Sec. 8. Savings clause.
Sec. 9. Study.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that:
(1) Many States have moved to retail electric
competition.
(2) There are Federal barriers to full retail
electric competition.
(3) The executive branch projects that retail
competition 
will 
save 
the 
American 
taxpayer
$20,000,000,000.
(4) If Congress acts to remove Federal impedi-
ments to retail electric competition, States will have
greater ability to move to competition thereby allow-
ing the open market to govern electricity service,
quality, and price.
SEC. 3. COMPETITIVE RETAIL ELECTRICITY MARKETS.
(a) CLARIFICATION
OF
STATE
AUTHORITY
TO
ORDER RETAIL WHEELING.—Subsection (h) of section
212 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824k(h)) is
amended by striking the last sentence and inserting the
following: ‘‘Nothing in this subsection shall affect any au-
thority of any State or local government under State law
concerning the transmission or sale of electric energy di-
rectly to an ultimate consumer.’’.
(b) CLARIFICATION OF STATE AUTHORITY TO IM-
POSE
CONDITIONS
REGARDING
SALES
OF
ELEC-
TRICITY.—Section 201 of the Federal Power Act is
amended by adding the following new subsections at the
end thereof:
‘‘(h) RECIPROCITY CONDITION.—
‘‘(1) A State may permit an electric utility sub-
ject to its jurisdiction to deny access to its trans-
mission and local distribution facilities within the
State’s borders to any seller of electric energy for
the sale of electric energy directly to an ultimate
consumer within the State’s borders if, as deter-
mined by certification to the Commission in a form
the Commission shall prescribe within 180 days of
the enactment of this paragraph, the predominance
of the electric energy sold by that seller directly to
ultimate consumers is produced in a State or States
that maintain exclusive franchise or market areas
for the sale of electric energy directly to ultimate
consumers.
‘‘(2) NONREGULATED UTILITIES.—If, as of the
date of the enactment of this paragraph, a State has
not established ratemaking authority with respect to
an electric utility in the State, the State may not
prohibit the utility from selling electric energy at re-
tail in interstate commerce in any other State. Any
such utility may sell electric energy at retail in inter-
state commerce in another State only if the utility
provides nondiscriminatory open access to the local
distribution facilities of the utility and to any trans-
mission facilities of the utility that are not subject
to the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission under sections 205 and 206 of this Act.
‘‘(i) COOPERATIVE CHOICE.—Notwithstanding any
other provision of law, cooperatively owned sellers or dis-
tributors of electricity shall have the right, as consumer-
owned cooperatives, to engage in any activity or provide
any service that is lawfully carried out by any other seller
or distributor of electricity in that State.
‘‘(j) BYPASS PROHIBITED.—(1) Notwithstanding any
provision of this Act or any other law, a State or a State
regulatory authority (in carrying out its authority to regu-
late facilities used for the local distribution of electric en-
ergy or for the provision of local distribution service) may
require, as a condition for the purchase by any person or
municipality of retail electric energy services, the payment
of a charge deemed necessary by the State or State regu-
latory authority for any policy purpose, including follow-
ing:
‘‘(A) To recover costs incurred by an electric
utility that become unrecoverable due to the avail-
ability of retail electric service choice.
‘‘(B) To ensure that adequate electric service is
available to all customers served by the retail dis-
tribution system concerned.
‘‘(C) To ensure and enhance the reliability of
retail electric service.
‘‘(D) To fund assistance to low-income cus-
tomers.
‘‘(E) To encourage environmental, renewable
energy, energy efficiency, conservation programs, or
any combination of such programs.
‘‘(F) To provide for retraining of electric em-
ployees.
‘‘(G) To provide payment of all reasonable costs
associated with Federal and State requirements re-
garding the decommissioning of nuclear generating
units.
‘‘(H) Any combination of the purposes de-
scribed in subparagraphs (A) through (G).
‘‘(2) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘local
distribution service’ includes the receipt of electric energy
by an end user whether or not such receipt requires the
use of local distribution facilities.’’.
SEC. 4. PURPA.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—
(1) implementation of section 210 of the Public
Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C.
824a–3) resulted in many consumers paying exces-
sive rates for electricity;
(2) the Energy Policy Act of 1992 gives non-
regulated producers of electricity additional access to
the wholesale electric market through transmission
access and exemption from the Public Utility Hold-
ing Company Act of 1935; and
(3) in light of the competitive wholesale electric
marketplace brought about by the Energy Policy Act
of 1992, section 210 of the Public Utility Regulatory
Policies Act of 1978 need no longer exist.
(b) PROSPECTIVE REPEAL.—
(1) NEW CONTRACTS.—After the date of the
enactment of this Act no electric utility shall be re-
quired to enter into a new contract or obligation to
purchase or to sell electric energy or capacity pursu-
ant to section 210 of the Public Utility Regulatory
Policies Act of 1978.
(2) EXISTING RIGHTS AND REMEDIES NOT AF-
FECTED.—Nothing in this section affects the rights
or remedies of any party with respect to the pur-
chase or sale of electric energy or capacity from or
to a facility determined to be a qualifying small
power production facility or a qualifying cogenera-
tion facility under section 210 of the Public Utility
Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 pursuant to any
contract or obligation to purchase or to sell electric
energy or capacity in effect on the date of the enact-
ment of this Act including the right to recover the
costs of purchasing such electric energy or capacity.
(3) INTERPRETATIONS AND ACTIONS TAKEN.—
Nothing in this Act may be deemed or construed as
implying congressional ratification of any interpreta-
tion of, or any action taken pursuant to, the Public
Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978.
(c) RECOVERY OF COSTS.—In order to assure recov-
ery by electric utilities purchasing electric energy or capac-
ity from a qualifying facility pursuant to any legally en-
forceable obligation entered into or imposed pursuant to
section 210 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act
of 1978 prior to the date of the enactment of this Act
of all costs associated with such purchases, the Commis-
sion shall promulgate and enforce such regulations as may
be required to assure that no utility shall be required di-
rectly or indirectly to absorb the costs associated with such
purchases from a qualifying facility. Such regulations shall