S-1522

AN ACT Relating to disclosure of attributes of electricity products; amending RCW 19.29A.010; adding new sections to chapter 19.29A RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) Consumer disclosure ensures that consumers purchasing electric energy receive basic information about the characteristics associated with their electricity product in a form that facilitates consumer understanding of electric energy service and the development of new products responsive to consumer preferences.

(2) The legislature finds and declares that there is a need for reliable, accurate, and timely information, consistently collected, regarding fuel source, environmental impact characteristics, and price for all electricity products offered for retail sale in Washington.

(3) The desirability and feasibility of such disclosure has been clearly established in nutrition labeling, uniform food pricing, truth-in-lending, and other consumer information programs.

(4) The legislature intends to establish a consumer disclosure standard under which entities offering electricity products in Washington and those making specific claims to retail electric customers disclose information on the fuel mix, price, and environmental impact attributes of the electricity products they sell. Fundamental to disclosure is a label that promotes consistency in content and format, that is accurate, reliable, and simple to understand, and that allows verification of the accuracy of information reported and claims made by retail sellers.

(5) To ensure that consumer information is verifiable and accurate, certain characteristics of electricity generation must be tracked and compared with information provided to consumers.

Sec. 2. RCW 19.29A.010 and 1998 c 300 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(1) "Biomass generation" means electricity derived from burning combustible residues that are biological in origin. Biomass may include solid organic residues from logging, forest products manufacturing, agricultural and orchard crops, and dedicated energy crops available on a renewable basis; or waste products from livestock, poultry operations, and food processing.

(2) "Coal generation" means the electricity produced by a generating facility that burns coal as the primary fuel source.

(3) "Commission" means the utilities and transportation commission.

((~~(2)~~)) (4) "Conservation" means an increase in efficiency in the use of energy use that yields a decrease in energy consumption while providing the same or higher levels of service. Conservation includes low-income weatherization programs.

((~~(3)~~)) (5) "Consumer-owned utility" means a municipal electric utility formed under Title 35 RCW, a public utility district formed under Title 54 RCW, an irrigation district formed under chapter 87.03 RCW, a cooperative formed under chapter 23.86 RCW, or a mutual corporation or association formed under chapter 24.06 RCW, that is engaged in the business of distributing electricity to more than one retail electric customer in the state.

((~~(4)~~)) (6) "Dedicated resource" means an electricity source specifically identified by a retail supplier to serve retail electric customers. A dedicated resource includes a stated quantity of electricity tied directly to a specified generation facility or set of related facilities either through ownership or contract purchase, or a contractual right to trace or claim a stated quantity of electricity from a specified generation facility or set of related facilities.

(7) "Department" means the department of community, trade, and economic development.

((~~(5)~~)) (8) "Electricity information coordinator" means the organization selected by the department to: (a) Compile generation data in the Northwest power pool by generating project and by resource category; (b) compare the quantity of electricity from dedicated resources reported by retail suppliers with available generation from such resources; (c) calculate the net system power mix; and (d) compile emissions and nuclear waste data from dedicated resources and the net system power mix.

(9) "Electric meters in service" means those meters that record in at least nine of twelve calendar months in any calendar year not less than two hundred fifty kilowatt hours per month.

((~~(6)~~)) (10) "Electricity product" means the electrical energy produced by a generating facility or facilities that a retail supplier sells or offers to sell to retail electric customers in the state of Washington. It does not include the provision of electric services on-site at the retail electric customer's premises.

(11) "Electric utility" means a consumer-owned or investor-owned utility as defined in this section.

((~~(7)~~)) (12) "Electricity" means electric energy measured in kilowatt hours, or electric capacity measured in kilowatts, or both.

((~~(8)~~)) (13) "Fuel mix" means the actual or imputed sources of electricity sold to retail electric customers, expressed in terms of percentage contribution by resource category. The total fuel mix included in each disclosure shall total one hundred percent.

(14) "Geothermal generation" means electricity derived from thermal energy naturally produced within the earth.

(15) "Governing body" means the council of a city or town, the commissioners of an irrigation district, municipal electric utility, or public utility district, or the board of directors of an electric cooperative or mutual association that has the authority to set and approve rates.

((~~(9)~~)) (16) "High efficiency cogeneration" means electricity produced by equipment, such as heat or steam used for industrial, commercial, heating, or cooling purposes, that meets the federal energy regulatory commission standards for qualifying facilities under the public utility regulatory policies act of 1978.

(17) "Hydroelectric generation" means a power source created when water flows from a higher elevation to a lower elevation and the flow is converted to electricity in one or more generators at a single facility.

(18) "Investor-owned utility" means a company owned by investors that meets the definition of RCW 80.04.010 and is engaged in distributing electricity to more than one retail electric customer in the state.

(19) "Landfill gas" means electricity produced by a generating facility that uses waste gasses produced by the decomposition of organic materials in landfills.

(20) "Low-impact hydroelectric generation" means electricity produced by a hydroelectric facility that has been certified or identified as either:

(a) In compliance with a federal energy regulatory commission license and clean water act certification issued after December 31, 1986; or

(b) Meeting or exceeding criteria implemented by a nationally recognized low-impact hydropower certification board, as determined by the electricity information coordinator.

