The online versions of legislation provided on this website are not official. Enrolled bills are the final version passed by the Ohio General Assembly and presented to the Governor for signature. The official version of acts signed by the Governor are available from the Secretary of State's Office in the Continental Plaza, 180 East Broad St., Columbus.
|
S. B. No. 310 As IntroducedAs Introduced
130th General Assembly | Regular Session | 2013-2014 |
| |
A BILL
To amend sections 4928.20, 4928.64, 4928.65, and
4928.66 and to enact sections 4928.641 and
4928.661 of the Revised Code to make changes to
the renewable energy, energy efficiency, and peak
demand reduction requirements and to create a
study committee.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section 1. That sections 4928.20, 4928.64, 4928.65, and
4928.66 be amended and sections 4928.641 and 4928.661 of the
Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:
Sec. 4928.20. (A) The legislative authority of a municipal
corporation may adopt an ordinance, or the board of township
trustees of a township or the board of county commissioners of a
county may adopt a resolution, under which, on or after the
starting date of competitive retail electric service, it may
aggregate in accordance with this section the retail electrical
loads located, respectively, within the municipal corporation,
township, or unincorporated area of the county and, for that
purpose, may enter into service agreements to facilitate for those
loads the sale and purchase of electricity. The legislative
authority or board also may exercise such authority jointly with
any other such legislative authority or board. For customers that
are not mercantile customers, an ordinance or resolution under
this division shall specify whether the aggregation will occur
only with the prior, affirmative consent of each person owning,
occupying, controlling, or using an electric load center proposed
to be aggregated or will occur automatically for all such persons
pursuant to the opt-out requirements of division (D) of this
section. The aggregation of mercantile customers shall occur only
with the prior, affirmative consent of each such person owning,
occupying, controlling, or using an electric load center proposed
to be aggregated. Nothing in this division, however, authorizes
the aggregation of the retail electric loads of an electric load
center, as defined in section 4933.81 of the Revised Code, that is
located in the certified territory of a nonprofit electric
supplier under sections 4933.81 to 4933.90 of the Revised Code or
an electric load center served by transmission or distribution
facilities of a municipal electric utility.
(B) If an ordinance or resolution adopted under division (A)
of this section specifies that aggregation of customers that are
not mercantile customers will occur automatically as described in
that division, the ordinance or resolution shall direct the board
of elections to submit the question of the authority to aggregate
to the electors of the respective municipal corporation, township,
or unincorporated area of a county at a special election on the
day of the next primary or general election in the municipal
corporation, township, or county. The legislative authority or
board shall certify a copy of the ordinance or resolution to the
board of elections not less than ninety days before the day of the
special election. No ordinance or resolution adopted under
division (A) of this section that provides for an election under
this division shall take effect unless approved by a majority of
the electors voting upon the ordinance or resolution at the
election held pursuant to this division.
(C) Upon the applicable requisite authority under divisions
(A) and (B) of this section, the legislative authority or board
shall develop a plan of operation and governance for the
aggregation program so authorized. Before adopting a plan under
this division, the legislative authority or board shall hold at
least two public hearings on the plan. Before the first hearing,
the legislative authority or board shall publish notice of the
hearings once a week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper of
general circulation in the jurisdiction or as provided in section
7.16 of the Revised Code. The notice shall summarize the plan and
state the date, time, and location of each hearing.
(D) No legislative authority or board, pursuant to an
ordinance or resolution under divisions (A) and (B) of this
section that provides for automatic aggregation of customers that
are not mercantile customers as described in division (A) of this
section, shall aggregate the electrical load of any electric load
center located within its jurisdiction unless it in advance
clearly discloses to the person owning, occupying, controlling, or
using the load center that the person will be enrolled
automatically in the aggregation program and will remain so
enrolled unless the person affirmatively elects by a stated
procedure not to be so enrolled. The disclosure shall state
prominently the rates, charges, and other terms and conditions of
enrollment. The stated procedure shall allow any person enrolled
in the aggregation program the opportunity to opt out of the
program every three years, without paying a switching fee. Any
such person that opts out before the commencement of the
aggregation program pursuant to the stated procedure shall default
to the standard service offer provided under section 4928.14 or
division (D) of section 4928.35 of the Revised Code until the
person chooses an alternative supplier.
(E)(1) With respect to a governmental aggregation for a
municipal corporation that is authorized pursuant to divisions (A)
to (D) of this section, resolutions may be proposed by initiative
or referendum petitions in accordance with sections 731.28 to
731.41 of the Revised Code.
(2) With respect to a governmental aggregation for a township
or the unincorporated area of a county, which aggregation is
authorized pursuant to divisions (A) to (D) of this section,
resolutions may be proposed by initiative or referendum petitions
in accordance with sections 731.28 to 731.40 of the Revised Code,
except that:
(a) The petitions shall be filed, respectively, with the
township fiscal officer or the board of county commissioners, who
shall perform those duties imposed under those sections upon the
city auditor or village clerk.
