Senate Bill No. 577
(By Senators Bailey, Chafin, Fanning, and Helmick)
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[Introduced February 18, 1999;
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend article two, chapter twenty-four of the code of
West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, by adding thereto a new section, designated section
one-j, relating to a pilot program for experimental rate
design associated with electric power deregulation.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article two, chapter twenty-four of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section one- j, to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. POWERS AND DUTIES OF PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION.
§24-2-1j Commission authorized and directed to enter a pilot
program for experimental rate design for electric
power deregulation.
The commission is hereby authorized and directed to enter
into a pilot program for experimental rate design associated with
electric power deregulation. The commission shall direct
electric utilities operating in West Virginia to acquire a
statewide total of two hundred fifty megawatts of electric power
from a newly constructed coal-bed methane electric generating
plant operating in the state and shall establish and approve the
experimental rate design and all contracts between the generating
plant and the electric utilities within one hundred eighty days
after passage of this legislation. The cost of power to the
electric utilities under this program shall not be less than
sixty-five percent nor exceed seventy percent of the average
retail cost per kilowatt hour for the public entity class of
customers in the state as of the effective date of this
legislation. The class is defined as that group of customers
being billed under the federal power commission accounting system
identified as public entities. Electric utilities purchasing
electric power under this pilot program must first provide the
power they purchase to that defined class of customers. Any additional power may be sold as the utilities see fit but in no
case shall any of the power be sold to any customer in West
Virginia in any class at a rate higher than the rate in effect
for that class of customers at the date of passage of this
legislation. This pilot program shall terminate on the first day
of July, in the year two thousand eight, or one year after the
full implementation of electric deregulation in West Virginia.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to direct the Public
Service Commission to enter into a pilot program for experimental
rate design associated with electric power deregulation.
Electric utilities are required to purchase power from a
newly-constructed generating plant in West Virginia, under terms
and conditions approved by the commission.
Section one-j is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.