Source: http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?151+ful+SB1349S1
Timestamp: 2019-03-24 02:30:49
Document Index: 788869104

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 56', '§ 56', '§ 56', '§ 56', '§ 56', '§ 56', '§ 56', '§ 56', '§ 56', '§ 56', '§ 56', '§ 56', '§ 111']

15104649D
SENATE BILL NO. 1349 AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE (Proposed by the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor on February 2, 2015) (Patron Prior to Substitute--Senator Wagner) A BILL to amend and reenact § 56-599 of the Code of Virginia, relating to electric utility regulation; suspension of regulatory reviews of utility earnings; integrated resource plan schedule.
C. Each electric utility shall file an updated integrated resource plan at least every two years thereafter, which plan by September 1 of each year. A copy of each integrated resource plan shall be provided to the Chairmen of the House and Senate Committees on Commerce and Labor and to the Chairman of the Commission on Electric Utility Regulation. All updated integrated resource plans shall comply with the provisions of any relevant order of the Commission establishing guidelines for the format and contents of updated and revised integrated resource plans. Each integrated resource plan shall consider options for maintaining and enhancing rate stability, energy independence, economic development including retention and expansion of energy-intensive industries, and service reliability.
A. No biennial reviews of the rates, terms, and conditions for any service of a Phase I Utility, as defined in § 56-585.1 of the Code of Virginia, shall be conducted at any time by the State Corporation Commission for the four successive 12-month test periods beginning January 1, 2014, and ending December 31, 2017. No biennial reviews of the rates, terms, and conditions for any service of a Phase II Utility, as defined in § 56-585.1 of the Code of Virginia, shall be conducted at any time by the State Corporation Commission for the five successive 12-month test periods beginning January 1, 2015, and ending December 31, 2019. Such test periods beginning January 1, 2014 and ending December 31, 2017 for a Phase I Utility, and beginning January 1, 2015 and ending December 31, 2019, for a Phase II Utility, are collectively referred to herein as the "Transitional Rate Period." Any biennial review of the rates, terms, and conditions for any service of a Phase II Utility occurring in 2015 during the Transitional Rate Period shall be solely a review of the utility's earnings on its rates for generation and distribution services for the two 12-month test periods ending December 31, 2014, and a determination of whether any credits to customers are due for such test periods pursuant to subdivision A 8 b of § 56-585.1. After the conclusion of the Transitional Rate Period, biennial reviews shall resume for a Phase I Utility in 2020, with the first such proceeding utilizing the two successive 12-month test periods beginning January 1, 2018, and ending December 31, 2019. After the conclusion of the Transitional Rate Period, biennial reviews shall resume for a Phase II Utility, as defined in § 56-585.1, in 2022, with the first such proceeding utilizing the two successive 12-month test periods beginning January 1, 2020, and ending December 31, 2021. Consistent with this provision, (i) no biennial review filings shall be made by an investor-owned incumbent electric utility in the years 2016 through 2019, inclusive, and (ii) no adjustment to an investor-owned incumbent electric utility's existing tariff rates, including any rates adopted pursuant to § 56-235.2, shall be made between the beginning of the Transitional Rate Period and the conclusion of the first biennial review after the conclusion of the Transitional Rate Period, except as may be provided pursuant to § 56-245 or 56-249.6 or subdivisions A 4, 5, or 6 of § 56-585.1.
B. 1. Commencing in 2016 and concluding in 2018, the State Corporation Commission, after notice and opportunity for a hearing, shall conduct a proceeding every two years to determine the fair rate of return on common equity to be used by a Phase I Utility as the general rate of return applicable to rate adjustment clauses under subdivisions A 5 or A 6 of § 56-585.1. A Phase I Utility's filing in such proceedings shall be made on or before March 31 of 2016, and 2018.
C. In furtherance of rate stability during the Transitional Rate Period, any Phase II Utility carrying a prior period deferred fuel expense recovery balance on its books and records as of December 31, 2014, shall not recover from customers 50 percent of any such balance outstanding as of December 31, 2014, and the State Corporation Commission shall implement as soon as practicable reductions in the fuel factor rate of any such Phase II Utility to reflect the nonrecovery of any such fuel expense as well as any reduction in the fuel factor associated with the Phase II Utility's current period forecasted fuel expense over recovery for the 2014-2015 fuel year and projected fuel expense for the 2015-2016 fuel year.
D. Except for early retirement determinations made by the utility prior to December 1, 2014, for utility generation plants, an investor-owned incumbent electric utility shall not permanently retire an electric power generation facility from service during the Transitional Rate Period without first obtaining the approval of the State Corporation Commission, upon petition from such investor-owned incumbent electric utility, and a finding by the State Corporation Commission that the retirement determination is reasonable and not contrary to the public interest. During the Transitional Rate Period, an investor-owned incumbent electric utility shall recover the following costs, as recorded per books by the utility for financial reporting purposes and accrued against income, only through its existing tariff rates for generation or distribution services, except such costs as may be recovered pursuant to § 56-245, § 56-249.6 or subdivisions A 4, A 5, or A 6 of § 56-585.1: (i) costs associated with asset impairments related to early retirement determinations for utility generation facilities resulting from the implementation of carbon emission guidelines for existing electric power generation facilities that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued pursuant to § 111 (d) of the Clean Air Act; (ii) costs associated with severe weather events; and (iii) costs associated with natural disasters.
E. During the Transitional Rate Period:
3. That the General Assembly finds that (i) competitive electric utility rates, reliable electric service, and energy independence are important public policy priorities; (ii) long-term stability of electric utility rates is a competitive advantage for the Commonwealth's economic development; (iii) the Commonwealth's current regime of electric utility regulation, enacted by the 2007 Session of the General Assembly, did not contemplate federal environmental regulations that threaten the continued operation of significant components of the Commonwealth’s electric power generation resources; (iv) existing electric power generation facilities that provide for reliable electric utility service in the Commonwealth should remain in operation whenever practicable; (v) the General Assembly should be regularly informed of utility generation resource plans in light of the challenges to existing electric power generation facilities posed by pending federal environmental regulations; and (vi) the enactments herein are intended to promote balanced environmental management and rate stability, to protect the Commonwealth's economy and its consumers of electric energy, including those energy-intensive customers who are most vulnerable and rate sensitive, and to avoid threats to service reliability or the Commonwealth's energy independence.