2023 Alaska Statutes › Title 42. Public Utilities and Carriers and Energy Programs › Chapter 05. Alaska Public Utilities Regulatory Act › Article 10. Electric Reliability Organizations, Plans, and Standards. › Sec. 42.05.780. Integrated resource planning.

(a) An electric reliability organization shall file with the commission in a petition for approval an integrated resource plan for meeting the reliability requirements of all customers within its interconnected electric energy transmission network in a manner that provides the greatest value, consistent with the load-serving entities' obligations. An integrated resource plan must contain an evaluation of the full range of cost-effective means for load-serving entities to meet the service requirements of all customers, including additional generation, transmission, battery storage, and conservation or similar improvements in efficiency. An integrated resource plan must include options to meet customers' collective needs in a manner that provides the greatest value, consistent with the public interest, regardless of the location or ownership of new facilities or conservation activities.
(b) The commission shall, after public notice and review of the process used to develop an integrated resource plan, approve or modify an integrated resource plan filed under (a) of this section, consistent with the public interest. The commission shall determine whether the petition is complete, has been publicly noticed, and is consistent with the commission's regulations and orders. The commission may reject all or part of a petition that does not comply with the commission's form or filing regulations. Within 45 days after receipt, the commission shall approve the petition or suspend the petition to an investigation docket. If a petition is not suspended to an investigation docket within 45 days, the petition is considered approved. If, after public notice and a hearing, the commission concludes that the plan requires modification, the commission shall return the plan to the electric reliability organization for timely modification and refiling, consistent with the commission's order. The commission may modify a refiled integrated resource plan if the commission determines that the plan is inconsistent with the commission's order or the public interest.
(c) The commission may include in a public utility's rates
(1) the cost of resources acquired in accordance with an integrated resource plan adopted under this section;
(2) cost-effective expenditures for improving the efficiency with which a public utility provides and its customers use utility services; and
(3) the cost of a utility to comply with the planning requirements of this section, including planning costs and portfolio development costs.
(d) The commission shall adopt regulations governing the filing of a plan under this section, including the content of a plan, time for filing a plan, criteria for determining cost-effectiveness and greatest value, and other criteria as determined by the commission.
(e) In this section,
(1) “planning costs” means the costs of evaluating the future demand for services and alternative methods of satisfying future demand;
(2) “portfolio development costs” means the costs of preparing a resource in a portfolio for timely acquisition of the resource.