2023 Louisiana Laws › Revised Statutes › Title 45 - Public Utilities and Carriers › §45:1312. Definitions

RS 45:1312 - Definitions
As used in this Part:
(1) "Ancillary agreement" means any bond, insurance policy, letter of credit, reserve account, surety bond, swap arrangement, hedging arrangement, liquidity or credit support arrangement, or other financial arrangement entered into in connection with the issuance or payment of system restoration bonds.
(2) "Commission" means the Public Service Commission or, solely with respect to an electric or gas utility furnishing electric or natural gas service within the city of New Orleans, the council of the city of New Orleans, as applicable. Each such commission may issue financing orders under this Part pertaining to those utilities subject to that commission's powers of regulation and supervision. The corporation, however, is regulated as provided in R.S. 45:1317.
(3) "Corporation" means the Louisiana Utilities Restoration Corporation.
(4) "Electric utility" means an "electric public utility" as defined in R.S. 45:121 and in addition means any person furnishing electric service within the city of New Orleans.
(5) "Financing costs" means any of the following:
(a) Interest and acquisition, defeasance, or redemption premiums that are payable on system restoration bonds.
(b) Any payment required under an ancillary agreement and any amount required to fund or replenish reserve or other accounts established under the terms of any indenture, ancillary agreement, or other financing documents pertaining to system restoration bonds.
(c) Issuance costs, and any ongoing costs related to supporting, repaying, servicing, and refunding system restoration bonds, including but not limited to servicing fees, accounting and auditing fees, trustee fees, legal fees and expenses, consulting fees, administrative fees, printing and edgarizing fees, financial advisor fees and expenses, SEC registration fees, issuer fees, placement and underwriting fees, capitalized interest, overcollateralization funding requirements, rating agency fees, stock exchange listing and compliance fees, and filing fees.
(d) Costs of establishing, maintaining, and operating the corporation.
(6) "Financing order" means an order of the commission, if granted by the commission in its sole discretion, which allows for all of the following:
(a) The assessment, imposition, and periodic adjustment of system restoration charges by the corporation and the collection thereof by a utility as an agent on behalf of the corporation.
(b) The creation of system restoration property in favor of the corporation and the corporation's transfer thereof.
(c) The issuance of system restoration bonds and the transfer to the corporation of the net proceeds thereof.
(d) The disposition of the proceeds of system restoration bonds.
(7) "Financing party" means any holder of system restoration bonds, any party to or beneficiary of an ancillary agreement, and any trustee, collateral agent, or other person acting for the benefit of any of the foregoing.
(8) "Gas utility" means a local distributing system selling natural gas to retail customers.
(9) "Governing board" means that board of directors of the corporation which is established under R.S. 45:1314 and, where appropriate, any designee of the governing board.
(10) "Issuance costs" means any of the following:
(a) Any initial payment made on issuance of, and any amount required to fund any system restoration sinking fund, reserve or overcollateralization fund, or other fund or account required by the documents pertaining to, system restoration bonds authorized by a financing order.
(b) Any other costs related to issuance of system restoration bonds, including but not limited to trustees fees, legal fees, consulting fees, administrative fees, printing and edgarizing fees, financial advisor fees and expenses, SEC registration fees, issuer fees, placement and underwriter fees, capitalized interest, rating agency fees, stock exchange listing and compliance fees, and filing fees, including costs related to obtaining the financing order. Issuance costs may be, without limitation, costs of the corporation, the issuer, the utility, or the commission.
(11) "Issuer" means any Louisiana public corporation, public trust, or other entity that issues system restoration bonds approved by a financing order.
(12) "Lien creditor" means any of the following:
(a) A creditor that has acquired a lien on the property involved by attachment, sequestration, seizure, levy, or the like.
(b) An assignee for benefit of creditors from the time of assignment.
(c) A trustee in bankruptcy from the date of the filing of the petition.
(d) A receiver in equity from the time of appointment.
(13) "State" means the state of Louisiana.
(14) "Storm" means a named tropical storm or hurricane, ice or snow storm, flood, or other significant weather or natural disaster that occurred during calendar year 2005 or that occurs thereafter.
(15) "Storm damage reserve" means a utility's storm reserve or such other similar reserve established pursuant to order or rule of the commission.
(16) "System restoration activity" means any activity or activities by or on behalf of a utility in connection with the restoration of service associated with utility outages affecting customers of a utility as the result of a storm or storms, including but not limited to mobilization, staging, and construction, reconstruction, replacement, or repair of generation, transmission, distribution, or general plant facilities.
(17) "System restoration bonds" means bonds, notes, certificates of participation, or other evidences of indebtedness that are issued pursuant to this Part by an issuer at the request of the corporation and a utility, and authorized by a financing order, the net proceeds of which are transferred to the corporation and used as provided in this Part, and which are secured by and payable from system restoration property.
(18) "System restoration charge" means the nonbypassable charges, if determined appropriate by the commission and provided for in a financing order, to be assessed by the corporation on, and collected by the utility or other collection agent from, all existing and future customers of a utility, and periodically adjusted, in an amount sufficient at all times to pay the principal of and interest on particular system restoration bonds as the same shall become due and payable, all other financing costs, and any other costs as necessary to otherwise ensure the timely payment of such system restoration bonds, all as the commission may authorize in a financing order.
(19) "System restoration costs" means, if requested by the utility, and as may be approved by the commission, those prudent incremental costs incurred or to be incurred by a utility in undertaking a system restoration activity, including associated carrying costs. If the commission deems appropriate, system restoration costs may include the costs to fund and finance any storm damage reserves. Further, if the commission determines it to be appropriate, system restoration costs may include carrying costs from the date on which the system restoration activity costs were incurred until the date that system restoration bonds are issued.
(20) "System restoration property" means all of the following:
(a) All rights and interests of the corporation arising out of this Part, including the right to receive system restoration charges billed and collected by the utility on the behalf of the corporation as authorized in the financing order, the right to enforce the obligations of the utility to collect and service the system restoration charges, and the right to obtain periodic adjustments to such charges as provided in the financing order and this Part.
(b) All collections, claims, rights to payments, payments, money, or proceeds arising from the rights and interests specified in Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph, regardless of whether such collections, claims, rights to payments, payments, money, or proceeds are imposed, billed, received, collected, or maintained together with or commingled with other collections, rights to payments, payments, money, or proceeds. System restoration property shall not be an asset of the utility.
(21) "Utility" means an electric utility or a gas utility.
Acts 2007, No. 55, §3, eff. June 18, 2007; Acts 2021, No. 293, §4, eff. June 14, 2021.