplier and

4 other interested parties and take such steps as are nec5 essary and proper to protect the confidentiality of infor6 mation obtained from suppliers that would unfairly impact

7 the supplier’s ability to attract future sales of electricity

8 in this State. The State regulatory authority shall offer

9 the supplier an opportunity to respond and request a pub10 lic hearing. Upon a finding that the supplier has violated

11 one or more provisions of this Act, the State regulatory

12 authority may issue such orders as necessary, pursue a

13 revocation of the supplier’s license, order restitution to

14 specific customers, and assess fines according to section

15 216 of this Act.

16 SEC. 209. REGULATION OF DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES.

17 (a) DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM.—The distributor shall be

18 required to retain its monopoly role with respect to the

19 construction and maintenance of the distribution system

20 for all customers, installation of service and meter read21 ing, billing of customers for distribution and transmission

22 services, and provision of optional billing services under

23 contract with retail electricity suppliers. The distributor

24 shall provide access to the electric grid in a nondiscrim25 inatory manner to customers, be subjected to regulation
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1 of the State regulatory authority for prices and the quality

2 of its customer service, and undertake such additional ob3 ligations with respect to energy efficiency and universal

4 access services as determined by the State regulatory au5 thority. The purpose of this subsection is to supplement

6 existing law and, where appropriate, substitute rights and

7 obligations for distribution companies in an electricity

8 market characterized by retail deregulation.

9 (b) UNBUNDLED RATES.—A distributor shall

10 unbundle or separate its charges for distribution and

11 transmission services into the following components:

12 (1) Transmission services.

13 (2) Distribution services, which shall include

14 the costs associated with universal service programs

15 and energy efficiency programs or expenses author16 ized by the State regulatory authority, bad debt and

17 other expenses associated with consumer protection

18 provisions.

19 (3) Charges for electricity supplied by a retail

20 electricity supplier or basic service arranged by the

21 distributor.

22 (c) CUSTOMER RIGHT OF ACCESS; DUTY OF DIS23 TRIBUTOR.—A distributor shall provide access to the elec24 tric grid in a nondiscriminatory manner to any person

25 upon request. Any condition imposed by the distributor
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1 prior to providing access shall be contained in the compa2 ny’s terms and conditions subject to review by the State

3 regulatory authority. The procedures adopted by the dis4 tributor to provide access to retail electric suppliers shall

5 include the following requirements:

6 (1) A distributor must offer to enter into an

7 agreement to govern metering, meter reading, trans8 mittal of billing information or billing services, and

9 settlement of accounts with any retail electric sup10 plier licensed by the State regulatory authority. The

11 retail supplier shall provide at least two weeks notice

12 to the distributor of its intent to do business in the

13 service territory of the distributor. The agreement

14 between the distributor and the retail electric sup15 plier must incorporate the provisions relating to the

16 funding and delivery of basic service programs; im17 plementation of the State regulatory authority’s re18 quirements relating to credit and collection; bill noti19 fication and disclosure requirements; and notifica20 tion between customers, suppliers, and the distribu21 tor of intent to change suppliers or obtain reconnec22 tion and disconnection services. A copy of the agree23 ment shall be filed with the State regulatory author24 ity but shall not require State regulatory authority

25 approval.
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1 (2) No distributor shall discriminate against or

2 show favor toward any retail electric suppliers in its

3 communications or in its course of conduct with cus4 tomers or retail electric suppliers.

5 SEC. 210. CHANGE OF SUPPLIER.

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—A customer may change his or her

7 electric supplier at any time, subject to any penalty set

8 forth in the contract with the supplier. The distributor

9 may charge a reasonable fee to make a change in the cus10 tomer’s supplier to reflect the actual cost to read the cus11 tomer’s meter and make changes in its billing records, ex12 cept that every customer may seek to obtain basic service

13 as described in section 205 without charge. When a fee

14 is applicable, the distributor shall offer the customer the

15 option to self-read the meter or provide a timely meter

16 reading at a lower cost.

17 (b) NOTIFICATION.—Except for the automatic provi18 sion of basic service, a distributor shall not change the

19 identity of the customer’s supplier if there is any reason

20 to believe that the notification procedures of section 213

21 have been violated. Instead, the distributor shall take im22 mediate steps to attempt to communicate directly with the

23 customer.

