AB940: Bill Text

AB940,13,7 196.24 (3) The commission may conduct any number of investigations contemporaneously through different agents, and may delegate to any agent the authority to take testimony bearing upon any investigation or at any hearing. The decision of the commission shall comply with s. 227.46 and shall be based upon its records and upon the evidence before it, except that, notwithstanding s. 227.46 (4), a decision maker may hear a case or read or review the record of a case if the record includes a synopsis or summary of the testimony and other evidence presented at the hearing that is prepared by the commission staff. Parties shall have an opportunity to demonstrate to a decision maker that a synopsis or summary prepared under this subsection is not sufficiently complete or accurate to fairly reflect the relevant and material testimony or other evidence presented at a hearing.

AB940, s. 25 Section 25. 196.377 (title) of the statutes is created to read:

AB940,13,9 196.377 (title) Renewable energy sources.

AB940, s. 26 Section 26. 196.377 of the statutes is renumbered 196.377 (1).

AB940, s. 27 Section 27. 196.377 (2) of the statutes is created to read:

AB940,13,12 196.377 (2) Eastern Wisconsin utilities. (a) In this subsection:

AB940,13,16 1. "Eastern Wisconsin utility" means a public utility, other than a municipal utility that, on the effective date of this subdivision .... [revisor inserts date], provided retail electric service to customers in the geographic area of the state that was served by the reliability council on that date.

AB940,13,17 2. "Municipality" means a city, town or village.

AB940,13,19 3. "Municipal utility" means a public utility that is a municipality or that is wholly owned or operated by a municipality.

AB940,13,21 4. "Reliability council" means the Mid-America Interconnected Network, Inc., reliability council of the North American Electric Reliability Council.

AB940,14,4 (b) Except as provided in par. (d), no later than December 31, 2000, each eastern Wisconsin utility shall construct or procure, on a competitive basis, the construction of an aggregate total of 50 megawatts of new electric capacity in this state that is, to the satisfaction of the commission, generated from renewable energy sources. Each eastern Wisconsin utility shall construct or procure the construction of a share of the aggregate total required under this paragraph that corresponds to the utility's share, as determined by the commission, of the aggregate demand for electricity that is supplied by the utilities in the area served by the reliability council.

AB940,14,6 (c) An eastern Wisconsin utility may procure the construction required under par. (a) by issuing requests for proposals no later than September 30, 1998.

AB940,14,10 (d) The commission may allow an eastern Wisconsin utility to comply with the requirements under par. (b) by a date that is later than December 31, 2000, if the commission determines that the later date is necessary due to circumstances beyond the utility's control.

AB940,14,14 (e) Any new electric capacity that is generated from a wind power project for which an eastern Wisconsin utility has issued a request for proposals before the effective date of this paragraph .... [revisor inserts date], may be counted in determining whether the utility has satisfied the requirements under par. (b).

AB940,14,17 (f) The commission shall allow an eastern Wisconsin utility to recover in its retail electric rates any costs that are prudently incurred by the utility in complying with the requirements under par. (b).

AB940, s. 28 Section 28. 196.39 of the statutes is renumbered 196.39 (1) and amended to read:

AB940,14,24 196.39 (1) The commission at any time, on its own motion or upon motion of an interested party, and upon notice to the public utility and after opportunity to be heard, may rescind, alter or amend any order fixing rates, tolls, charges or schedules, or any other order made by the commission, and may reopen any case following the issuance of an order in the case, for any reason.

AB940,15,2 (3) Any order under sub. (1) rescinding, altering, amending or reopening a prior order shall have the same effect as an original order.

AB940,15,6 (4) Within 30 days after service of an order under sub. (1), the commission may correct an error or omission in the order related to transcription, typing or calculation without hearing if the correction does not alter the intended effect of the order.