(b) The petitions shall contain the signatures of not less
than ten per cent of the total number of electors in,
respectively, the township or the unincorporated area of the
county who voted for the office of governor at the preceding
general election for that office in that area.
(F) A governmental aggregator under division (A) of this
section is not a public utility engaging in the wholesale purchase
and resale of electricity, and provision of the aggregated service
is not a wholesale utility transaction. A governmental aggregator
shall be subject to supervision and regulation by the public
utilities commission only to the extent of any competitive retail
electric service it provides and commission authority under this
chapter.
(G) This section does not apply in the case of a municipal
corporation that supplies such aggregated service to electric load
centers to which its municipal electric utility also supplies a
noncompetitive retail electric service through transmission or
distribution facilities the utility singly or jointly owns or
operates.
(H) A governmental aggregator shall not include in its
aggregation the accounts of any of the following:
(1) A customer that has opted out of the aggregation;
(2) A customer in contract with a certified electric services
company;
(3) A customer that has a special contract with an electric
distribution utility;
(4) A customer that is not located within the governmental
aggregator's governmental boundaries;
(5) Subject to division (C) of section 4928.21 of the Revised
Code, a customer who appears on the "do not aggregate" list
maintained under that section.
(I) Customers that are part of a governmental aggregation
under this section shall be responsible only for such portion of a
surcharge under section 4928.144 of the Revised Code that is
proportionate to the benefits, as determined by the commission,
that electric load centers within the jurisdiction of the
governmental aggregation as a group receive. The proportionate
surcharge so established shall apply to each customer of the
governmental aggregation while the customer is part of that
aggregation. If a customer ceases being such a customer, the
otherwise applicable surcharge shall apply. Nothing in this
section shall result in less than full recovery by an electric
distribution utility of any surcharge authorized under section
4928.144 of the Revised Code. Nothing in this section shall result
in less than the full and timely imposition, charging, collection,
and adjustment by an electric distribution utility, its assignee,
or any collection agent, of the phase-in-recovery charges
authorized pursuant to a final financing order issued pursuant to
sections 4928.23 to 4928.2318 of the Revised Code.
(J) On behalf of the customers that are part of a
governmental aggregation under this section and by filing written
notice with the public utilities commission, the legislative
authority that formed or is forming that governmental aggregation
may elect not to receive standby service within the meaning of
division (B)(2)(d) of section 4928.143 of the Revised Code from an
electric distribution utility in whose certified territory the
governmental aggregation is located and that operates under an
approved electric security plan under that section. Upon the
filing of that notice, the electric distribution utility shall not
charge any such customer to whom competitive retail electric
generation service is provided by another supplier under the
governmental aggregation for the standby service. Any such
consumer that returns to the utility for competitive retail
electric service shall pay the market price of power incurred by
the utility to serve that consumer plus any amount attributable to
the utility's cost of compliance with the alternative renewable
energy resource provisions of section 4928.64 of the Revised Code
to serve the consumer. Such market price shall include, but not be
limited to, capacity and energy charges; all charges associated
with the provision of that power supply through the regional
transmission organization, including, but not limited to,
transmission, ancillary services, congestion, and settlement and
administrative charges; and all other costs incurred by the
utility that are associated with the procurement, provision, and
administration of that power supply, as such costs may be approved
by the commission. The period of time during which the market
price and alternative renewable energy resource amount shall be so
assessed on the consumer shall be from the time the consumer so
returns to the electric distribution utility until the expiration
of the electric security plan. However, if that period of time is
expected to be more than two years, the commission may reduce the
time period to a period of not less than two years.
(K) The commission shall adopt rules to encourage and promote
large-scale governmental aggregation in this state. For that
purpose, the commission shall conduct an immediate review of any
rules it has adopted for the purpose of this section that are in
effect on the effective date of the amendment of this section by
S.B. 221 of the 127th general assembly, July 31, 2008. Further,
within the context of an electric security plan under section
4928.143 of the Revised Code, the commission shall consider the
effect on large-scale governmental aggregation of any
nonbypassable generation charges, however collected, that would be
established under that plan, except any nonbypassable generation
charges that relate to any cost incurred by the electric
distribution utility, the deferral of which has been authorized by
the commission prior to the effective date of the amendment of
this section by S.B. 221 of the 127th general assembly, July 31,
2008.
Sec. 4928.64. (A)(1) As used in sections 4928.64 and 4928.65
of the Revised Code this section, "alternative qualifying
renewable energy resource" means an advanced energy resource or a
renewable energy resource, as defined in section 4928.01 of the
Revised Code that has a placed-in-service date of January 1, 1998,
or after; a renewable energy resource created on or after January
1, 1998, by the modification or retrofit of any facility placed in
service prior to January 1, 1998; or a mercantile customer-sited
advanced energy resource or renewable energy resource, whether new
or existing, that the mercantile customer commits for integration
into the electric distribution utility's demand-response, energy
efficiency, or peak demand reduction programs as provided under
division (A)(2)(c) of section 4928.66 of the Revised Code,
including, but not limited to, any of the following:
(a) A resource that has the effect of improving the
relationship between real and reactive power;
(b) A resource that makes efficient use of waste heat or
other thermal capabilities owned or controlled by a mercantile
customer;
(c) Storage technology that allows a mercantile customer more
flexibility to modify its demand or load and usage
characteristics;
(d) Electric generation equipment owned or controlled by a
mercantile customer that uses an advanced energy resource or
a
renewable energy resource;
(e) Any advanced energy resource or renewable energy resource
of the mercantile customer that can be utilized effectively as
part of any advanced energy resource plan of an electric
distribution utility and would otherwise qualify as an alternative
energy resource if it were utilized directly by an electric
distribution utility.