(21) "Natural gas generation" means electricity produced by a generating facility that burns natural gas as the primary fuel source.

(22) "Northwest power pool" means the generating resources included in the United States portion of the Northwest power pool area as defined by the western systems coordinating council.

(23) "Net system power mix" means the average fuel mix in the Northwest power pool, net of: (a) Any resources in the Northwest power pool identified by retail suppliers or the Bonneville power administration in the state of Washington as being dedicated resources; and (b) resources in the Northwest power pool identified by retail suppliers of electricity outside the state of Washington as being dedicated resources.

(24) "Oil generation" means electricity produced by a generating facility that burns oil as the primary fuel source.

((~~(10)~~)) (25) "Proprietary customer information" means: (a) Information that relates to the source and amount of electricity used by a retail electric customer, a retail electric customer's payment history, and household data that is made available by the customer solely by virtue of the utility-customer relationship; and (b) information contained in a retail electric customer's bill.

((~~(11)~~)) (26) "Renewable resources" means electricity generation facilities fueled by: (a) Water; (b) wind; (c) solar energy; (d) geothermal energy; (e) landfill gas; or (f) biomass energy based on solid organic fuels from wood, forest, or field residues, or dedicated energy crops that do not include wood pieces that have been treated with chemical preservatives such as creosote, pentachlorophenol, or copper-chrome-arsenic.

((~~(12)~~)) (27) "Resale" means the purchase and subsequent sale of electricity for profit, but does not include the purchase and the subsequent sale of electricity at the same rate at which the electricity was purchased.

((~~(13)~~)) (28) "Retail electric customer" means a person or entity that purchases electricity for ultimate consumption and not for resale.

(29) "Retail supplier" means an entity that offers an electricity product for sale to retail electric customers in the state.

((~~(14)~~)) (30) "Small utility" means any consumer-owned utility with twenty-five thousand or fewer electric meters in service, or that has an average of seven or fewer customers per mile of distribution line.

((~~(15)~~)) (31) "Solar generation" means electricity derived from radiation from the sun that is directly or indirectly converted to electrical energy.

(32) "State" means the state of Washington.

(33) "Waste incineration" means electricity derived from burning solid or liquid wastes from businesses, households, municipalities, or waste treatment operations.

(34) "Wind generation" means electricity created by movement of air that is converted to electrical energy.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) Beginning in the year 2000, every retail supplier shall provide standardized information to their existing and new retail electric customers. Information shall include:

(a) Annual fuel mix by generation category as required in section 4 of this act;

(b) Annual average air emissions and nuclear waste for the identified fuel mix as required in section 5 of this act; and

(2) Disclosures required under subsection (1) of this section shall be provided through a disclosure label presented in a standardized format as required in section 7 of this act.

(3) Retail supplies shall provide the disclosure label: (a) To all other residential and small commercial customers, on a quarterly basis through a bill insert, separate mailing, or newsletter; (b) as part of any marketing material to current or prospective retail electric customers; and (c) to all new retail electric customers at the time service is established.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. (1) Each retail supplier shall disclose the fuel mix of each electricity product it offers to residential or small commercial customers as follows:

(a) For an electricity product comprised entirely of dedicated resources, a retail supplier shall disclose the fuel mix for the electricity product based on the actual quantity of electric generation from those dedicated resources for the previous calendar year. These actual quantities may be adjusted as provided in section 8 of this act.

(b) For an electricity product comprised of no dedicated resources, a retail supplier shall report the fuel mix for the electricity product as the fuel mix of net system power for the previous calendar year, as determined by the electricity information coordinator.

(c) For an electricity product comprised of a combination of dedicated resources and the net system power, a retail supplier shall disclose the fuel mix for the electricity product as a weighted average of the megawatts from dedicated resources and the megawatts from the net system power mix for the previous calendar year.

(2) When an electricity product is comprised of thirty percent or more of net system power, the disclosure label shall be accompanied by this qualifying information: "All or a portion of this electricity product is supplied from purchases of available electric supply during the previous calendar year."

(3) The disclosures required by this section shall be expressed as a percentage of annual sales derived from each of the following categories:

(a) Coal generation;

(b) Natural gas generation;

(d) Nuclear generation; and

(e) Other generation, except that when a component of the other generation category exceeds two percent of annual sales, the retail supplier shall identify the component or components and display the fuel mix percentages for these component sources, which may include: (i) Biomass generation; (ii) geothermal generation; (iii) landfill gas generation; (iv) oil generation; (v) solar generation; (vi) waste incineration; or (vii) wind generation. A retail supplier may voluntarily identify any component or components within the other generation category that comprise two percent or less of annual sales.

(4) Retail suppliers may separately report a subcategory of natural gas generation to identify high efficiency cogeneration and a subcategory of hydroelectric generation to identify low-impact hydroelectric generation.

(5) For the portion of an electricity product purchased from the Bonneville power administration, retail suppliers may disclose the annual generation mix provided by the Bonneville power administration for its system for the type of energy purchased by the retail supplier.