AB940, s. 29 Section 29. 196.39 (2) of the statutes is created to read:

AB940,15,11 196.39 (2) An interested party may request the reopening of any case, but only after petitioning for a rehearing of the case under s. 227.49. The commission may reopen a case upon the request of an interested party only after the conclusion of any proceedings under s. 227.49.

AB940, s. 30 Section 30. 196.485 of the statutes is created to read:

AB940,15,13 196.485 Independent system operator. (1) Definitions. In this section:

AB940,15,14 (a) "Affiliated interest of a person" means any of the following:

AB940,15,16 1. Any person owning or holding directly or indirectly 5% or more of the voting securities of the person.

AB940,15,18 2. Any person in any chain of successive ownership of 5% or more of voting securities of the person.

AB940,15,21 3. Any corporation 5% or more of whose voting securities is owned by any person owning 5% or more of the voting securities of the person or by any person in any chain of successive ownership of 5% or more of the voting securities of the person.

AB940,15,24 4. Any person who is an officer or director of the person or of any corporation in any chain of successive ownership of 5% or more of the voting securities of the person.

AB940,16,6 5. Any corporation operating a servicing organization for furnishing supervisory, construction, engineering, accounting, legal or similar services to the person, which corporation has one or more officers or one or more directors in common with the person, and any other corporation which has directors in common with the person if the number of directors of the corporation is more than one-third of the total number of the person's directors.

AB940,16,7 6. Any subsidiary of the person.

AB940,16,8 (b) "Cooperative" means a cooperative association organized under ch. 185.

AB940,16,11 (c) "Federal agency" means, with respect to a transmission utility that is a cooperative, the rural utilities service and, with respect to a transmission utility that is a public utility, the federal energy regulatory commission.

AB940,16,14 (d) "Independent system operator" means an independent system operator that requires the approval of a federal agency to operate transmission facilities in this state or a region.

AB940,16,16 (dm) "Independent transmission owner" means a person that satisfies each of the following:

AB940,16,17 1. The person does not own electric generation facilities.

AB940,16,22 2. The person does not sell electric generation capacity or energy in a market within the geographic area that, on December 31, 1997, was served by the Mid-America Interconnected Network, Inc., Mid-Continent Area Power Pool, East Central Area Reliability Coordination Agreement or Southwest Power Pool reliability council of the North American Electric Reliability Council.

AB940,16,23 3. The person is not an affiliated interest of a person specified in subd. 1. or 2.

AB940,16,25 (e) "Region" means an interstate geographic area that includes any portion of this state.

AB940,17,2 (f) "Rural utilities service" means the agency in the federal department of agriculture that is the successor to the rural electrification administration.

AB940,17,4 (fm) "Subsidiary" means any person, 5% or more of the securities of which are directly or indirectly owned by another person.

AB940,17,7 (g) "Transmission area" means the area of the state that, on January 1, 1997, was served by the Mid-America Interconnected Network, Inc., reliability council of the North American Electric Reliability Council.

AB940,17,12 (h) "Transmission facility" means any pipe, pipeline, duct, wire, line, conduit, pole, tower, equipment or other structure used for the transmission of electric power as determined by the public service commission on the basis of factors for identifying a transmission facility that are specified in the orders of the federal energy regulatory commission under 16 USC 824d and 824e.

AB940,17,15 (i) "Transmission utility" means a cooperative or public utility that owns a transmission facility in this state and that provides transmission service in this state.

AB940,17,22 (2) Commission powers and duties. (a) By June 30, 2000, if a transmission utility has not transferred control over its transmission facilities to an independent system operator that is approved by the applicable federal agency or divested, with approval of the applicable federal agency or the commission, its interest in its transmission facilities to an independent transmission owner, the commission shall, subject to par. (am), order the transmission utility to apply to the applicable federal agency to do one of the following:

AB940,17,25 1. Transfer control of the transmission utility's transmission facilities to an independent system operator that has received the approval of the federal agency to operate in a region.

AB940,18,3 2. If the federal agency has not approved an independent system operator specified in subd. 1., transfer control over the transmission utility's transmission facilities to an independent system operator that is intended to operate in a region.