(2) For the purpose of this section and as it considers
appropriate, the public utilities commission may classify any new
technology as such an advanced energy resource or a qualifying
renewable energy resource.
(B)(1) By 2025 2014 and thereafter, an electric distribution
utility shall provide from alternative qualifying renewable energy
resources, including, at its discretion, alternative qualifying
renewable energy resources obtained pursuant to an electricity
supply contract, a portion of the electricity supply required for
its standard service offer under section 4928.141 of the Revised
Code, and an electric services company shall provide a portion of
its electricity supply for retail consumers in this state from
alternative qualifying renewable energy resources, including, at
its discretion, alternative qualifying renewable energy resources
obtained pursuant to an electricity supply contract. That portion
shall equal twenty-five
two and one-half per cent of the total
number of kilowatt hours of electricity sold by the subject
utility or company to any and all retail electric consumers whose
electric load centers are served by that utility and are located
within the utility's certified territory or, in the case of an
electric services company, are served by the company and are
located within this state. However, nothing in this section
precludes a utility or company from providing a greater
percentage. The baseline for a utility's or company's compliance
with the alternative renewable energy resource requirements of
this section shall be the average of such total kilowatt hours it
sold in the preceding three calendar years, except that the
commission may reduce a utility's or company's baseline to adjust
for new economic growth in the utility's certified territory or,
in the case of an electric services company, in the company's
service area in this state.
Of the alternative energy resources implemented by the
subject utility or company by 2025 and thereafter:
(1) Half may be generated from advanced energy resources;
(2) At least half The portion required under division (B)(1)
of this section shall be generated from renewable energy
resources, including one-half include twelve-hundredths of one per
cent from solar energy resources, in accordance with the following
benchmarks:
By end of year |
Renewable energy resources |
Solar energy resources |
|
|
2009 |
0.25% |
0.004% |
|
|
2010 |
0.50% |
0.010% |
|
|
2011 |
1% |
0.030% |
|
|
2012 |
1.5% |
0.060% |
|
|
2013 |
2% |
0.090% |
|
|
2014 |
2.5% |
0.12% |
|
|
2015 |
3.5% |
0.15% |
|
|
2016 |
4.5% |
0.18% |
|
|
2017 |
5.5% |
0.22% |
|
|
2018 |
6.5% |
0.26% |
|
|
2019 |
7.5% |
0.3% |
|
|
2020 |
8.5% |
0.34% |
|
|
2021 |
9.5% |
0.38% |
|
|
2022 |
10.5% |
0.42% |
|
|
2023 |
11.5% |
0.46% |
|
|
2024 and each calendar year thereafter |
12.5% |
0.5%. |
|
|
(3) At least one-half of the qualifying renewable energy
resources implemented by the utility or company shall be met
through facilities located in this state; the remainder shall be
met with resources that can be shown to be deliverable into this
state.
(C)(1) The commission annually shall review an electric
distribution utility's or electric services company's compliance
with the most recent applicable benchmark under division
requirements under divisions (B)(1) and (2) of this section and,
in the course of that review, shall identify any undercompliance
or noncompliance of the utility or company that it determines is
weather-related, related to equipment or resource shortages for
advanced energy or qualifying renewable energy resources as
applicable, or is otherwise outside the utility's or company's
control.
(2) Subject to the cost cap provisions of division (C)(3) of
this section, if the commission determines, after notice and
opportunity for hearing, and based upon its findings in that
review regarding avoidable undercompliance or noncompliance, but
subject to division (C)(4) of this section, that the utility or
company has failed to comply with any such benchmark the
requirements under divisions (B)(1) and (2) of this section, the
commission shall impose a renewable energy compliance payment on
the utility or company.
(a) The compliance payment pertaining to the solar energy
resource benchmarks requirement under division (B)(2) of this
section shall be an amount three hundred dollars per megawatt hour
of undercompliance or noncompliance in the period under review,
starting at four hundred fifty dollars for 2009, four hundred
dollars for 2010 and 2011, and similarly reduced every two years
thereafter through 2024 by fifty dollars, to a minimum of fifty
dollars.
