Oregon Administrative Rules › Chapter 860 - PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION › Division 83 - RENEWABLE PORTFOLIO STANDARDS › Section 860-083-0010 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 63, No. 7, July 1, 2024
As used in division 083:
(1) "Aggregate costs" means costs included in
			 ORS 469A.100(4)(c), (d), and
			 (e) that are applicable to more than one
			 generating facility. Aggregate costs also include physical or financial costs
			 for assets to replace interruptions of generation or deliveries of short-term
			 or long-term qualifying electricity, short-term electricity that is not
			 qualifying, or electricity from proxy plants.
(2) "Alternative compliance rate" has the
			 meaning given that term in ORS
			 469A.180(2).
(3) "Amortization" means spreading the
			 initial estimates of capital costs of long-term qualifying electricity or a
			 proxy plant at the discount rate over an initial amortization period. For
			 replacement costs that were not included in the initial estimate of capital or
			 operating costs for qualifying electricity, amortization means spreading such
			 replacement costs at the discount rate over the remainder of the current
			 amortization period for the associated qualifying electricity. For significant
			 investments in facilities producing qualifying electricity, amortization means
			 spreading such significant investment costs and the remaining unamortized
			 investment of the facility at the discount rate over the expected useful life
			 of the facility.
(4) "Annual
			 revenue requirement" has the meaning given that term in ORS
			 469A.100(3).
(5) "Applicable filing for an electric
			 company" means an implementation plan under ORS
			 469A.075, a filing for a change
			 to rates for retail electricity consumers that includes costs of qualifying
			 electricity in rates for the first time, or a compliance report under ORS
			 469A.170. Applicable filing does
			 not include filings to change rates before 2011.
(6) "Applicable filing for an electricity
			 service supplier" means a compliance report under ORS
			 469A.170.
(7) "Average cost of compliance" for an
			 electricity service supplier means its total cost of compliance divided by its
			 retail sales in megawatt-hours in the service areas of electric companies
			 subject to ORS 469A.052 for a compliance
			 year.
(8) "Average retail revenue"
			 for an electric company means the annual revenue requirement for a compliance
			 year as determined in OAR 860-083-0200  divided by the forecast of retail sales
			 in megawatt-hours used to determine the annual revenue requirement.
(9) "Banked renewable energy certificate" has
			 the meaning given that term in ORS
			 469A.005(1).
(10) "Bundled renewable energy certificate"
			 has the meaning given that term in ORS
			 469A.005(3).
(11) "Compliance year" has the meaning given
			 that term in ORS 469A.005(4).
(12) "Cost of bundled renewable energy
			 certificates" means the levelized incremental cost of the qualifying
			 electricity associated with the bundled renewable energy certificate.
(13) "Cost limit for an electric company" has
			 the meaning given that term in ORS
			 469A.100.
(14) "Discount rate" means the nominal
			 after-tax marginal weighted-average cost of capital.
(15) "Electric company" has the meaning given
			 that term in ORS 757.600.
(16) "Electricity service supplier" has the
			 meaning given that term in ORS
			 757.600.
(17) "Extended amortization period" means the
			 period or periods after an initial amortization period where a facility will
			 continue to provide qualifying electricity.
(18) "Implementation plan" has the meaning
			 given that term in ORS
			 469A.075.
(19) "Incremental cost of compliance" means
			 the cost of bundled renewable energy certificates used for compliance for a
			 compliance year as calculated pursuant to OAR 860-083-0100.
(20) "Initial amortization period for an
			 electric company " means the amortization period for new long-term qualifying
			 electricity or a corresponding proxy plant established in the beginning year of
			 new long-term qualifying electricity. If the qualifying electricity is acquired
			 through a contract, the length of the amortization period is the term of the
			 agreement. For facilities owned by an electric company and the proxy plant, the
			 initial amortization period is based on the electric company's most recent
			 depreciation study approved by the Commission for the type of generating
			 facility.
(21) "Initial
			 amortization period for an electricity service supplier" for facilities that
			 produce qualifying electricity means a period based on the expected useful
			 lifetime of the facility. If the qualifying electricity is acquired through a
			 contract, the length of the amortization period is the term of the agreement.