AB940,18,7 3. If the transmission utility does not, or is not able to, to the satisfaction of the commission, transfer its transmission facilities to an independent system operator specified in subd. 2., divest the transmission utility's interest in its transmission facilities to an independent transmission owner.

AB940,18,9 (am) The commission may waive the requirement to issue an order against a transmission utility under par. (a) if each of the following is satisfied:

AB940,18,13 1. The transmission utility has filed an application with the applicable federal agency for approval to transfer control of its transmission facilities to an independent system operator or to divest its interest in its transmission facilities to an independent transmission owner.

AB940,18,20 2. The commission finds that the waiver is reasonably expected to result in a more expeditious transfer of control to an independent system operator or divestment of interest to an independent transmission owner than would result under an order issued under par. (a). In making a finding under this subdivision, the commission shall consider the need for a reasonably prompt transfer of control or divestment of interest that ensures, to the maximum extent practicable, the continued reliability of the electric transmission system in this state.

AB940,18,24 (b) By June 30, 2000, the commission shall order each transmission utility in this state that is a public utility to identify and separately account for the cost of retail transmission service and to take all retail transmission service from an independent system operator or independent transmission owner.

AB940,19,2 (c) The commission has jurisdiction to do all things necessary and convenient to enforce the requirements of this section.

AB940,19,14 (3) Independent system operator and independent transmission owner duties. (a) If an independent system operator that has control over transmission facilities in this state determines that there is a need for additional transmission facilities in this state, the independent system operator shall order any transmission utility that has transferred control over transmission facilities to the independent system operator to, subject to the requirements of ss. 196.49 and 196.491 (3), expand the portion of the electric transmission system that is in this state and under the control of the independent system operator or construct additional transmission facilities in that portion of the transmission system. An independent system operator may issue an order under this paragraph only if a transmission utility that is subject to the order is reasonably compensated for the costs incurred in complying with the order.

AB940,19,21 (bm) If each of the transmission utilities in the transmission area that are public utilities have not transferred control over their transmission facilities to the same independent system operator, the independent system operator that controls transmission facilities in the transmission area shall ensure that, by itself or pursuant to a long-term agreement with another independent system operator, the transmission facilities in the transmission area are planned, constructed, operated, maintained and controlled as a single transmission system.

AB940,20,3 (b) If an independent transmission owner determines that there is a need for additional transmission facilities in a portion of the electric transmission system of this state that consists of transmission facilities the interest in which has been divested to the independent transmission owner by a transmission utility, the independent transmission owner shall, subject to the requirements of ss. 196.49 and 196.491 (3), expand that portion of the electric transmission system or construct additional transmission facilities in that portion.

AB940,20,6 (c) An independent transmission owner or an independent system operator shall operate transmission facilities over which it has control in a manner that does each of the following:

AB940,20,9 1. To the maximum extent practicable, eliminates advantages in electric generation, wholesale and retail markets that are otherwise related to ownership, control or operation of transmission facilities over which it has control.

AB940,20,11 2. Satisfies the reasonable needs of transmission users in this state for reliable, low-cost and competitively priced electric service.

AB940,20,15 (4) Transmission utilities. (a) A transmission utility may not transfer control over, or divest its interest in, its transmission facilities to an independent system operator or independent transmission owner unless, to the satisfaction of the commission, each of the following requirements is satisfied:

AB940,20,19 1. The independent system operator or independent transmission owner is the sole provider of all transmission service to all users of its transmission system in this state, including the provision of retail transmission service to users that are public utilities.

AB940,20,23 2. The independent system operator or independent transmission owner has authority over transmission facilities that is sufficient for the independent system operator or independent transmission owner to ensure the reliability of its transmission system.

AB940,20,25 3. The independent system operator or independent transmission owner has sufficient authority to carry out the duties specified in sub. (3).