(b) The compliance payment pertaining to the renewable energy
resource benchmarks requirement under division (B)(2)(1) of this
section shall equal the number of additional renewable energy
credits that the electric distribution utility or electric
services company would have needed to comply with the applicable
benchmark requirement in the period under review times an amount
that shall begin at forty-five dollars and shall be adjusted
annually by the commission to reflect any change in the consumer
price index as defined in section 101.27 of the Revised Code, but
shall not be less than forty-five dollars.
(c) The compliance payment shall not be passed through by the
electric distribution utility or electric services company to
consumers. The compliance payment shall be remitted to the
commission, for deposit to the credit of the advanced energy fund
created under section 4928.61 of the Revised Code. Payment of the
compliance payment shall be subject to such collection and
enforcement procedures as apply to the collection of a forfeiture
under sections 4905.55 to 4905.60 and 4905.64 of the Revised Code.
(3) An electric distribution utility or an electric services
company need not comply with a benchmark under division (B)(1) or
(2) of this section to the extent that its reasonably expected
cost of that compliance exceeds its reasonably expected cost of
otherwise producing or acquiring the requisite electricity by
three per cent or more. The cost of compliance shall be calculated
as though any exemption from taxes and assessments had not been
granted under section 5727.75 of the Revised Code shall not
continue to comply, or be subject to any obligation to continue to
comply, in any year, with a requirement under division (B)(1) or
(2) of this section, if continued compliance for that year would
exceed a cost cap that equals the product of three per cent
multiplied by the sales supply amount. The sales supply amount is
the product of the sales baseline multiplied by the generation
supply dollar amount. For purposes of division (C)(3) of this
section:
(a) "Sales baseline" means the sales baseline in megawatt
hours for the applicable compliance year, which consists of an
average of the utility's or company's annual retail sales of
electricity sold in the state from the three preceding years.
(b) "Generation supply dollar amount" means the reasonably
expected dollar amount per megawatt hour for the generation supply
available to consumers pursuant to section 4928.141 of the Revised
Code during the applicable compliance year, which consists of a
weighted average of the cost of the standard service offer supply
for delivery during that compliance year, net of distribution
losses. With respect to an electric services company, generation
supply dollar amount means the average weighted cost of generation
supply of the relevant electric distribution utility.
(c) In making the calculation under division (C)(3) of this
section, any exemption from taxes and assessments granted under
section 5727.75 of the Revised Code shall be treated as if it had
not been granted.
(4)(a) An electric distribution utility or electric services
company may request the commission to make a force majeure
determination pursuant to this division regarding all or part of
the utility's or company's compliance with any minimum benchmark
requirement under division (B)(1) or (2) of this section during
the period of review occurring pursuant to division (C)(2) of this
section. The commission may require the electric distribution
utility or electric services company to make solicitations for
renewable energy resource credits as part of its default service
before the utility's or company's request of force majeure under
this division can be made.
(b) Within ninety days after the filing of a request by an
electric distribution utility or electric services company under
division (C)(4)(a) of this section, the commission shall determine
if qualifying renewable energy resources are reasonably available
in the marketplace in sufficient quantities for the utility or
company to comply with the subject minimum benchmark requirement
during the review period. In making this determination, the
commission shall consider whether the electric distribution
utility or electric services company has made a good faith effort
to acquire sufficient qualifying renewable energy or, as
applicable, solar energy resources to so comply, including, but
not limited to, by banking or seeking renewable energy resource
credits or by seeking the resources through long-term contracts.
Additionally, the commission shall consider the availability of
qualifying renewable energy or solar energy resources in this
state and other jurisdictions in the PJM interconnection regional
transmission organization or its successor and the midwest
midcontinent independent system operator or its successor.
(c) If, pursuant to division (C)(4)(b) of this section, the
commission determines that qualifying renewable energy or solar
energy resources are not reasonably available to permit the
electric distribution utility or electric services company to
comply, during the period of review, with the subject minimum
benchmark
requirements prescribed under division divisions (B)(1)
and (2) of this section, the commission shall modify that
compliance obligation of the utility or company as it determines
appropriate to accommodate the finding. Commission modification
shall not automatically reduce the obligation for the electric
distribution utility's or electric services company's compliance
in subsequent years. If it modifies the electric distribution
utility or electric services company obligation under division
(C)(4)(c) of this section, the commission may require the utility
or company, if sufficient renewable energy resource credits exist
in the marketplace, to acquire additional renewable energy
resource credits in subsequent years equivalent to the utility's
or company's modified obligation under division (C)(4)(c) of this
section.
(5) The commission shall establish a process to provide for
at least an annual review of the alternative renewable energy
resource market in this state and in the service territories of
the regional transmission organizations that manage transmission
systems located in this state. The commission shall use the
results of this study to identify any needed changes to the amount
of the renewable energy compliance payment specified under
divisions (C)(2)(a) and (b) of this section. Specifically, the
commission may increase the amount to ensure that payment of
compliance payments is not used to achieve compliance with this
section in lieu of actually acquiring or realizing energy derived
from qualifying renewable energy resources. However, if the
commission finds that the amount of the compliance payment should
be otherwise changed, the commission shall present this finding to
the general assembly for legislative enactment.
