Opinion ID: 2575983
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: purpa

Text: ¶ 9 The United States Congress enacted PURPA in 1978 in response to the nationwide energy crisis of the 1970's. Its goal was to reduce the country's dependence on imported fuels by encouraging the addition of cogeneration and small power production facilities to the nation's electrical generating system. Cogeneration facilities are desirable because they are able to produce more than one form of energy at the same time with less fuel than it would take to produce them separately. [20] PURPA requires electric utilities to purchase all electric energy made available by cogenerators at rates that (a) are just and reasonable to electric consumers, (b) do not discriminate against QFs, and (c) do not exceed the incremental cost to the electric utility of alternative electric energy. [21] The incremental cost to the utility means the amount it would cost the utility to generate or purchase the electric energy but for the purchase from the cogenerator. [22] The incremental cost standard is intended to leave ratepayers economically indifferent to the source of a utility's energy by ensuring that the cost to the utility of purchasing power from a QF does not exceed the cost the utility would incur in the absence of the QF purchase. [23] The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in 1980 issued rules implementing PURPA, [24] in which it adopted what it called a utility's avoided costs as the standard for implementation of the incremental cost requirement. [25] ¶ 10 While the applicable statutes and rules are matters of federal law, PURPA gives to state regulatory authorities the responsibility of determining a utility's avoided costs. [26] Accordingly, in 1981 the Oklahoma Legislature enacted 17 O.S. 34.1, giving the Commission the power to implement and administer PURPA. [27] The Commission in turn promulgated its own rule, which imposes avoided cost informational filing requirements on utilities and provides cogenerators with rights commensurate with those granted by PURPA. [28]