H-0937.1

HOUSE BILL 1642

ByRepresentatives Doglio, Fey, Peterson, Fitzgibbon, Lekanoff, Ortiz-Self, and Tarleton

AN ACT Relating to allowing the energy savings associated with on-bill repayment programs to count toward a qualifying utility's energy conservation targets under the energy independence act; amending RCW 19.285.040; reenacting and amending RCW 19.29A.010; and adding new sections to chapter 19.29A RCW.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 19.29A.010 and 2015 c 285 s 1 are each reenacted and 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-chrome-arsenic.

(2) "Bonneville power administration system mix" means a generation mix sold by the Bonneville power administration that is net of any resource specific sales and that is net of any electricity sold to direct service industrial customers, as defined in section 3(8) of the Pacific Northwest electric power planning and conservation act (16 U.S.C. Sec. 839(a)(8)).

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

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

(5) "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.

(6) "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.

(7) "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.

(8) "Department" means the department of commerce.

(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.

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

(11) "Electricity" means electric energy measured in kilowatt-hours, or electric capacity measured in kilowatts, or both.

(12) "Electricity information coordinator" means the organization selected by the department under RCW 19.29A.080 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.

(13) "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, provided that nothing in this title shall be construed to mean that electricity is a good or product for the purposes of Title 62A RCW, or any other purpose. It does not include electrical energy generated on-site at a retail electric customer's premises.

(14) "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.

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

(16) "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.

(17) "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.

(18) "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.

(19) "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.

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

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

(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; (b) any electricity sold by the Bonneville power administration to direct service industrial customers; and (c) any resource specific sales made by the Bonneville power administration.

(23) "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.

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

(25) "Private customer information" includes a retail electric customer's name, address, telephone number, and other personally identifying information.

(26) "Proprietary customer information" means: (a) Information that relates to the source, technical configuration, destination, 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.

(27) "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.

(28) "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.

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

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

(31) "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.

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

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

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

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2. A new section is added to chapter 19.29A RCW to read as follows:

(1) Except as otherwise provided in sections 3 and 4 of this act, each electric utility must offer an on-bill repayment program option to its retail electric customers beginning January 1, 2020.

(2) An electric utility must provide participants in an on-bill repayment program with any conservation incentives for which the participant is eligible.

(3)(a) An electric utility must prepare a marketing and outreach program to promote its on-bill repayment program as part of its biennial conservation plan prepared pursuant to RCW 19.285.040.

(b) The utility may recover reasonable and prudent costs associated with its marketing and outreach program through its conservation tariff rider.

(4) An electric utility may recover any reasonable and prudent costs associated with upgrading its billing systems to implement an on-bill repayment program through its conservation tariff rider.

(5) An electric utility may contract with one or more third-party capital providers for the purposes of implementing an on-bill repayment program.

(6) An electric utility is not liable or responsible for remitting or collecting unpaid amounts due toward the balance of projects financed through an on-bill repayment program. Partial payments of an electric bill must be first applied to the amount owed to the electric utility for utility services.

(7) An electric utility may claim conservation savings from cost-effective measures financed through an on-bill repayment program toward achieving its conservation acquisition targets under chapter 19.285 RCW.

(8) Up to twenty-five percent of a loan offered through an on-bill repayment program may fund measures that are not included in a utility's conservation portfolio.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3. A new section is added to chapter 19.29A RCW to read as follows:

The provisions of section 2(1) of this act do not apply to a small utility or a retail electric cooperative. However, if the governing body of a small utility or a retail electric cooperative determines that the utility should offer an on-bill repayment program option, the utility must:

(1) Provide participants in the on-bill repayment program with any conservation incentives for which the participant is eligible; and

(2) Prepare a marketing and outreach program to promote its on-bill repayment program as part of its biennial conservation plan prepared pursuant to RCW 19.285.040, if applicable.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4. A new section is added to chapter 19.29A RCW to read as follows:

The provisions of section 2(1) of this act do not apply if an electric utility offers a utility-administered repayment program that includes the following:

(1) An on-bill or off-bill repayment program with conservation incentives for which participating retail electric customers are eligible; and

(2) A marketing and outreach program to promote the utility-administered repayment program as part of its biennial conservation plan developed under RCW 19.285.040.