(D)(1) The commission annually shall submit to the general
assembly in accordance with section 101.68 of the Revised Code a
report describing all of the following:
(a)(1) The compliance of electric distribution utilities and
electric services companies with division (B) of this section;
(b)(2) The average annual cost of renewable energy credits
purchased by utilities and companies for the year covered in the
report;
(c)(3) Any strategy for utility and company compliance or for
encouraging the use of alternative qualifying renewable energy
resources in supplying this state's electricity needs in a manner
that considers available technology, costs, job creation, and
economic impacts.
The commission shall begin providing the information
described in division (D)(1)(b)(2) of this section in each report
submitted after the effective date of the amendment of this
section by S.B. 315 of the 129th general assembly September 10,
2012. The commission shall allow and consider public comments on
the report prior to its submission to the general assembly.
Nothing in the report shall be binding on any person, including
any utility or company for the purpose of its compliance with any
benchmark requirement under division (B) of this section, or the
enforcement of that provision under division (C) of this section.
(2) The governor, in consultation with the commission
chairperson, shall appoint an alternative energy advisory
committee. The committee shall examine available technology for
and related timetables, goals, and costs of the alternative energy
resource requirements under division (B) of this section and shall
submit to the commission a semiannual report of its
recommendations.
(E) All costs incurred by an electric distribution utility in
complying with the requirements of this section shall be
bypassable by any consumer that has exercised choice of supplier
under section 4928.03 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 4928.641. If an electric distribution utility has
executed a contract to procure renewable energy resources and
there are ongoing costs associated with that contract that are
being recovered from customers through a bypassable charge as of
the effective date of ...B... of the 130th general assembly, that
cost recovery shall continue until the costs associated with the
contract are fully recovered. This division applies regardless of
whether the utility has, in any year, met the cost cap under
division (C)(3) of section 4928.64 of the Revised Code.
Sec. 4928.65. An electric distribution utility or electric
services company may use renewable energy credits any time in the
five calendar years following the date of their purchase or
acquisition from any entity, including, but not limited to, a
mercantile customer or an owner or operator of a hydroelectric
generating facility that is located at a dam on a river, or on any
water discharged to a river, that is within or bordering this
state or within or bordering an adjoining state, for the purpose
of complying with the renewable energy and solar energy resource
requirements of
division divisions (B)(1) and (2) of section
4928.64 of the Revised Code. The public utilities commission shall
adopt rules specifying that one unit of credit shall equal one
megawatt hour of electricity derived from renewable energy
resources, except that, for a generating facility of seventy-five
megawatts or greater that is situated within this state and has
committed by December 31, 2009, to modify or retrofit its
generating unit or units to enable the facility to generate
principally from biomass energy by June 30, 2013, each megawatt
hour of electricity generated principally from that biomass energy
shall equal, in units of credit, the product obtained by
multiplying the actual percentage of biomass feedstock heat input
used to generate such megawatt hour by the quotient obtained by
dividing the then existing unit dollar amount used to determine a
renewable energy compliance payment as provided under division
(C)(2)(b) of section 4928.64 of the Revised Code by the then
existing market value of one renewable energy credit, but such
megawatt hour shall not equal less than one unit of credit. The
rules also shall provide for this state a system of registering
renewable energy credits by specifying which of any generally
available registries shall be used for that purpose and not by
creating a registry. That selected system of registering renewable
energy credits shall allow a hydroelectric generating facility to
be eligible for obtaining renewable energy credits and shall allow
customer-sited projects or actions the broadest opportunities to
be eligible for obtaining renewable energy credits.
Sec. 4928.66. (A)(1)(a) Beginning in 2009, an electric
distribution utility shall implement energy efficiency programs
that achieve energy savings equivalent to at least three-tenths of
one per cent of the total, annual average, and normalized
kilowatt-hour sales of the electric distribution utility during
the preceding three calendar years to customers in this state. An
energy efficiency program may include a combined heat and power
system placed into service or retrofitted on or after the
effective date of the amendment of this section by S.B. 315 of the
129th general assembly, September 10, 2012, or a waste energy
recovery system placed into service or retrofitted on or after the
same date September 10, 2012, except that a waste energy recovery
system described in division (A)(38)(b) of section 4928.01 of the
Revised Code may be included only if it was placed into service
between January 1, 2002, and December 31, 2004. For a waste energy
recovery or combined heat and power system, the savings shall be
as estimated by the public utilities commission. The savings
requirement, using such a three-year average, shall increase to an
additional five-tenths of one per cent in 2010, seven-tenths of
one per cent in 2011, eight-tenths of one per cent in 2012,
nine-tenths of one per cent in 2013, and one per cent from in 2014
to 2018,. In 2015 and two per cent each year thereafter, achieving
a cumulative, the annual energy savings in excess of twenty-two
requirement shall be four and two-tenths of one per cent
by the
end of 2025 of the baseline described in division (A)(2)(a) of
this section for energy savings. For purposes of a waste energy
recovery or combined heat and power system, an electric
distribution utility shall not apply more than the total annual
percentage of the electric distribution utility's
industrial-customer load, relative to the electric distribution
utility's total load, to the annual energy savings requirement.
