I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 2757
To provide for the refund of certain overcharges for electricity in the Western
States, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AUGUST 2, 2001
Ms. HARMAN (for herself, Ms. ESHOO, Mrs. CAPPS, Mr. WAXMAN, Ms.
LOFGREN, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. HONDA, Mr. FARR of California, Mr.
SHERMAN, Mr. FILNER, Mr. BACA, Ms. WATSON of California, Mr.
CONDIT, Mr. SCHIFF, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. GEORGE
MILLER of California, Ms. PELOSI, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mrs.
NAPOLITANO, Mrs. TAUSCHER, and Mr. MATSUI) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and
Commerce
A BILL
To provide for the refund of certain overcharges for
electricity in the Western States, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. REFUNDS OF CERTAIN ELECTRICITY CHARGES.
(a) APPLICATION ONLY TO SALES OF ELECTRIC EN-
ERGY IN WESTERN REGION.—This section applies only to
sales of electric energy for use in that portion of the
United States that is encompassed by the Western Sys-
tems Coordinating Council of the North American Electric
Reliability Council.
(b) REFUNDS REQUIRED FOR CERTAIN SALES.—Not
later than 30 days after the enactment of this Act, the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission shall order the re-
fund of any rates and charges that applied to sales of elec-
tric energy by public utilities subject to the jurisdiction
of the Commission under the Federal Power Act during
the period beginning October 2, 2000 through June 20,
2001 to the extent that such rates and charges exceed just
and reasonable rates as determined by the Commission
under subsection (c). The refunds shall be made, with in-
terest, to those persons who have paid such rates and
charges.
(c) METHODOLOGIES.—(1) For purposes of sub-
section (b), the Commission shall determine just and rea-
sonable rates by using one of the two following methodolo-
gies:
(A) Cost-of-service rates.
(B) The June 19, 2001, order of the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission modified as provided
in paragraph (2).
(2) The modifications referred to in paragraph (2)
shall—
(A) remove the 10 percent credit worthiness
adder;
(B) provide for a market price calculation based
on the units that would have been running in a com-
petitive market in each hour; and
(C) provide no premium above the mitigated
market-clearing price based on 85 percent of the
market-clearing price during the most recent stage 1
emergency.
(3) As used in this section, the term ‘‘cost-of-service
rates’’ means rates, charges, or classifications for the sale
of electric energy that equal to the sum of the following:
(A) All variable and fixed costs of generating
the electric energy concerned.
(B) Either—
(i) a reasonable risk premium, or
(ii) a return on invested capital used to
generate and transmit such electric energy that
reflects customary returns during the period
1994 through 1999.
(C) Other reasonable costs associated with the ac-
quisition, conservation, and transmission of such
electric energy.
(d) ENFORCEMENT.—Any affected State may bring
an action in the appropriate United States District Court
to enforce this section.
(e) SAVINGS PROVISIONS.—Nothing in this section
shall affect any authority of the Commission existing be-
fore the enactment of this section.
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