Sec. 5. RCW 19.285.040 and 2017 c 315 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Each qualifying utility shall pursue all available conservation that is cost-effective, reliable, and feasible.

(a) By January 1, 2010, using methodologies consistent with those used by the Pacific Northwest electric power and conservation planning council in the most recently published regional power plan as it existed on June 12, 2014, or a subsequent date as may be provided by the department or the commission by rule, each qualifying utility shall identify its achievable cost-effective conservation potential through 2019. Nothing in the rule adopted under this subsection precludes a qualifying utility from using its utility specific conservation measures, values, and assumptions in identifying its achievable cost-effective conservation potential. At least every two years thereafter, the qualifying utility shall review and update this assessment for the subsequent ten-year period.

(b) Beginning January 2010, each qualifying utility shall establish and make publicly available a biennial acquisition target for cost-effective conservation consistent with its identification of achievable opportunities in (a) of this subsection, and meet that target during the subsequent two-year period. At a minimum, each biennial target must be no lower than the qualifying utility's pro rata share for that two-year period of its cost-effective conservation potential for the subsequent ten-year period.

(c)(i) Except as provided in (c)(ii) and (iii) of this subsection, beginning on January 1, 2014, cost-effective conservation achieved by a qualifying utility in excess of its biennial acquisition target may be used to help meet the immediately subsequent two biennial acquisition targets, such that no more than twenty percent of any biennial target may be met with excess conservation savings.

(ii) Beginning January 1, 2014, a qualifying utility may use single large facility conservation savings in excess of its biennial target to meet up to an additional five percent of the immediately subsequent two biennial acquisition targets, such that no more than twenty-five percent of any biennial target may be met with excess conservation savings allowed under all of the provisions of this section combined. For the purposes of this subsection (1)(c)(ii), "single large facility conservation savings" means cost-effective conservation savings achieved in a single biennial period at the premises of a single customer of a qualifying utility whose annual electricity consumption prior to the conservation savings exceeded five average megawatts.

(iii) Beginning January 1, 2012, and until December 31, 2017, a qualifying utility with an industrial facility located in a county with a population between ninety-five thousand and one hundred fifteen thousand that is directly interconnected with electricity facilities that are capable of carrying electricity at transmission voltage may use cost-effective conservation from that industrial facility in excess of its biennial acquisition target to help meet the immediately subsequent two biennial acquisition targets, such that no more than twenty-five percent of any biennial target may be met with excess conservation savings allowed under all of the provisions of this section combined.

(d) In meeting its conservation targets, a qualifying utility may count high-efficiency cogeneration owned and used by a retail electric customer to meet its own needs. High-efficiency cogeneration is 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. The reduction in load due to high-efficiency cogeneration shall be: (i) Calculated as the ratio of the fuel chargeable to power heat rate of the cogeneration facility compared to the heat rate on a new and clean basis of a best-commercially available technology combined-cycle natural gas-fired combustion turbine; and (ii) counted towards meeting the biennial conservation target in the same manner as other conservation savings.

(e) In meeting its conservation targets, a qualifying utility may count the conservation savings associated with an on-bill repayment program established under section 2 or 3 of this act, provided that the savings otherwise qualify as cost-effective conservation under this section.

(f) The commission may determine if a conservation program implemented by an investor-owned utility is cost-effective based on the commission's policies and practice.

(((f)))(g) The commission may rely on its standard practice for review and approval of investor-owned utility conservation targets.