24 (c) NOTICE PERIOD.—A distributor may adopt a rea25 sonable notice period to effectuate a customer’s change of
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1 supplier, but this notice period shall not be greater than

2 three business days. The distributor shall read the cus3 tomer’s meter or obtain a self-reading from the customer

4 prior to recording a change in the customer’s supplier.

5 (d) METER.—Any change in the customer’s supplier

6 shall take effect at the time of the meter reading by the

7 distributor, or, if an actual meter reading is not possible

8 after reasonable efforts to obtain an actual or customer9 supplied reading by the distributor, on midnight of the day

10 that the change is implemented by the distributor in its

11 records.

12 SEC. 211. DISTRIBUTION SERVICE DISCONNECTIONS AND

13 SUPPLY TERMINATIONS.

14 (a) DISCONNECTION.—All customers shall be pro15 tected from unreasonable distribution service disconnec16 tions and unreasonable supply terminations.

17 (b) DEFINITION.—Unreasonable distribution service

18 disconnection includes, without limitation, disconnection

19 from access—

20 (1) for failure to pay a seller other than the

21 seller of basic service; or

22 (2) in the case of qualified low-income house23 holds receiving basic service, before they—
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1 (A) have been referred to social service

2 agencies that can provide them with assistance;

3 and

4 (B) have failed to pay under an extended

5 payment agreement; or

6 (3) when such disconnection would be dan7 gerous to the health or safety of a member of the

8 household, including during the presence of infants,

9 elders, disabled persons, and during risk of extreme

10 weather conditions. For the purposes of this section,

11 the term ‘‘infant’’ means any child under six years

12 of age, the term ‘‘elder’’ means any person 60 years

13 of age or older, and the term ‘‘disabled person’’ has

14 the same meaning as provided in the Americans with

15 Disabilities Act; or

16 (4) without contacting a third party designated

17 by such household to receive notice of proposed serv18 ice disconnection.

19 (c) PROHIBITION.—A seller shall not disconnect or

20 threaten to disconnect the customer’s electric service or

21 to terminate the customer’s electricity supply for failure

22 to pay for products or services other than electricity.

23 (d) PROTECTION.—All customers shall be protected

24 from unreasonable supply termination, including without

25 limitation—
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1 (1) termination before adequate notice is pro2 vided of the supplier’s intent to terminate, and of

3 the right to continue service via another supplier

4 provider or through basic service; or

5 (2) when used as a mechanism for bill collection

6 or during the pendency of a dispute regarding bill

7 amount.

8 (e) NOTICE.—A supplier may discontinue services to

9 a customer who fails to pay or make a reasonable payment

10 arrangement for an overdue amount in excess of $50 by

11 giving notice to both the customer and the distributor. The

12 notice shall be in writing and conspicuously disclose the

13 amount overdue, what the customer must do to avoid dis14 continuance of service, how the customer can contact the

15 supplier to negotiate terms to avoid disconnection, and

16 how the customer can obtain basic service in place of fur17 ther service from the supplier. The notice shall be mailed

18 or delivered at least ten weekdays prior to disconnection

19 of service. Once the due date has passed, the supplier may

20 notify the distributor who shall change the customer’s sup21 plier upon proper notice from the customer or initiate

22 basic service within three business days. The supplier’s ob23 ligation to the distributor or network operator shall cease

24 with the disconnection of service by the distributor, the

25 initiation of basic service or the commencement of service
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1 to the customer by a different supplier, whichever comes

2 first.

3 (f) TENANTS.—A tenant whose landlord fails to pay

4 for electric service shall not be disconnected from distribu5 tion service or from electricity supply. Where metering fa6 cilities exist, the tenant shall be offered an opportunity

7 to put service, including basic service, in his or her name.

8 In addition to any other remedy authorized by law, a retail

9 supplier and distributor may file a lien on the property

10 of any owner of a multi-unit, single-metered building for

11 failure to pay for electricity services. This lien shall be

12 filed in the same manner and perfected with the same pro13 cedures as those available to towns and cities for the col14 lection of unpaid property taxes and sewer charges.

15 (g) PHYSICIANS.—The distributor shall notify all its

16 customers of the right to have a registered physician de17 clare a medical emergency in the household and avoid dis18 connection for a period not to exceed 90 days. If a dis19 tributor receives such a declaration, it shall promptly no20 tify the customer’s supplier. Upon receipt of a declaration

21 of medical emergency, a retail supplier shall not dis22 connect the customer. During this time period the cus23 tomer may request basic service or continue with service

24 from his or her retail supplier. During this time period

25 the customer may not be threatened with disconnection
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1 and the supplier and distributor shall accept less than pay2 ment in full. The customer shall remain liable for all un3 paid amounts. At the end of a maximum period of 90

4 days, the customer shall either resume regular payments

5 or pay the overdue amount in full to avoid disconnection.