(6) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require a retail supplier to specifically assign or dedicate generation from any resource to retail sales for disclosure purposes, unless there is a contractual obligation that ties a specific resource to a specific sale.

(7) A retail supplier may adjust its reported fuel mix for known increases or decreases in generation for the current year based on new sources of generation. If a retail supplier changes its fuel mix during a calendar year, it shall report those changes to the electricity information coordinator.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. (1) Each retail supplier shall disclose the fossil fuel emissions and nuclear waste information for each electricity product it offers to residential or small commercial customers in a format that compares the emissions data and nuclear waste data for the electricity product to the emissions associated with the net system power, as determined by the electricity information coordinator.

(2) Emissions data shall correspond to the megawatt hour generation for the prior calendar year for the following elements:

(a) Carbon dioxide expressed in grams of carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour;

(b) Sulfur dioxide expressed in milligrams of sulfur dioxide per kilowatt hour.

(d) Spent nuclear fuel expressed in micrograms of waste per kilowatt hour.

(3) For an electricity product comprised of a fuel mix based solely on net system power, a retail supplier shall disclose emissions and nuclear waste data based on the emissions and waste profile of net system power as calculated by the electricity information coordinator.

(4) For an electricity product comprised of a fuel mix that includes a combination of dedicated resources and net system power, a retail supplier shall disclose emissions and nuclear waste data based on a weighted average of emissions and waste from the combined fuel mix. The resulting emissions and nuclear waste from the combined fuel mix shall be compared with the emissions and nuclear waste data associated with net system power.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. Retail suppliers shall disclose the price of an electricity product, including the combined price for generation, transmission, distribution, and other product charges, without reflecting any adjustments for nonrecurring cash or noncash inducements. Price disclosure shall be made in a format that shows the average monthly bill amount the customer will pay for electricity at the following specified usage levels:

(1) For residential consumers, the monthly bill amount shall be shown for usage levels of two hundred fifty, five hundred, one thousand, and two thousand kilowatt hours per month.

(2) For small commercial customers, the monthly bill amount shall be shown for usage levels of one thousand, ten thousand, and thirty thousand kilowatt hours per month, using demand charges for peak demands of eight, forty, and one hundred kilowatts, respectively.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. By December 1, 2002, the department shall report to the legislature with suggested modifications to the disclosure requirements included in sections 4, 5, and 6 of this act to improve informational content, readability, and consumer understanding. The report shall also include recommendations for additional price disclosure requirements in the event retail electric customers are offered a choice of electric service providers or a diversity of electricity products, such as green power or spot power. Prior to preparing its report, the department shall convene a work group of interested parties to examine the label format and review available information about consumer responses to the disclosures required under this chapter.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 8. (1) The department shall make all reasonable efforts within existing resources to obtain the agreement of an appropriate regional entity to serve as the electricity information coordinator for the purposes of implementing this act. In the event the department cannot secure such agreement by November 1, 1999, the department shall serve as the electricity information coordinator after notifying the committees of the senate and house of representatives with jurisdiction over energy matters.

(2) The electricity information coordinator shall compile the following information as it becomes available:

(a) Actual generation by fuel mix in the Northwest power pool for the prior calendar year, expressed in megawatt hours.

(b) Adjustments to the actual generation for the prior calendar year to reflect known increases or decreases in generation for the current year. These adjustments shall include supporting documentation.

(c) The amount of electricity from dedicated resources that retail suppliers will identify in their fuel mix disclosures during the current calendar year, and, as available, the actual total generation for each generating project that was identified, in whole or in part, as a dedicated resource.

(d) The emissions and nuclear waste data identified in section 5 of this act for generation from fossil fuels and nuclear plants for the prior calendar year. This data shall correspond with the megawatt hour generation from the respective resources.

(3) Retail suppliers shall make available upon request the following information to support the ownership or contractual rights to dedicated resources:

(a) Documentation of ownership of dedicated resources by retail suppliers, including information that could be required through reporting to the utilities and transportation commission or the state auditor for which the right to claim the stated quantity of electricity has not been sold.

(b) Documentation of contractual rights by retail suppliers, including information that could be required through reporting to the utilities and transportation commission or the state auditor to claim a stated quantity of electricity from a specific generating facility.

(4) The electricity information coordinator shall:

(a) Calculate and make available the net system power mix as follows:

(i) The actual Northwest power pool generation for the prior calendar year;

(ii) Plus any adjustments available to the United States portion of the Northwest power pool generation;

(iii) Less the quantity of electricity associated with dedicated resources claimed by retail suppliers for the current calendar year;

(iv) Plus adjustments based on consultations with other electricity information coordinators, or comparable organizations in the western interconnection to verify that resources are not double counted in the western interconnection.

(b) To the extent the information is available, verify that the quantity of electricity associated with the dedicated resources for the current calendar year does not exceed the available generation from those resources, that is, verify that the resources are not double counted.

(c) Develop emissions and nuclear waste data corresponding to the net system power mix and provide this information to retail suppliers.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 9. Sections 3 through 8 of this act are each added to chapter 19.29A RCW.