00 HOUSE CS FOR CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 152(ENE) 01 "An Act relating to community energy facilities." 02 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 03 * Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section 04 to read: 05 SHORT TITLE. This Act may be known as the Saving Alaskans Money With 06 Voluntary Community Energy (SAVE) Act. 07 * Sec. 2. AS 42.05 is amended by adding new sections to read: 08 Article 8A. Community Energy Facilities. 09 Sec. 42.05.725. Applicability. (a) AS 42.05.725 - 42.05.735 apply to an 10 electric utility that is subject to exercise of the jurisdiction of the commission that 11 extends to matters concerning rates and charges for public utility services. 12 (b) AS 42.05.725 - 42.05.735 do not apply to an electric system that is exempt 13 from net metering requirements adopted by the commission. 14 Sec. 42.05.727. Community energy programs. (a) An electric utility subject 15 to AS 42.05.725 - 42.05.735 shall make a community energy program available to a 01 subscriber organization that requests interconnection. The electric utility shall allow 02 eligible community energy facilities to interconnect to the facilities of the electric 03 utility in accordance with interconnection standards approved by the commission. The 04 electric utility shall submit to the commission for approval 05 (1) a community energy tariff with subscriptions available only to the 06 retail consumers or member owners of the utility; and 07 (2) the maximum nameplate capacity for eligible community energy 08 facilities within the utility's service area, considering the utility's load profile and 09 effects on the rates and reliability from interconnecting with the facilities; the utility 10 shall evaluate and update the nameplate capacity every two years. 11 (b) An electric utility, or an entity contracting to sell electric energy to an 12 electric utility, may own a community energy facility. 13 Sec. 42.05.729. Charges and rates. The commission shall adopt bill credit 14 rates for electric utilities subject to AS 42.05.725 - 42.05.735 that consider the full 15 economic value provided by community energy facilities. The commission may adopt 16 a separate rate for capacity provided by a community energy facility through energy 17 storage. The commission shall ensure that a community energy program does not have 18 an adverse effect on the retail rates of an electric utility subject to AS 42.05.725 - 19 42.05.735. An electric utility subject to AS 42.05.725 - 42.05.735 shall credit a 20 subscriber for the proportional output of a community energy facility attributable to 21 the subscriber. The credit must appear on the subscriber's bill within one billing cycle 22 of the generation of the energy by the community energy facility. 23 Sec. 42.05.731. Authority and duties of the commission. (a) The commission 24 may modify or waive a requirement in AS 42.05.725 - 42.05.735, in whole or in part, 25 by order. An application for modification or waiver under this section must be in 26 writing and must set out the pertinent facts in sufficient detail to support a finding by 27 the commission that no legitimate public interest will be served by enforcing the 28 requirement designated in the application. 29 (b) The commission may adopt by regulation additional requirements 30 pertaining to safety, power quality, and interconnection standards for community 31 energy facilities if the commission considers the requirements to be necessary to 01 protect public safety and system reliability. 02 (c) The commission shall 03 (1) establish protocols to facilitate communication between utilities 04 and subscriber organizations to ensure utilities have the information necessary to 05 timely calculate and provide bill credits to subscribers; 06 (2) require a utility subject to AS 42.05.725 - 42.05.735 to modify 07 existing interconnection standards, fees, and processes when necessary to facilitate 08 cost-effective and nondiscriminatory interconnection of community energy facilities; 09 (3) permit a utility to recover reasonable costs for the administration of 10 a community energy program; 11 (4) facilitate the creation, financing, and accessibility of community 12 energy facilities, including those owned by nonutility third parties; and 13 (5) require that the construction of a community energy facility be 14 performed by employees of contractors and subcontractors who receive the current 15 prevailing rate of wages specified in the latest determination of prevailing rate of 16 wages for public construction projects issued by the Department of Labor and 17 Workforce Development under AS 36.05.010. 18 (d) Notwithstanding another provision of this chapter, the commission may 19 not consider a subscriber organization or an individual subscriber to be an electric 20 utility solely because of the subscriber's participation in a community energy facility. 21 Sec. 42.05.735. Definitions. In AS 42.05.725 - 42.05.735, 22 (1) "community energy facility" is a renewable energy generating 23 facility under a certificated electric utility's community energy tariff that is not 24 connected to a retail consumer's electricity meter and provides all or a portion of the 25 electrical energy requirements of the retail consumer; 26 (2) "consumer" means a customer of an electric utility described in 27 AS 42.05.725 that consumes the electricity purchased from the utility; 28 (3) "electric system" means an integrated electrical system that 29 includes, at a minimum, generation and distribution of electric energy; 30 (4) "nameplate capacity" means the maximum rated output of a 31 generator, prime mover, or other electric power production equipment under specific 01 conditions designated by the manufacturer; 02 (5) "subscriber" means an electric consumer of an electric utility who 03 owns one or more community energy facility subscriptions interconnected with the 04 utility and who 05 (A) is a residential customer of the utility; or 06 (B) is a commercial customer of the utility with an electricity 07 demand of less than 50 kilowatts per month; 08 (6) "subscriber organization" means a for-profit or nonprofit entity that 09 owns or operates one or more community energy facilities; 10 (7) "subscription" means a contract between a subscriber and a 11 subscriber organization that owns a community energy facility. 12 * Sec. 3. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 13 read: 14 TRANSITION: REGULATIONS. Within one year after the effective date of this Act, 15 the Regulatory Commission of Alaska shall adopt regulations necessary to implement the 16 changes made by this Act.