6 SEC. 212. CREDIT AND COLLECTION PRACTICES.

7 (a) STATE REGULATIONS.—A State authority’s cur8 rent credit and collection regulations shall remain in effect

9 to govern the actions of a distributor with regard to basic

10 service and the billing and collection of distribution and

11 transmission services provided by the distributor and other

12 companies.

13 (b) BILLING AND COLLECTION.—The following pro14 visions apply to the billing and collection for the sales of

15 electricity by retail suppliers and the billing and collection

16 for sales of electricity by distributors under contract with

17 suppliers:

18 (1) A distributor that offers to bill for suppliers

19 shall allocate a customer’s partial payment first to

20 services regulated by the State regulatory authority,

21 including without limitation, distribution and trans22 mission services, and then to the unregulated portion

23 of the bill. For purposes of this paragraph, the term

24 ‘‘services regulated by the State regulatory author25 ity’’ includes energy management and efficiency
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1 services provided to the customer pursuant to an

2 order of a State regulatory authority and billed by

3 the distributor.

4 (2) A retail supplier shall not refuse to grant

5 credit to any applicant based on a prohibited basis

6 contained in the Federal Equal Credit Opportunity

7 Act, 15 U.S.C. 1691–1691f.

8 (3) Any deposit required by a retail supplier

9 shall not exceed the applicant’s estimated bill for a

10 two-month period. The State regulatory authority

11 may waive the supplier’s right to a deposit in any

12 case in which it finds that the supplier has discrimi13 nated in its request for a deposit from an applicant.

14 The State regulatory authority may take into ac15 count the supplier’s written credit and collection pro16 cedures and their application in making this deci17 sion. A request for a deposit shall be in writing and

18 inform the applicant of the reason for the request,

19 the source of the information that led to the request,

20 the amount, the applicant’s payment options, and

21 how the applicant can have the deposit refunded.

22 (4) A retail supplier may charge a late fee if a

23 customer’s payment is paid after the due date on the

24 customer’s bill. The amount of the late fee shall not
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1 exceed customary business practice for consumer

2 goods.

3 SEC. 213. UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICES.

4 The following specific practices shall be prohibited:

5 (1) SLAMMING.—No electric utility, distributor,

6 supplier, or any person, firm, corporation, or govern7 mental entity shall make any change or authorize a

8 different supplier for any residential or small com9 mercial customer until the change has been con10 firmed by an independent third-party verification

11 company, as follows:

12 (A) The third-party verification company

13 shall meet each of the following criteria:

14 (i) Be independent from the entity

15 that seeks to provide the new service.

16 (ii) Not be directly or indirectly man17 aged, controlled, directed, or owned, wholly

18 or in part, by an entity that seeks to pro19 vide the new service or by any corporation,

20 firm, or person who directly or indirectly

21 manages, controls, or directs or owns more

22 than 5 percent of the entity.

23 (iii) Operate from facilities physically

24 separate from those of the entity that

25 seeks to provide the new service.
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1 (iv) Not derive commissions or com2 pensation based upon the number of sales

3 confirmed.

4 (B) The entity seeking to verify the sale

5 shall do so by connecting the customer by tele6 phone to the third-party verification company

7 or by arranging for the third-party verification

8 company to call the customer to confirm the

9 sale.

10 (C) The third-party verification company

11 shall obtain the resident’s oral confirmation re12 garding the change and shall record that con13 firmation by obtaining appropriate verification

14 data. The record shall be available to the cus15 tomer upon request. Information obtained from

16 the customer through confirmation shall not be

17 used for marketing purposes. Any unauthorized

18 release of this information is grounds for a civil

19 suit by the aggrieved customer against the en20 tity or its employees who are responsible for the

21 violation.

22 (D) Notwithstanding subparagraphs (A),

23 (B), and (C), a supplier shall not be required

24 to comply with these provisions when the cus25 tomer directly calls the supplier to make
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1 changes in suppliers. However, a supplier shall

2 not avoid the verification requirements by ask3 ing a customer to contact a supplier directly to

4 make any change in the supplier. A supplier

5 shall be required to comply with these verifica6 tion requirements for its own services. However,

7 a supplier shall not be required to perform any

8 verification requirements for any changes solic9 ited by another supplier.