AB940,21,5 (b) A transmission utility that transfers control over its transmission facilities to an independent system operator shall, subject to the approval of the applicable federal agency, provide reasonable and cost-effective construction, operation and maintenance services to the independent system operator that are required for operation of the transmission facilities.

AB940, s. 31 Section 31. 196.491 (title) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB940,21,8 196.491 (title) Advance planning of electric Strategic energy assessment; electric generating facilities and transmission lines.

AB940, s. 32 Section 32. 196.491 (1) (a) of the statutes is repealed.

AB940, s. 33 Section 33. 196.491 (1) (am) of the statutes is created to read:

AB940,21,11 196.491 (1) (am) "Affiliated interest" has the meaning given in s. 196.52 (1).

AB940, s. 34 Section 34. 196.491 (1) (bm) of the statutes is created to read:

AB940,21,15 196.491 (1) (bm) "Cooperative association" means a cooperative association organized under ch. 185 for the purpose of generating, distributing or furnishing electric energy at retail or wholesale to its members only.

AB940, s. 35 Section 35. 196.491 (1) (d) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB940,21,24 196.491 (1) (d) "Electric utility" means any public utility, as defined in s. 196.01, which is involved in the generation, distribution and sale of electric energy, and any corporation, company, individual or association, and any cooperative association organized under ch. 185 for the purpose of generating, distributing or furnishing electric energy at retail or wholesale to its members only, which owns or operates, or plans within the next 10 3 years to construct, own or operate, bulk electric generating facilities, large electric generating facilities or high-voltage transmission lines in the state.

AB940, s. 36 Section 36. 196.491 (1) (e) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB940,22,2 196.491 (1) (e) "Facility" means a bulk electric generating facility, a large electric generating facility or a high-voltage transmission line.

AB940, s. 37 Section 37. 196.491 (1) (g) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB940,22,6 196.491 (1) (g) "Large electric generating facility" means electric generating equipment and associated facilities designed for nominal operation at a capacity of between 12,000 and 300,000 kilowatts 100 megawatts or more.

AB940, s. 38 Section 38. 196.491 (1) (w) of the statutes is created to read:

AB940,22,10 196.491 (1) (w) "Wholesale merchant plant" means electric generating equipment and associated facilities located in this state that do not provide service to any retail customer and that are owned and operated by any of the following:

AB940,22,12 1. Subject to the approval of the commission under sub. (3m) (a), an affiliated interest of a public utility.

AB940,22,13 2. A person that is not a public utility.

AB940, s. 39 Section 39. 196.491 (2) (title) of the statutes is repealed and recreated to read:

AB940,22,15 196.491 (2) (title) Strategic energy assessment.

AB940, s. 40 Section 40. 196.491 (2) (a) (intro.) of the statutes is repealed and recreated to read:

AB940,22,21 196.491 (2) (a) (intro.) The commission shall prepare a biennial strategic energy assessment that evaluates the adequacy and reliability of the state's current and future electrical supply. The strategic energy assessment shall do all of the following:

AB940, s. 41 Section 41. 196.491 (2) (a) 1. and 2. of the statutes are repealed.

AB940, s. 42 Section 42. 196.491 (2) (a) 3. of the statutes is amended to read:

AB940,23,7 196.491 (2) (a) 3. Identify the location of proposed and alternative specific sites for all bulk electric generating facilities and all and describe large electric generating facilities over 200,000 kilowatts for which a certificate of public convenience and necessity has not been applied for under sub. (3) but the commencement of whose construction is planned within 3 years, or such longer period as the commission deems necessary and indicate the impacts of the proposed and alternative generating facilities on the environment and the means by which potential adverse effects on such values will be avoided or minimized; on which an electric utility plans to commence construction within 3 years.

AB940, s. 43 Section 43. 196.491 (2) (a) 3g. of the statutes is created to read:

AB940,23,10 196.491 (2) (a) 3g. Assess the adequacy and reliability of purchased generation capacity and energy to serve the needs of the public.