FIRST REGULAR SESSION
HOUSE BILL NO. 766
91ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES BRAY AND LOWE (Co-sponsors).
Read 1st time February 13,2001, and 1000 copies ordered printed.
TED WEDEL, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To amend chapter 386, RSMo, by adding thereto four new sections relating to renewable energy resources.
Section A. Chapter 386, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto four new sections, to be known as sections 386.825, 386.828, 386.831 and 386.834, to read as follows:
386.825. For purposes of sections 386.825 to 386.834, the following terms shall mean:
(1) "Commission", the public service commission;
(2) "Customer-generator", a customer who owns and operates an electrical generating facility with a capacity of not more than one hundred kilowatts powered by renewable energy, as defined pursuant to rule by the department of natural resources, and which is located on the customer's premises, is interconnected and operates in parallel with the electric distribution system, and is intended primarily to offset part or all of the customer's own electricity requirements;
(3) "Department", the department of natural resources;
(4) "Net energy metering", the difference between the electricity supplied by the electrical distribution system and the electricity generated by a customer-generator and fed back to the electric distribution system during an annual electrical billing period;
(5) "Renewable energy sources", energy from wind, solar or thermal sources, photovoltaic cells and panels, dedicated crops grown for energy production, organic waste biomass used for electricity production, low head hydropower and other alternative sources of environmentally preferable energy;
(6) "Retail provider", a marketer, broker, aggregator, retail electric or gas provider or other entity selling electrical or gas service to consumers at retail, including electrical corporations, gas corporations, electric cooperatives formed pursuant to chapter 394, RSMo, and a municipally owned or operated electric power system as defined in section 91.025, RSMo.
386.828. 1. The commission shall, before January 1, 2003, adopt rules and regulations establishing procedures and standards for a retail provider to disclose standard and useful information that the commission deems necessary to any person upon request, to prospective retail customers prior to commencement of service, and with bills to its customers on a quarterly basis.
2. Terms of service shall be provided to any person upon request and to prospective retail customers prior to commencement of service and shall be written in easily understood plain words and paragraphs in the same manner as the original retail customer solicitation materials. Retail customers shall have seven business days following the receipt of terms of service information in which to cancel their agreement to purchase electricity. Such terms of service information shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
(1) The actual price structure, including whether contract price is fixed or variable;
(2) Price variability, such as time of day, seasonal variation, demand charge, spot market price and interruptibility;
(3) Contract details including length of term;
(4) Contract cancellation procedures;
(5) Required deposits;
(6) Fees and penalties;
(7) Disconnection terms;
(8) Detailed statement of customer rights;
(9) Toll-free number for service complaints; and
(10) Other terms or statements as specified by the commission.
3. Further information as specified in this subsection shall be presented in a uniform label for each electricity product sold by each retail provider in an easily understood format. The label shall appear on all marketing materials sent to retail customers or prospective retail customers, in the terms of service document as required pursuant to subsection 2 of this section, in all written advertising materials, including newspapers, magazines and other written media, and on the Internet. The information required shall be presented to the commission for inclusion on its Internet homepage. Any telephonic or other electronic solicitation shall inform customers that a copy of the disclosure label may be obtained upon request. The label shall contain the following information:
(1) The average selling price for generation services offered for at least three typical monthly usage levels for customers of similar size;
(2) Length of contract period;
(3) Whether the rate is fixed or variable;
(4) The sources of electricity supplied, specified by percentages, of biomass power, coal-fired power, hydropower, natural gas-fired power, nuclear power, oil-fired power, solar power, wind power and other resources, in such format as the commission shall require;
(5) A standardized chart in a format to be determined by the commission which provides the amounts of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides, sulfur dioxide emissions and nuclear waste attributable to the known sources of electricity supplied as set forth in subdivision (4) of this subsection; and
(6) Other information as the commission may determine that permits and facilitates comparison shopping for electricity services by customers.
4. Compliance with the provisions of this section shall be a condition for licensure to sell electricity at retail in this state.
