S-1960

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 retail electric consumers purchasing electric energy receive basic information about the characteristics associated with their electricity product in a form that facilitates consumer understanding of retail 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 regarding fuel source, that is consistently collected, 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 retail suppliers in Washington disclose information on the fuel mix 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.

(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 solid organic fuels from wood, forest, or field residue, or dedicated energy crops that do not include wood pieces that have been treated with chemical preservatives such as creosote, pentachlorophenol, or copper-chroma-arsenic.

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

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

((~~(5)~~)) (8) "Electricity information coordinator" means the organization selected by the department under section 6 of this act to: (a) Compile generation data in the Northwest power pool by generating project and by resource category; (b) compare the quantity of electricity from declared resources reported by retail suppliers with available generation from such resources; (c) calculate the net system power mix; and (d) coordinate with other comparable organizations in the western interconnection.

(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 electrical energy generated on-site at a 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.

((~~(10)~~)) (19) "Landfill gas generation" means electricity produced by a generating facility that uses waste gasses produced by the decomposition of organic materials in landfills.

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

(21) "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.

(22) "Net system power mix" means the fuel mix in the Northwest power pool, net of: (a) Any declared resources in the Northwest power pool identified by in-state retail suppliers or out-of-state entities that offer electricity for sale to retail electric customers; and (b) any electricity sold by the Bonneville power administration to direct service industrial customers.

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

(24) "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)~~)) (25) "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)~~)) (26) "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)~~)) (27) "Retail electric customer" means a person or entity that purchases electricity for ultimate consumption and not for resale.

((~~(14)~~)) (28) "Retail supplier" means an electric utility that offers an electricity product for sale to retail electric customers in the state.

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

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

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

(33) "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 annual fuel mix by generation category as required in section 4 of this act to their existing and new retail electric customers.

(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 4(6) of this act.

(3) Except as provided in subsection (4) of this section, retail suppliers shall provide the disclosure label: (a) To all of their retail electric customers, not less than semi-annually through a bill insert, separate mailing, newsletter, or other publication; (b) as part of any written marketing material pertaining to an electricity product being advertised or offered for sale to current or prospective retail electric customers; and (c) to all new retail electric customers at the time service is established.

(4) Small utilities shall provide the disclosure label not less than annually through a publication that is distributed to all their retail electric customers, and as required in subsection (3)(b) and (c) of this section.

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

(a) For an electricity product comprised entirely of declared resources, a retail supplier shall disclose the fuel mix for the electricity product based on the quantity of electric generation from those declared resources for the previous calendar year and any adjustment, if taken, available under subsection (5) of this section.

(b) For an electricity product comprised of no declared 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 under section 6 of this act.

(c) For an electricity product comprised of a combination of declared resources and the net system power, a retail supplier shall disclose the fuel mix for the electricity product as a weighted average of the megawatt-hours from declared resources and the megawatt-hours from the net system power mix for the previous calendar year according to the proportion of declared resources and net system power contained in the electricity product.

(2) The disclosures required by this section shall identify the percentage of the total electricity product sold by a retail supplier during the previous calendar year from each of the following categories:

(a) Coal generation;

(b) Hydroelectric generation;

(d) Nuclear generation; and

(e) Other generation, except that when a component of the other generation category meets or exceeds two percent of the total electricity product sold by a retail supplier during the previous calendar year, the retail supplier shall identify the component or components and display the fuel mix percentages for these component sources, which may include, but are not limited to: (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 comprises less than two percent or less of annual sales.

(3) Retail suppliers may separately report a subcategory of natural gas generation to identify high efficiency cogeneration.

(4) 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.

(5) A retail supplier may adjust its reported fuel mix for known changes in its declared resources for the current year based on new sources of electricity supply from either new generation or new contracts. If a retail supplier changes its fuel mix during a calendar year, it shall report those changes to the electricity information coordinator.

(6) Disclosure of the fuel mix information required in this section shall be made in the following uniform format: A tabular format with two columns, where the first column shall alphabetically list each category and the second column shall display the corresponding percentage of the total that each category represents. The percentage shall be reported as a numeric value rounded to at least the nearest one percent. The percentages listed for the categories identified must sum to one hundred percent with the table displaying such a total.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. (1) The department shall make the following reports to the legislature:

(a) By December 1, 1999, a report with recommendations on methods and formats for retail suppliers to disclose the price and environmental characteristics of electricity products in ways that promote consumer understanding, taking into consideration the costs to retail suppliers; and

(b) By December 1, 2001, a report with suggested modifications to the disclosure requirements required in section 4 of this act to improve informational content, readability, and consumer understanding and modifications to the responsibilities of the electricity information coordinator required in section 6 of this act to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the tracking process.

(2) Prior to preparing its reports, the department shall convene a work group of interested parties, including, but not limited to, representatives from investor-owned utilities, consumer-owned utilities, the commission, the attorney general's office, consumer advocacy groups, and the environmental community.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. (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. The department shall form an advisory committee, including, but not limited to, representatives from investor-owned utilities, consumer-owned utilities, the commission, the attorney general's office, consumer advocacy groups, and the environmental community for the purposes of advising in the selection of the electricity information coordinator. In the event an appropriate regional entity is not selected 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 department may receive any lawful gifts, grants, or endowments from public or private sources that are made from time to time, in trust or otherwise, for the use and benefit of the department in implementing this section, and may spend such gifts, grants, or endowments for the purposes of implementing this section.

(3) As a condition for an appropriate regional entity to be selected under this section to serve as the electricity information coordinator, it must agree to compile the following information:

(a) Actual generation by fuel mix in the Northwest power pool for the prior calendar year, expressed in megawatt hours. This data will be compiled as it becomes available.

(b) Adjustments to the actual generation for the prior calendar year that are known and provided to the electricity information coordinator by the end of January of the current calendar year to reflect known changes in declared resources for the current year and changes due to interconnection of new generating resources or decommissioning of existing resources. These adjustments shall include supporting documentation.

(c) The amount of electricity from declared resources that retail suppliers will identify in their fuel mix disclosures during the current calendar year. Retail suppliers shall make this data available by the end of January each year.

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

(a) Documentation of ownership of declared resources by retail suppliers; or

(b) Documentation of contractual rights by retail suppliers to a stated quantity of electricity from a specific generating facility.

(5) As a condition for an appropriate regional entity to be selected under this section to serve as the electricity information coordinator, it must agree to:

(a) Coordinate with comparable entities or organizations in the western interconnection;

(b) On or before May 1st of each year, or as soon thereafter as practicable once the data in subsection (3)(a) of this section is available, 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 to the Northwest power pool generation as made available to the electricity information coordinator by the end of January of the current calendar year pursuant to section 4(5) of this act;

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

(iv) Plus other adjustments necessary to ensure that the same resource output is not declared more than once.

(c) To the extent the information is available, verify that the quantity of electricity associated with the declared resources does not exceed the available generation from those resources.

(6) Subsections (3) and (5) of this section apply to the department in the event the department assumes the functions of the electricity information coordinator.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. Sections 3 through 6 of this act are each added to chapter 19.29A RCW.