(b) Beginning in 2009, an electric distribution utility shall
implement peak demand reduction programs designed to achieve a one
per cent reduction in peak demand in 2009 and an additional
seventy-five hundredths of one per cent reduction each year
through 2018 2014. In 2018, the standing committees in the house
of representatives and the senate primarily dealing with energy
issues shall make recommendations to the general assembly
regarding future peak demand reduction targets.
(2) For the purposes of divisions (A)(1)(a) and (b) of this
section:
(a) The baseline for energy savings under division (A)(1)(a)
of this section shall be the average of the total kilowatt hours
the electric distribution utility sold in the preceding three
calendar years, and the baseline for a peak demand reduction under
division (A)(1)(b) of this section shall be the average peak
demand on the utility in the preceding three calendar years,
except that the commission may reduce either baseline to adjust
for new economic growth in the utility's certified territory.
(b) The commission may amend the benchmarks set forth in
division (A)(1)(a) or (b) of this section if, after application by
the electric distribution utility, the commission determines that
the amendment is necessary because the utility cannot reasonably
achieve the benchmarks due to regulatory, economic, or
technological reasons beyond its reasonable control.
(c) Compliance with divisions (A)(1)(a) and (b) of this
section shall be measured by including the effects of all
demand-response programs for mercantile customers of the subject
electric distribution utility, all waste energy recovery systems
and all combined heat and power systems, and all such mercantile
customer-sited energy efficiency, including waste energy recovery
and combined heat and power, and peak demand reduction programs,
adjusted upward by the appropriate loss factors. Any mechanism
designed to recover the cost of energy efficiency, including waste
energy recovery and combined heat and power, and peak demand
reduction programs under divisions (A)(1)(a) and (b) of this
section may exempt mercantile customers that commit their
demand-response or other customer-sited capabilities, whether
existing or new, for integration into the electric distribution
utility's demand-response, energy efficiency, including waste
energy recovery and combined heat and power, or peak demand
reduction programs, if the commission determines that that
exemption reasonably encourages such customers to commit those
capabilities to those programs. If a mercantile customer makes
such existing or new demand-response, energy efficiency, including
waste energy recovery and combined heat and power, or peak demand
reduction capability available to an electric distribution utility
pursuant to division (A)(2)(c) of this section, the electric
utility's baseline under division (A)(2)(a) of this section shall
be adjusted to exclude the effects of all such demand-response,
energy efficiency, including waste energy recovery and combined
heat and power, or peak demand reduction programs that may have
existed during the period used to establish the baseline. The
baseline also shall be normalized for changes in numbers of
customers, sales, weather, peak demand, and other appropriate
factors so that the compliance measurement is not unduly
influenced by factors outside the control of the electric
distribution utility.
(d) Programs implemented by a utility may include
demand-response programs grid investment programs, provided that
such programs are demonstrated to be cost-beneficial,
customer-sited programs, including waste energy recovery and
combined heat and power systems, and transmission and distribution
infrastructure improvements that reduce line losses. Division
(A)(2)(c) of this section shall be applied to include facilitating
efforts by a mercantile customer or group of those customers to
offer customer-sited demand-response, energy efficiency, including
waste energy recovery and combined heat and power, or peak demand
reduction capabilities to the electric distribution utility as
part of a reasonable arrangement submitted to the commission
pursuant to section 4905.31 of the Revised Code.
(e) No programs or improvements described in division
(A)(2)(d) of this section shall conflict with any statewide
building code adopted by the board of building standards.
(B) In accordance with rules it shall adopt, the public
utilities commission shall produce and docket at the commission an
annual report containing the results of its verification of the
annual levels of energy efficiency and of peak demand reductions
achieved by each electric distribution utility pursuant to
division (A) of this section. A copy of the report shall be
provided to the consumers' counsel.
(C) If the commission determines, after notice and
opportunity for hearing and based upon its report under division
(B) of this section, that an electric distribution utility has
failed to comply with an energy efficiency or peak demand
reduction requirement of division (A) of this section, the
commission shall assess a forfeiture on the utility as provided
under sections 4905.55 to 4905.60 and 4905.64 of the Revised Code,
either in the amount, per day per undercompliance or
noncompliance, relative to the period of the report, equal to that
prescribed for noncompliances under section 4905.54 of the Revised
Code, or in an amount equal to the then existing market value of
one renewable energy credit per megawatt hour of undercompliance
or noncompliance. Revenue from any forfeiture assessed under this
division shall be deposited to the credit of the advanced energy
fund created under section 4928.61 of the Revised Code.
