Bill Text: WV HB4646 | 2012 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requiring electric utilities to implement integrated resource plans
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-02-20 - To House Government Organization [HB4646 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2012-HB4646-Introduced.html
H. B. 4646
(By Delegates Manchin, Caputo and Longstreth)
[Introduced February 20, 2012; referred to the
Committee on Government Organization then Finance.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated §24-2-19, relating to requiring electric utilities to implement integrated resource plans; requiring the Public Service Commission to order development of integrated resource plans; specifying certain items that shall be evaluated and deadlines for the plans; requiring commission review, public hearing and option for requesting further information; addressing the commission’s use of the plan; and defining terms.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated §24-2-19, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. POWERS AND DUTIES OF PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION.
§24-2-19. Integrated Resource Planning Required.
(a) Not later than July 31, 2012, the Public Service Commission shall issue an order directing electric utilities to develop an initial integrated resource plan to be filed not later than December 31, 2013, in conjunction with other similar deadlines required by other states or entities of the electric utilities. This order may include guidelines for developing an integrated resource plan.
(b)(1) Electric utilities shall file with the Public Service Commission an initial integrated resource plan as directed by the Public Service Commission, which shall comply with the provisions of this section and with the order issued pursuant to subsection (a) of this section.
(2) Each electric utility shall file an updated integrated resource plan at least every two years after the initial integrated resource plan, which plan shall comply with the provisions of any relevant order of the Public Service Commission establishing guidelines for the format and contents of updated and revised integrated resource plans.
(c) In preparing an integrated resource plan, each electric utility shall systematically evaluate the costs and benefits, including economic development benefits, associated with the following, and may propose:
(1) Entering into short-term and long-term electric power purchase contracts;
(2) Owning and operating electric power generation facilities;
(3) Building new generation facilities;
(4) Retiring existing generation facilities;
(5) Relying on purchases from the short-term or spot markets;
(6) Making investments in demand-side resources, including energy efficiency and demand-side management services;
(7) Taking such other actions, as the Public Service Commission may approve, to diversify its generation supply portfolio and ensure that the electric utility is able to implement an approved plan; and
(8) The methods by which the electric utility proposes to acquire the supply and demand resources identified in its integrated resource plan.
(d) The Public Service Commission shall analyze and review an integrated resource plan and, after giving notice and hearing comment at a public hearing, file the plan in the appropriate location. The Public Service Commission may request further information from the utility, as necessary. Nothing in this section affects the obligations of utilities to obtain otherwise applicable commission approvals.
(e) The commission shall consider the information reported in the integrated resource plan when it evaluates the performance of the utility in rate and other proceedings.
(f) For purposes of this section “integrated resource plan” or “plan” means a planning and selection process for new energy resources that evaluates the full range of alternatives, including new generating capacity, power purchases, energy conservation and efficiency, cogeneration and district heating and cooling applications, and renewable energy resources, in order to provide adequate and reliable service to its electric customers at the lowest system cost. The process shall take into account necessary features for system operation, such as diversity, reliability, dispatchability, and other factors of risk; shall take into account the ability to verify energy savings achieved through energy conservation and efficiency and the projected durability of such savings measured over time; shall take into account any economic benefits to West Virginia associated with particular demand-and supply-side resources; and shall treat demand and supply resources on a consistent and integrated basis.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to require electric utilities to implement integrated resource plans.
§24-2-19 is new; therefore, it has been completely underscored.