10 (2) GIFTS.—A supplier shall not provide a gift

11 or inducement to a residential or small commercial

12 customer with a value in excess of $50 or provide

13 any gift or inducement more than once per 12-

14 month period to the same household or small busi15 ness.

16 (3) ADVERTISING.—A supplier shall not adver17 tise or disclose the price of electricity in such a man18 ner as to mislead a reasonable person into believing

19 that this portion of the bill will be the total bill

20 amount for the delivery of electricity to the cus21 tomer’s location. When advertising or disclosing the

22 price for electricity, the supplier shall also disclose

23 the distributor’s average current charges (including

24 transmission charges) for that customer class as ap25 proved by the State regulatory authority.
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1 (4) CRAMMING.—A supplier shall not add op2 tional services to a customer’s bill without receiving

3 knowledgeable consent from the customer.

4 (5) CANCELLATION.—In addition to any other

5 right to revoke an offer, residential and small com6 mercial customers have the right to cancel a con7 tract without fee or penalty for electric service until

8 midnight of the third business day after the day on

9 which the buyer receives a written confirmation of

10 the agreement to purchase such service. Cancellation

11 occurs when the buyer gives written notice of can12 cellation to the seller at the address specified in the

13 agreement or offer. Notice of cancellation, if given

14 by mail, is effective when deposited in the mail prop15 erly addressed with postage prepaid. Notice of can16 cellation given by the buyer need not take the par17 ticular form as provided with the contract or offer

18 to purchase and, however expressed, is effective if it

19 indicates the intention of the buyer not to be bound

20 by the contract.

21 SEC. 214. METERS.

22 (a) STANDARD METERS.—A distributor shall con23 tinue its obligation to furnish a standard meter to any

24 residential and small commercial applicant for service at

25 a previously unserved location without separate charge.
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1 (b) INSTALLATION OF DIFFERENT METERS.—A cus2 tomer may install a different meter if it meets the tech3 nical qualifications and installation specifications estab4 lished by the distributor. The distributor may adopt rea5 sonable procedures to assure compliance with its technical

6 qualifications and installation specifications and shall in7 form its customers of these requirements promptly upon

8 request.

9 (c) PRICE VARIATIONS.—A supplier may vary the

10 price of electricity based on the type and capacity of the

11 installed meter to record hourly or seasonal prices. A sup12 plier’s terms may include a requirement that a customer

13 with a nonhourly meter pay a separate fee or penalty if

14 the customer cancels a contract during certain times of

15 the year or without specified notice to the supplier.

16 (d) SALE OR LEASE OF DIFFERENT METERS.—A

17 supplier may offer to sell or lease a different meter and

18 to bill and collect separately for the meter on the electric

19 bill issued by a supplier or distributor.

20 (e) LOAD CURVES.—As a condition of offering elec21 tricity for sale within a territory served by a distributor,

22 a supplier must enter into an agreement with the party

23 responsible for settlement of network operations. These

24 agreements must allow for the use of average load shape

25 curves to bill and pay for the use of electricity by cus-
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1 tomers without hourly-metered consumption. The average

2 curves shall be calculated at least four times per calendar

3 year for each supplier’s customers without hourly meters.

4 (f) PAYMENT PRIOR TO DELIVERY.—It shall be un5 lawful to use or to require the use of a prepayment meter,

6 service limiter, or other device or program that requires

7 cash payment prior to the delivery of the service.

8 SEC. 215. EXEMPTION RESCINDED FROM EQUAL CREDIT

9 OPPORTUNITY ACT.

10 The regulations implementing the Equal Credit Op11 portunity Act (15 U.S.C sections 1691–1691(f)) exempt12 ing regulated utilities from application of certain provi13 sions of that Act, shall not apply to transactions concern14 ing the sale of services in a deregulated market.

15 SEC. 216. CONSUMER REMEDIES.

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—A consumer damaged by a viola17 tion of this section by an entity offering retail electricity

18 service is entitled to recover all of the following:

19 (1) Actual damages.

20 (2) The consumer’s attorney’s fees and court

21 costs.

22 (3) Exemplary damages, in the amount the

23 court deems proper, for intentional or willful viola24 tions.

25 (4) Equitable relief as the court deems proper.
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1 (b) OTHER RIGHTS.—The rights, remedies and pen2 alties established by this section are in addition to the

3 rights, remedies or penalties established under any other

4 law.

Æ