(D) The commission may establish rules regarding the content
of an application by an electric distribution utility for
commission approval of a revenue decoupling mechanism under this
division. Such an application shall not be considered an
application to increase rates and may be included as part of a
proposal to establish, continue, or expand energy efficiency or
conservation programs. The commission by order may approve an
application under this division if it determines both that the
revenue decoupling mechanism provides for the recovery of revenue
that otherwise may be forgone by the utility as a result of or in
connection with the implementation by the electric distribution
utility of any energy efficiency or energy conservation programs
and reasonably aligns the interests of the utility and of its
customers in favor of those programs.
(E) The commission additionally shall adopt rules that
require an electric distribution utility to provide a customer
upon request with two years' consumption data in an accessible
form.
Sec. 4928.661. (A) Not later than January 1, 2015, the
public utilities commission shall adopt rules governing the
disclosure of the costs to customers of the renewable energy
resource and energy efficiency savings requirements of sections
4928.64 and 4928.66 of the Revised Code. The rules shall include
both of the following requirements:
(1) That every electric distribution utility list, on all
customer bills, the cost to each individual customer of the
utility's compliance with both of the following for the applicable
billing period:
(a) The renewable energy resource requirements under section
4928.64 of the Revised Code;
(b) The energy efficiency savings requirements under section
4928.66 of the Revised Code.
(2) That every electric services company list, on all
customer bills, the cost to each individual customer of the
company's compliance with the renewable energy resource
requirements under section 4928.64 of the Revised Code for the
applicable billing period.
(B) The costs required to be listed under division (A)(1) of
this section shall be listed on each customer's monthly bill as
two distinct line items. The cost required to be listed under
division (A)(2) of this section shall be listed on each customer's
monthly bill as a distinct line item.
Section 2. That existing sections 4928.20, 4928.64, 4928.65,
and 4928.66 of the Revised Code are hereby repealed.
Section 3. (A) There is hereby created the Energy Mandates
Study Committee to study Ohio's renewable energy, energy
efficiency, and peak demand reduction mandates. The Committee
shall consist of the following members:
(1) Five members of the House of Representatives appointed by
the Speaker of the House of Representatives, with not more than
three members from the same political party;
(2) Five members of the Senate appointed by the President of
the Senate, with not more than three members from the same
political party;
(3) The Chairperson of the Public Utilities Commission;
(4) The Ohio Consumers' Counsel;
(5) Two representatives from different electric distribution
utilities, as defined in section 4928.01 of the Revised Code, one
of whom shall be appointed by the Speaker of the House of
Representatives and one of whom shall be appointed by the
President of the Senate;
(6) One representative from an electric services company, as
defined in section 4928.01 of the Revised Code, jointly appointed
by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President
of the Senate;
(7) One representative from an advocacy group that focuses on
issues related to environmental preservation or the promotion of
clean energy, appointed by the Governor;
(8) One representative from an advocacy group that focuses on
business issues for manufacturers in this state, appointed by the
President of the Senate;
(9) One representative of industrial customers described in
division (A)(19) of section 4928.01 of the Revised Code, appointed
by the President of the Senate;
(10) One representative of the small business community,
appointed by the President of the Senate;
(11) One representative of the large business community,
appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives;
(12) One representative of residential consumers, as defined
in section 4911.01 of the Revised Code, appointed by the Speaker
of the House of Representatives.
(B) The Speaker of the House of Representatives and the
President of the Senate shall each appoint one legislative member
of the Committee to serve as a cochairperson of the Committee. Any
vacancies that occur on the Committee shall be filled in the same
manner as the original appointment.
(C) Not later than December 15, 2015, the Committee shall
submit a report of its findings to the House of Representatives
and the Senate in accordance with division (B) of section 101.68
of the Revised Code. The Committee shall cease to exist on
December 16, 2015. The report shall include, at a minimum, all of
the following:
(1) A cost-benefit analysis of the renewable energy, energy
efficiency, and peak demand reduction mandates, including the
projected impact on electric customers if the mandates were to
remain at the percentage levels required for 2014, and the
projected impact on electric customers if the mandates were to
return to the percentage levels required under sections 4928.64
and 4928.66 of the Revised Code as those sections existed prior to
the effective date of this section;
(2) A recommendation of the best, evidence-based standard for
reviewing the mandates in the future, including an examination of
readily available technology to attain such a standard;
(3) The potential effects of an opt-in system for the
mandates, in contrast to an opt-out system for the mandates, and a
recommendation as to whether an opt-in system should apply to all
electric customers, whether an opt-out system should apply to only
industrial customers, or whether a hybrid of these two systems is
recommended.
Section 4. As used in Sections 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 of this
act:
(A) "Customer" means any retail customer of an electric
distribution utility to which either of the following applies:
(1) The retail customer receives service above the primary
voltage level as determined by the utility's tariff
classification.
(2) The retail customer is a commercial or industrial
customer to which both of the following apply:
(a) The retail customer receives electricity through a meter
of an end user or through more than one meter at a single location
in a quantity that exceeds forty-five million kilowatt hours of
electricity for the preceding calendar year.
(b) The retail customer has made a written request for
registration as a self-assessing purchaser pursuant to section
5727.81 of the Revised Code.