(2)(a) Except as provided in (j) of this subsection, each qualifying utility shall use eligible renewable resources or acquire equivalent renewable energy credits, or any combination of them, to meet the following annual targets:

(i) At least three percent of its load by January 1, 2012, and each year thereafter through December 31, 2015;

(ii) At least nine percent of its load by January 1, 2016, and each year thereafter through December 31, 2019; and

(iii) At least fifteen percent of its load by January 1, 2020, and each year thereafter.

(b) A qualifying utility may count distributed generation at double the facility's electrical output if the utility: (i) Owns or has contracted for the distributed generation and the associated renewable energy credits; or (ii) has contracted to purchase the associated renewable energy credits.

(c) In meeting the annual targets in (a) of this subsection, a qualifying utility shall calculate its annual load based on the average of the utility's load for the previous two years.

(d) A qualifying utility shall be considered in compliance with an annual target in (a) of this subsection if: (i) The utility's weather-adjusted load for the previous three years on average did not increase over that time period; (ii) after December 7, 2006, the utility did not commence or renew ownership or incremental purchases of electricity from resources other than coal transition power or renewable resources other than on a daily spot price basis and the electricity is not offset by equivalent renewable energy credits; and (iii) the utility invested at least one percent of its total annual retail revenue requirement that year on eligible renewable resources, renewable energy credits, or a combination of both.

(e) The requirements of this section may be met for any given year with renewable energy credits produced during that year, the preceding year, or the subsequent year. Each renewable energy credit may be used only once to meet the requirements of this section.

(f) In complying with the targets established in (a) of this subsection, a qualifying utility may not count:

(i) Eligible renewable resources or distributed generation where the associated renewable energy credits are owned by a separate entity; or

(ii) Eligible renewable resources or renewable energy credits obtained for and used in an optional pricing program such as the program established in RCW 19.29A.090.

(g) Where fossil and combustible renewable resources are cofired in one generating unit located in the Pacific Northwest where the cofiring commenced after March 31, 1999, the unit shall be considered to produce eligible renewable resources in direct proportion to the percentage of the total heat value represented by the heat value of the renewable resources.

(h)(i) A qualifying utility that acquires an eligible renewable resource or renewable energy credit may count that acquisition at one and two-tenths times its base value:

(A) Where the eligible renewable resource comes from a facility that commenced operation after December 31, 2005; and

(B) Where the developer of the facility used apprenticeship programs approved by the council during facility construction.

(ii) The council shall establish minimum levels of labor hours to be met through apprenticeship programs to qualify for this extra credit.

(i) A qualifying utility shall be considered in compliance with an annual target in (a) of this subsection if events beyond the reasonable control of the utility that could not have been reasonably anticipated or ameliorated prevented it from meeting the renewable energy target. Such events include weather-related damage, mechanical failure, strikes, lockouts, and actions of a governmental authority that adversely affect the generation, transmission, or distribution of an eligible renewable resource under contract to a qualifying utility.

(j)(i) Beginning January 1, 2016, only a qualifying utility that owns or is directly interconnected to a qualified biomass energy facility may use qualified biomass energy to meet its compliance obligation under this subsection.

(ii) A qualifying utility may no longer use electricity and associated renewable energy credits from a qualified biomass energy facility if the associated industrial pulping or wood manufacturing facility ceases operation other than for purposes of maintenance or upgrade.

(k) An industrial facility that hosts a qualified biomass energy facility may only transfer or sell renewable energy credits associated with qualified biomass energy generated at its facility to the qualifying utility with which it is directly interconnected with facilities owned by such a qualifying utility and that are capable of carrying electricity at transmission voltage. The qualifying utility may only use an amount of renewable energy credits associated with qualified biomass energy that are equivalent to the proportionate amount of its annual targets under (a)(ii) and (iii) of this subsection that was created by the load of the industrial facility. A qualifying utility that owns a qualified biomass energy facility may not transfer or sell renewable energy credits associated with qualified biomass energy to another person, entity, or qualifying utility.

(3) Utilities that become qualifying utilities after December 31, 2006, shall meet the requirements in this section on a time frame comparable in length to that provided for qualifying utilities as of December 7, 2006.

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