(1) An electrical company may apply to the commission for a case-by-case exemption from the greenhouse gas emissions performance standard to address:

(a) Unanticipated electric system reliability needs; or

(b) Extraordinary cost impacts on utility ratepayers; or

(2) An electrical company's application under subsection (1)(a) of this section must include:

(a) A description of the electric system reliability needs including an explanation of why these needs were not anticipated, and why they cannot be addressed with other baseload electric generation that complies with the greenhouse gas performance standard.

(b) The estimated duration of the exemption necessary to address the reliability need.

(c) A description of any long-term financial commitment the company proposes to enter into to address the reliability need including all of the information specified in WAC 480-100-415.

(3) An application under subsection (1)(b) of this section must include:

(a) Identification of the long-term financial commitment that will result in extraordinary costs to ratepayers.

(b) Criteria used by the applicant to judge cost as extraordinary.

(i) Total system, jurisdictional and per-customer cost impact.

(ii) Company proposed alternatives, if any, to address the extraordinary costs.

(iii) The estimated duration of the exemption necessary to address the extraordinary cost impact.

(4) An electrical company's application under subsection (1)(c) of this section must include:

(a) A description of the catastrophic event or threat of significant financial harm and an explanation of why the circumstances from which the event or harm arose were not foreseen including:

(i) An explanation of why the circumstances cannot be addressed with baseload generation that complies with the greenhouse gas performance standard;

(ii) What the anticipated negative financial impact would be to the company if such exemption were denied;

(b) The estimated duration of the exemption necessary to address the catastrophic event or threat of significant financial harm.

(c) A description of any long-term financial commitment the company proposes to enter into to address the catastrophic event or threat of significant financial harm including all of the information specified in WAC 480-100-415.

(5) An electrical company may propose recovery of costs associated with an application under this rule as part of a general rate case.

PDFWAC 480-100-425

Electrical company applications for exemption from the greenhouse gas emissions performance standard.