BILL REQ. #:  S-0656.4 

Read first time 01/25/11.   Referred to Committee on Environment, Water & Energy.

     AN ACT Relating to integrated resource plans; amending RCW 19.280.020 and 19.280.040; and adding a new section to chapter 19.280 RCW.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 19.280.020 and 2009 c 565 s 19 are each amended to read as follows:
     The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1) "Commission" means the utilities and transportation commission.
     (2) "Conservation and efficiency resources" means any reduction in electric power consumption that results from increases in the efficiency of energy use, production, transmission, or distribution.
     (3) "Consumer-owned utility" includes 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, a mutual corporation or association formed under chapter 24.06 RCW, a port district formed under Title 53 RCW, or a water-sewer district formed under Title 57 RCW, that is engaged in the business of distributing electricity to one or more retail electric customers in the state.
     (4) "Department" means the department of commerce.
     (5) "Electric utility" means a consumer-owned or investor-owned utility.
     (6) "Full requirements customer" means an electric utility that relies on the Bonneville power administration for all power needed to supply its total load requirement other than that served by nondispatchable generating resources totaling no more than six megawatts or renewable resources.
     (7) "Governing body" means the elected board of directors, city council, commissioners, or board of any consumer-owned utility.
     (8) "High efficiency cogeneration" means the sequential production of electricity and useful thermal energy from a common fuel source, where, under normal operating conditions, the facility has a useful thermal energy output of no less than thirty-three percent of the total energy output.
     (9) "Integrated resource plan" means an analysis describing the mix of generating resources and conservation and efficiency resources that will meet current and projected needs at the lowest reasonable cost to the utility and its ratepayers and that complies with the requirements specified in RCW 19.280.030(1).
     (10) "Investor-owned utility" means a corporation owned by investors that meets the definition in RCW 80.04.010 and is engaged in distributing electricity to more than one retail electric customer in the state.
     (11) "Lowest reasonable cost" means the lowest cost mix of generating resources and conservation and efficiency resources determined through a detailed and consistent analysis of a wide range of commercially available resources. At a minimum, this analysis must consider resource cost, market-volatility risks, demand-side resource uncertainties, resource dispatchability, resource effect on system operation, the risks imposed on the utility and its ratepayers, public policies regarding resource preference and energy adopted by Washington state or the federal government, and the cost of risks associated with environmental effects including emissions of carbon dioxide.
     (12) "Plan" means either an "integrated resource plan" or a "resource plan."
     (13) "Renewable resources" means electricity generation facilities fueled by: (a) Water; (b) wind; (c) solar energy; (d) geothermal energy; (e) landfill gas; (f) biomass energy utilizing animal waste, 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; (g) by-products of pulping or wood manufacturing processes, including but not limited to bark, wood chips, sawdust, and lignin in spent pulping liquors; (h) ocean thermal, wave, or tidal power; or (i) gas from sewage treatment facilities.
     (14) "Resource plan" means an assessment that estimates electricity loads and resources over a defined period of time and complies with the requirements in RCW 19.280.030(2).

Sec. 2   RCW 19.280.040 and 2006 c 195 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) Investor-owned utilities shall submit integrated resource plans to the commission.
     (a) The commission shall acknowledge by order an integrated resource plan that is consistent with RCW 19.280.030. In any cost-recovery proceeding, the commission shall give considerable weight to utility actions that are consistent with an acknowledged integrated resource plan. The commission shall not penalize a utility for any reasonable action that is inconsistent with an acknowledged integrated resource plan.
     (b) The commission shall reject by order any integrated resource plan that is inconsistent with RCW 19.280.030. The commission shall set forth the reasons for rejection and provide direction regarding any additional analyses or actions that should be undertaken.
     (c) The commission shall establish by rule the requirements for ((preparation)) preparing and ((submission of)) submitting integrated resource plans and its guidelines for acknowledging the plans.
     (2) The commission may adopt additional rules as necessary to clarify the requirements of RCW 19.280.030 as they apply to investor-owned utilities.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   A new section is added to chapter 19.280 RCW to read as follows:
     For any consumer-owned utility subject to the jurisdiction of the state auditor under chapter 43.09 RCW, the department may request the state auditor to audit a utility for compliance with RCW 19.280.050 (1) and (2) at the discretion of the state auditor. Should the state auditor report noncompliance with this chapter in the audit report, the department shall note those audit findings in the report prepared under RCW 19.280.060.