(2) shall provide all goods, services, facilities, or
information, including marketing leads, to all other
persons on reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms
and conditions; and
(3) shall not provide, transfer, or permit the
use of, or access to, tangible or intangible assets of
the investor-owned electric utility, transmission com-
pany, or distribution company.
SEC. 204. PROHIBITION OF EXCESSIVE GENERATION MAR-
KET POWER.
(a) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any inves-
tor-owned generation company, or associated holding com-
pany or subsidiary thereof, or an affiliated company, to
own, operate, lease, or otherwise control more than 20 per-
cent of the State’s power plants within the following cat-
egories:
(1) Baseload power plants, defined as power
plants with a capacity factor greater than or equal
to 50 percent.
(2) Peaking power plants; defined as power
plants with a capacity factor less than 50 percent.
(3) Power plants that primarily provide ancil-
lary services, including without limitation, load-fol-
lowing, spinning reserve, replacement reserves, fre-
quency regulation, and voltage regulation.
(b) LOAD POCKETS.—If transmission constraints
create load pockets within a State, then subsection (a) ap-
plies to the ownership, operation, or leasing of power
plants located within each load pocket.
SEC. 205. BASIC SERVICE.
(a) IN GENERAL.—A distributor shall arrange for the
provision of basic service to any residential and small com-
mercial customer who has not chosen a supplier after hav-
ing been notified of their opportunity to do so, and those
whose supplier has failed or refused to provide further
service to the customer. A distributor may arrange for the
provision of basic service to any other customer upon re-
quest and upon mutually agreeable terms. The distributor
shall automatically provide basic service to any customer
whose supplier has failed or refused to provide service to
that customer unless the customer has given instructions
to either disconnect service or switch to a different sup-
plier.
(b) BIDS.—The distributor shall annually solicit com-
petitive bids for the provision of basic service from all sup-
pliers licensed to do business in the State. If three or more
suppliers submit proposals that meet the minimum terms
contained in the bid document, the distributor shall accept
the bid that best meets the terms of the bid requirements
and offers the lowest price for electricity. If there are less
than three suppliers submitting proposals meeting min-
imum terms, the State regulatory authority shall approve
the price for basic service prior to the award of any bid
by the distributor.
(c) TERMS.—The distributor shall include the fol-
lowing terms in the solicitation for proposals for provision
of basic service:
(1) The supplier shall provide customers with a
choice between a price for electricity which does not
vary by time of day or season and a price that varies
by time of day and season.
(2) There shall be no administrative fee or
extra charge for a customer to obtain basic service.
There shall be no fee charged for any customer when
the service is provided as a result of a supplier’s fail-
ure or refusal to serve a customer.
(3) The current rules in effect governing credit
and collection activities, deposits, disconnection, late
fees, reconnection fees, winter disconnection rules or
other restrictions on disconnection for vulnerable
customers, payment arrangements, medical emer-
gencies and other customer protections shall be ap-
plicable to basic service.
(4) The distributor shall bill and collect for
basic service charges, and the supplier shall reim-
burse the distributor an agreed-upon amount to re-
flect the costs avoided by the supplier due to this ar-
rangement. The costs of basic service in excess of
the revenues received, including any costs incurred
to collect overdue amounts, shall be included in the
rates charged by the distributor to all its customers.
SEC. 206. AGGREGATION OF CONSUMERS.
(a) POWERS
OF CONSUMERS.—(1) A State shall
allow consumers to establish options for nonprofit public
aggregation. A State shall allow consumers to utilize a tra-
ditional public process at the local level to authorize public
aggregation in the form of new municipal electric systems;
franchise contracts; community choice aggregation; coop-
erative buying clubs in unincorporated areas.
(2) A State shall not diminish, restrict, or otherwise
render ineffective the process or ability of consumers to
establish or conduct public aggregation options. State
agencies are to work cooperatively with local governments
to enhance the process for carrying out the provisions of
subsections (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), (g), and (h) below.
(b) MUNICIPALIZATION.—A State shall facilitate the
opportunities for consumers to establish new nonprofit
municipal electric systems. Such facilitation shall include
an arbitration process for asset valuation at original cost
minus depreciation. Existing municipal electric systems
and existing rural electric cooperative systems, as self-reg-
ulated by consumers, are to be exempted from all provi-
sions of this section.
(c) FRANCHISE CONTRACT.—A State shall facilitate
the ability of consumers to utilize local franchise powers.
A State shall allow municipalities or counties that have
granted franchises to utilities at a prior time, whether the
term of such franchise has expired or remains in effect,
to offer such franchise for competitive bidding and con-
tract award, provided such measures are authorized by
consumers in a public process. Such franchises may con-
tain terms to address combined distribution and power
supply, or any segment of operations for retail electricity
service.
(d) COMMUNITY CHOICE AGGREGATION.—A State
shall allow consumers the option to establish nonfranchise
aggregation of all consumers through their local govern-
ment. Municipalities or counties shall be allowed to pass
ordinances to undertake public aggregation of all classes
of consumers, provided such measures are authorized by
consumers in a public process. To accommodate those who
may not wish to participate, at local discretion, the aggre-
gation structure may include a process for individual con-
sumers to ‘‘opt-out’’ during a defined time period. Com-
munity choice aggregation may address competitive bid-
ding and contract award for power supply only, or addi-
tional services related to electric supply.
(e) BUYING COOPERATIVES
IN UNINCORPORATED
AREAS.—Consumers in unincorporated areas without the
benefit of organized local governments shall be allowed to
combine their buying power in cooperative organizations;
provided such organizations are nonprofit and nondiscrim-
inatory.
(f) ENERGY EFFICIENCY FUNDS.—If a State author-
izes or mandates collection of funds for energy efficiency
programs, consumers who establish aggregation through
a public process can recover and utilize funds collected
from consumers within the aggregated jurisdiction. A plan
for utilization of such funds is to be prepared and subject
to approval at the local level, then submitted to the appro-
priate State agency for review of consistency with State
energy goals.
(g) RENEWABLE ENERGY FUNDS.—If a State au-
thorizes or mandates collection of funds for renewable en-
ergy education, support, or development, consumers who
establish aggregation through a public process can recover
and utilize funds collected from consumers within the ag-
gregated jurisdiction. A plan for utilization of such funds
is to be prepared and subject to approval at the local level,