Bill Text: NJ A5437 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires electric transmission owners to join transmission entities.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2025-03-10 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee [A5437 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A5437-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman ANDREA KATZ
District 8 (Atlantic and Burlington)
Assemblyman CLINTON CALABRESE
District 36 (Bergen and Passaic)
Assemblywoman ELLEN J. PARK
District 37 (Bergen)
SYNOPSIS
Requires electric transmission owners to join transmission entities.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning electric transmission facilities and supplementing Title 48 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. As used in P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill):
"Affiliate" means any individual or entity that directly or indirectly controls, is under common control with, or is controlled by a public utility.
"Electric public utility" means a public utility, as that term is defined in R.S.48:2-13, that transmits and distributes electricity to end users within the State.
"Electric transmission facility" means an interconnected group of electric transmission lines and associated equipment for moving or transferring electric energy in bulk between points of supply and points at which it is transformed for delivery over the distribution system lines to consumers or is delivered to other electric systems.
"Rate pancaking" means the practice of multiple transmission providers charging customers multiple, duplicative transmission charges for electricity deliveries crossing multiple transmission systems.
"Transmission entity" means an entity approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to serve as a regional transmission organization, independent system operator, or functionally-similar entity.
"Transmission owner" means the owner or operator of an electric transmission facility. "Transmission owner" includes, but is not limited to, an electric public utility.
"User" means any entity or affiliate of that entity that buys or sells electric energy in the transmission entity's region or in a neighboring region.
2. a. Notwithstanding any law, rule, regulation, or order to the contrary, no transmission owner shall own or control an electric transmission facility located in this State on or after the effective date of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill) unless that transmission owner is a member of, and transfers control of those electric transmission facilities to, one or more transmission entities that are operational and meet the specifications outlined in subsection b. of this section.
b. A transmission owner located
in this State shall be in compliance with this section if each transmission
entity of which the transmission owner is a member meets all of the following
specifications:
(1) the transmission entity is approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission;
(2) the transmission entity separates control of electric transmission facilities from control of electric generation facilities;
(3) the transmission entity implements, to the extent reasonably possible, policies and procedures designed to minimize rate pancaking within the State;
(4) the transmission entity improves service reliability within the State;
(5) the transmission entity achieves the objectives of an open and competitive electric generation marketplace, including the elimination of barriers to market entry and the preclusion of control of bottleneck electric transmission facilities in the provision of electric retail choice;
(6) the transmission entity is of sufficient scope or otherwise operates to substantially increase economical supply options for consumers;
(7) the governance structure or control of the transmission entity is independent of the users of the electric transmission facilities, and no member of the transmission entity's board of directors has an affiliation with a user during the member's tenure on the board, such as to unduly affect the transmission entity's performance;
(8) the transmission entity operates under policies that promote positive performance designed to satisfy the electricity requirements of customers; and
(9) the transmission entity is capable of maintaining real-time reliability of the electric transmission system, ensuring comparable and non-discriminatory transmission access and necessary services, minimizing system congestion, and further addressing real or potential transmission constraints.
3. The Board of Public Utilities may adopt, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), rules and regulations as may be necessary for the implementation of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).
4. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill prohibits a transmission owner located in the State from owning or controlling an electric transmission facility, unless the transmission owner is a member of, and transfers control of those electric transmission facilities to, one or more transmission entities that are operational and meet certain specifications outlined in the bill.
A transmission owner located in the State is deemed to be in compliance with the provisions of the bill if each transmission entity of which the transmission owner is a member, meets certain specifications as provided in the bill.