			 For proxy plants for an electricity service supplier, the initial amortization
			 period means the period for a proxy plant used by the electric company subject
			 to ORS 469A.052 in whose service area
			 it made the most retail sales in megawatt-hours over the five calendar years
			 preceding the compliance year.
(22)
			 "Integrated resource plan" means the long-term resource plan filed by an
			 electric company that is subject to Commission acknowledgment as is generally
			 set forth in Commission Order Nos. 07-002, 07-047 and 08-339.
(23) "Interruptions of generation or
			 deliveries" include, but are not limited to, planned and unplanned generating
			 and transmission facility outages and derates, natural gas delivery
			 interruptions, and reduced generation due to weather or curtailments.
(24) "Levelized cost for long-term qualifying
			 electricity and the corresponding proxy plant" means the present value of
			 amortized capital costs and all other costs amortized at the discount rate over
			 the time horizon of the qualifying electricity. Levelized cost also includes an
			 estimate of the net present value of costs and benefits for the qualifying
			 electricity and the corresponding proxy plant likely to occur after the end of
			 the applicable time horizon, amortized over the time horizon at the discount
			 rate.
(25) "Levelized cost for
			 short-term qualifying electricity" means costs levelized over the term of the
			 contract.
(26) "Levelized cost for
			 short-term non-qualifying electricity" means costs levelized over a term
			 consistent with the duration of the contract for qualifying
			 electricity.
(27) "Long-term
			 qualifying electricity" means electricity from facilities owned by an electric
			 company or electricity service supplier that generate qualifying electricity
			 and qualifying electricity purchased pursuant to contracts of five years or
			 more in duration.
(28) "New
			 qualifying electricity for an electric company" means qualifying electricity
			 when the costs are first included in an applicable filing for a compliance
			 year. New qualifying electricity may be from new generating facilities,
			 generating facilities with significant new investments, or new contracts to
			 purchase electricity.
(29) "New
			 qualifying electricity for an electricity service supplier" means qualifying
			 electricity from new generating facilities, generating facilities with
			 significant new investments, or new contracts to purchase electricity that the
			 supplier plans to use to serve customers of electric companies subject to ORS
			 469A.052 and are first
			 operational in a compliance year.
(30) "Proxy plant" means, unless otherwise
			 specified by the Commission, a base-load combined-cycle natural gas-fired
			 generating facility that is used to estimate the costs of non-qualifying
			 electricity corresponding to new long-term qualifying electricity with the same
			 beginning amortization year.
(31)
			 "Qualifying electricity" has the meaning given that term in ORS
			 469A.005(9).
(32) "Renewable energy certificate" has the
			 meaning given that term in OAR 330 160-0015(8) (effective September 3,
			 2008).
(33) "Renewable energy
			 source" has the meaning given that term in ORS
			 469A.005(10).
(34) "Replacement costs" means capital costs
			 that have the effect of replacing initial capital costs for long-term
			 qualifying electricity or proxy plants.
(35) "Retail electricity consumer" has the
			 meaning given that term in ORS
			 469A.005(11).
(36) "Short-term qualifying electricity"
			 means qualifying electricity purchased pursuant to contracts of less than five
			 years in duration.
(37)
			 "Significant investments" means investments in a compliance year that if the
			 investments were amortized over the remainder of the amortization period and
			 combined with cost changes associated with such investments, they would
			 increase the levelized cost of the facility by more than 10 percent. Such
			 estimates do not include replacement costs that were included in the initial
			 estimates of capital or operating costs.
(38) "Specific costs" means the costs for
			 electricity plus the costs for transmission delivery and substations that can
			 reasonably serve only a single generating facility or contract.
(39) "Total cost of compliance" for an
			 electric company or electricity service supplier means the cumulative cost of:
(a) The incremental cost of
			 compliance;
(b) The cost of
			 unbundled renewable energy certificates used to meet the applicable renewable
			 portfolio standard for a compliance year; and
(c) The cost of alternative compliance
			 payments used to meet the applicable renewable portfolio standard for a
			 compliance year.