Bill Text: MO HB2064 | 2014 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires electrical corporations to make solar rebates available to specified retail customers
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-04-16 - Public Hearing Completed (H) [HB2064 Detail]
Download: Missouri-2014-HB2064-Introduced.html
SECOND REGULAR SESSION
97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE BERRY.
6278H.01I D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To amend chapter 393, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to solar rebates.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 393, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 393.1200, to read as follows:
393.1200. 1. As used in this section, the following terms mean:
(1) "Charter school", the same as defined in section 160.400;
(2) "Commission", the public service commission;
(3) "Electrical corporation", the same as defined in section 386.020;
(4) "Nonprofit organization", any corporation that is recognized as exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or any successor section;
(5) "Private school", a school that is not part of the public school system of the state of Missouri and that charges tuition for the rendering of elementary, secondary educational, or postsecondary education services;
(6) "Public school", may include seven-director, urban, and metropolitan school districts as defined in section 160.011, or any public institution of higher education;
(7) "Renewable energy credit", the same as defined in section 393.1025.
2. As provided for in this section, except for those electrical corporations that qualify for an exemption under section 393.1050, each electrical corporation shall make available to its public school, private school, charter school, political subdivision, and nonprofit organization retail customers a solar rebate for new or expanded solar electric systems sited on public school, private school, charter school, political subdivision, or nonprofit organization retail customers' premises, up to a maximum of twenty-five kilowatts per system, measured in direct current that were confirmed by the electrical corporation to have become operational in compliance with the provisions of section 386.890. The solar rebates shall be two dollars per watt for systems becoming operational on or before August 28, 2014; one dollar and fifty cents per watt for systems becoming operational between August 29, 2014, and June 30, 2015; one dollar per watt for systems becoming operational between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016; fifty cents per watt for systems becoming operational between July 1, 2016, and June 30, 2017; fifty cents per watt for systems becoming operational between July 1, 2017, and June 30, 2019; twenty-five cents per watt for systems becoming operational between July 1, 2019, and June 30, 2020; and zero cents per watt for systems becoming operational after June 30, 2020. Public schools, private schools, charter schools, political subdivisions, and nonprofit organizations that timely filed an application for a rebate under a different rebate program shall be eligible for rebates under this section, including a two dollar per watt rebate for systems becoming operational on or before August 28, 2014. An electrical corporation may, through its tariffs, require applications for solar rebates to be submitted up to one hundred eighty-two days prior to the operational date. Nothing in this section shall prevent an electrical corporation from offering solar rebates to public school, private school, charter school, political subdivision, or nonprofit organization retail customers after July 1, 2020, through an approved tariff.
3. Annual costs to comply with this section, separate from complying with section 393.1030, shall be limited to one percent of the electrical corporation's annual base revenue level as determined by the commission in the electrical corporation's most recent general rate proceeding. At no point shall this section raise the retail rates charged to customers of electrical corporations by an average of more than one percent in any year, and all the costs associated with complying with this section shall be recoverable in the retail rates charged by the electrical corporation. The commission may amortize the costs over more than one year to keep the maximum average retail rate increase less than one percent.
4. If the electrical corporation determines the maximum average retail rate increase provided for in subsection 3 of this section will be reached in any calendar year, the electrical corporation shall be entitled to cease paying solar rebates to the extent necessary to avoid exceeding the maximum average retail rate increase if the electrical corporation files with the commission to suspend its rebate tariff for the remainder of that calendar year at least sixty days prior to the change taking effect. The filing with the commission to suspend the electrical corporation's rebate tariff shall include the calculation reflecting that the maximum average retail rate increase will be reached and supporting documentation reflecting that the maximum average retail rate increase will be reached. The maximum average retail rate increase calculation shall ignore any solar-related projects initiated, owned, or operated by the electrical corporation. The commission shall rule on the suspension filing within sixty days of the date it is filed. If the commission determines that the maximum average retail rate increase will be reached, the commission shall approve the tariff suspension. The electrical corporation shall continue to process and pay applicable solar rebates until a final commission ruling; however, if the continued payment causes the electrical corporation to pay solar rebates that cause it to exceed the maximum average retail rate increase, the expenditures shall be considered prudently incurred costs and shall be recoverable as such by the electrical corporation.
5. As a condition of receiving a solar rebate:
(1) The public school, private school, charter school, political subdivision, or nonprofit organization customer shall transfer to the electrical corporation all right, title, and interest in and to the renewable energy credits associated with the new or expanded solar electric system that qualified the customer for the solar rebate for a period of ten years from the date the electrical corporation confirmed that the solar electric system was installed and operational; and
(2) The public school, private school, or charter school shall provide science, technology, engineering, and mathematics learning opportunities for its students relating to renewable energy and energy efficiency.
6. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 3 of this section to the contrary, the electrical corporation's costs of complying with this section shall not raise the retail rates charged to the customers of electrical corporations if the customer:
(1) Has one or more accounts within the service territory of the electrical corporation that has a demand of five thousand kilowatts or more; or
(2) Operates an interstate pipeline pumping station, regardless of size.
7. The commission shall have the authority to promulgate rules for the implementation of this section, but only to the extent such rules are consistent with, and do not delay the implementation of, the provisions of this section. Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, that is created under the authority delegated in this section shall become effective only if it complies with and is subject to all of the provisions of chapter 536 and, if applicable, section 536.028. This section and chapter 536 are nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with the general assembly under chapter 536 to review, to delay the effective date, or to disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently held unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking authority and any rule proposed or adopted after August 28, 2014, shall be invalid and void.
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