386.831. 1. The department shall prescribe by rule a requirement for retail providers to sell to retail consumers electricity generated from renewable energy resources, as well as requirements for implementation and compliance. The rule shall include a portfolio requirement for new renewable energy sources of three percent in 2005, five percent in 2008 and seven and five-tenths percent in 2015, and shall apply to all retail providers of electricity to retail consumers in this state, except municipally owned or operated electric power systems and rural electric cooperatives, unless such systems and cooperatives have chosen to participate in retail competition. The rule shall apply to the average of all power sold by the retail provider, whether it is self-generated or purchased from some other source in this state or outside this state.
2. The department shall establish by rule or other administrative means, in consultation with the commission, a certification process for power generated from renewable resources. The certification process shall ascertain whether a retail provider meets the renewable requirement through self-generation or the purchase of renewable energy from other sources in this state or outside this state.
3. Certification criteria for renewable energy generation shall be determined by factors that include fuel type, technology and the environmental impacts of the facility. Renewable energy facilities shall not result in undue adverse air, water or land use impacts, including impacts associated with the gathering of generation feedstocks.
4. Compliance with the provisions of this section shall be a condition for licensure to sell electricity at retail in this state.
386.834. 1. Net energy metering shall be accomplished using a single meter, capable of registering the flow of electricity in two directions. An additional meter or meters to monitor the flow of electricity in each direction may be installed with the consent of the customer-generator, provided that it is not at the expense of the customer-generator. If an additional meter or meters are installed, the net energy metering calculation shall yield the same result as when a single meter is used.
2. The department shall develop, in consultation with the commission, a simple and standard contract providing for net energy metering and made available to eligible customer-generators on a first-come, first-served basis until the total rated generating capacity owned and operated by eligible customer-generators in this state equals the lesser of ten thousand kilowatts or one-tenth of one percent of the state's actual peak electricity demand for calendar year 1999.
3. Net energy metering shall be carried out as follows:
(1) Each net energy metering contract or tariff shall be identical, with respect to energy rates, rate structures, and monthly charges, to the contract or tariff to which the same customer would be assigned if such customer was not an eligible customer-generator;
(2) No new or additional "demand", "stand-by", "customer", "minimum monthly", or other charges shall be assessed that would serve to increase a customer-generator's minimum monthly charge to an amount greater than that of other customers in the rate class to which the eligible customer-generator would otherwise be assigned.
4. The period during which the net energy measurement is calculated shall be annualized. The following provisions shall apply to the annualized net energy measurement:
(1) The net energy produced or consumed on a monthly basis shall be measured in accordance with normal metering practices;
(2) If the electricity supplied by the electric distribution system exceeds the electricity generated by the customer-generator during the month, the customer-generator shall be billed for the net energy supplied in accordance with subsection 3 of this section;
(3) If the electricity generated by the customer-generator exceeds the electricity supplied by the electric distribution system, the customer-generator shall be credited for the excess kilowatt hours generated in accordance with subsection 3 of this section. The kilowatt-hour credit shall appear on the customer-generator's next monthly bill; and
(4) At the end of the annual period, any remaining unused credit for the excess kilowatt hours generated by the customer-generator during the prior year shall be purchased by the local utility or distribution company at its avoided cost.
5. Renewable energy electric systems used by customer-generators shall meet safety and power quality and interconnection codes and standards adopted by rule of the commission.
6. The commission may adopt, by rule, standardized control and testing requirements for customer-generators that the commission determines are necessary to protect public safety and system reliability.
7. No electric utility shall require a customer-generator whose renewable energy electric system or systems meet the standards of subsection 5 and 6 of this section to install additional controls, perform or pay for additional tests or purchase additional liability insurance.
8. Applications by a customer-generator for interconnection to the distribution system shall be reviewed
and responded to by the distribution utility within thirty days. The distribution utility's requirements for
interconnection shall not exceed the technical standards adopted by the Underwriters Laboratory and the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers related to grid interconnection, unless a different standard
has been adopted by rule of the commission. If the application for interconnection is approved by the
distribution utility, the distribution utility shall complete the interconnection within fifteen days, unless a
later date is mutually agreeable to both the customer-generator and the distribution utility.
Missouri House of
Representatives