(B) "Electric distribution utility" has the same meaning as
in section 4928.01 of the Revised Code.
(C) "Portfolio plan" means the comprehensive energy
efficiency and peak-demand reduction program portfolio plan
required under rules adopted by the Public Utilities Commission
and codified in Chapter 4901:1-39 of the Administrative Code or
hereafter recodified or amended.
Section 5. (A) If an electric distribution utility has a
portfolio plan that is in effect on the effective date of this
section, the utility shall do either of the following, at its sole
discretion:
(1) Continue to implement the portfolio plan with no
amendments to the plan, for the duration that the Public Utilities
Commission originally approved, subject to divisions (D) and (E)
of this section;
(2) Seek an amendment of the portfolio plan under division
(B) of this section.
(B)(1) An electric distribution utility that seeks to amend
its portfolio plan under division (A)(2) of this section shall
file an application with the Commission to amend the plan not
later than thirty days after the effective date of this section.
The Commission shall review the application in accordance with its
rules as if the application were for a new portfolio plan. The
Commission shall review and approve, or modify and approve, the
application not later than sixty days after the date that the
application is filed. Any portfolio plan amended under this
division shall expire on December 31, 2016.
(2) Section 4928.66 of the Revised Code, as amended by this
act, shall apply to an electric distribution utility that seeks to
amend its portfolio plan under division (B) of this section.
(C) If an electric distribution utility fails to file an
application to amend its portfolio plan under division (B) of this
section within the required thirty-day period, the electric
distribution utility shall proceed in accordance with division
(A)(1) of this section.
(D) If an electric distribution utility implements its
portfolio plan under division (A)(1) of this section for the
plan's original duration and if the plan expires before December
31, 2016, the Commission shall automatically extend the plan
through December 31, 2016, with no amendments to the plan.
(E)(1) The provisions of section 4928.66 of the Revised Code,
as it existed prior to the effective date of this section, shall
apply to an electric distribution utility that has a portfolio
plan that is implemented under division (A)(1) of this section for
either of the following time periods:
(a) The plan's original duration;
(b) The plan's original duration and then, until December 31,
2016, if the plan is extended under division (D) of this section.
(2) Beginning January 1, 2017, the provisions of section
4928.66 of the Revised Code as amended by this act shall apply to
the electric distribution utility.
Section 6. (A) The Public Utilities Commission shall neither
review nor approve an application for a portfolio plan if the
application is pending on the effective date of this section.
(B) Prior to January 1, 2017, the Commission shall not take
any action with regard to any portfolio plan or application
regarding a portfolio plan except those actions expressly
authorized or required by Section 5 of this act.
Section 7. A customer of an electric distribution utility may
opt out of the opportunity and ability to obtain direct benefits
from the utility's portfolio plan that is amended under division
(B) of Section 5 of this act. The opt out shall apply only to the
amended plan. The opt out shall extend to all of the customer's
accounts, irrespective of the size or service voltage level that
are associated with the activities performed by the customer and
that are located on or adjacent to the customer's premises.
Section 8. Any customer electing to opt out under Section 7
of this act shall do so by providing a written notice of intent to
opt out to the electric distribution utility from which it
receives service and submitting a complete copy of the opt-out
notice to the Secretary of the Public Utilities Commission.
The notice provided to the utility shall include all of the
following:
(A) A statement indicating that the customer has elected to
opt out;
(B) The effective date of the election to opt out;
(C) The account number for each customer account to which the
opt out may apply;
(D) The physical location of the customer's load center;
(E) The date upon which the customer established or plans to
establish a process and implement cost-effective measures to
improve its energy efficiency savings.
Section 9. Upon a customer's election to opt out under
Section 7 of this act, no account properly identified under
division (C) of Section 8 of this act shall be subject to any cost
recovery mechanism under section 4928.66 of the Revised Code, as
amended by this act, for the duration of the amended portfolio
plan or eligible to participate in, or directly benefit from,
programs arising from the amended portfolio plan. This section
shall not be interpreted to exempt such an account from any other
cost recovery mechanism, including any cost recovery mechanism
associated with the renewable energy resource requirements
governed by section 4928.64 of the Revised Code.
Section 10. (A) Upon a customer's election to opt out under
Section 7 of this act, the customer shall prepare and submit a
report to the staff of the Public Utilities Commission. The report
shall, for the period that the opt out is in effect, summarize the
energy efficiency measures implemented by the customer and
identify the cumulative energy efficiency savings achieved. The
report shall be filed not later than January 1, 2017.
(B) Upon submission of the report, the staff of the
Commission may request the customer to provide additional
information on the measures adopted by the customer and the amount
of energy efficiency savings achieved during the period covered by
the report.
(C) All information contained in a report submitted under
this section and any customer responses to requests for additional
information shall be deemed to be confidential, proprietary, and a
trade secret. No such information or response shall be publicly
divulged without written authorization by the customer or used for
any purpose other than to identify the measures adopted by the
customer and the quantity of energy efficiency savings achieved by
the customer.
|
|