HB 487: "An Act relating to including the costs of expansion activities and political activities in rates of electric cooperatives."
00HOUSE BILL NO. 487 01 "An Act relating to including the costs of expansion activities and political 02 activities in rates of electric cooperatives." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. AS 42.05.381 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 05 (h) An electric cooperative, whether subject to regulation by the commission 06 or exempt from regulation, may only include the cost of expansion activity in its rates 07 to a customer if it first secures the customer's consent to the inclusion of a charge for 08 expansion activity. An electric cooperative may not refuse to serve or discriminate 09 against a customer who declines to give consent under this subsection. An electric 10 cooperative may only include a charge for expansion activity in a rate if the 11 cooperative 12 (1) advised its members that a portion of the rates would be used for 13 expansion activities; 14 (2) identified how much of the rate would be used for expansion
01 activities; 02 (3) advised the customer that the cooperative would not refuse to serve 03 or discriminate against the customer if the customer declined to consent to the 04 expansion activity charge; and 05 (4) received the consent of the customer to inclusion of the expansion 06 activity charge in the customer's billings. 07 (i) An electric cooperative, whether subject to regulation by the commission 08 or exempt from regulation, may only include the cost of political activity in its rates 09 to a customer if it first secures the customer's consent to the inclusion of a charge for 10 political activity. An electric cooperative may not refuse to serve or discriminate 11 against a customer who declines to give consent under this subsection. An electric 12 cooperative may only include a charge for political activity in a rate if the cooperative 13 (1) advised its members that a portion of the rates would be used for 14 political activities; 15 (2) identified how much of the rate would be used for political 16 activities; 17 (3) advised the customer that the cooperative would not refuse to serve 18 or discriminate against the customer if the customer declined to consent to the political 19 activity charge; and 20 (4) received the consent of the customer to inclusion of the political 21 activity charge in the customer's billings. 22 (j) In (h) and (i) of this section, 23 (1) "expansion activity" means an activity that is intended to attract 24 customers to an electric cooperative who, at the time of the activity, are customers of 25 another electric public utility; 26 (2) "political activity" means an activity intended to 27 (A) advocate for a political position or for a candidate; 28 (B) make a contribution to a candidate or political party; 29 (C) advocate for a public policy issue not directly related to 30 core services of the utility. 31 * Sec. 2. AS 42.05.711(b) is amended to read:
01 (b) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, public utilities owned and 02 operated by a political subdivision of the state, or electric operating entities established 03 as the instrumentality of two or more public utilities owned and operated by political 04 subdivisions of the state, are exempt from this chapter, other than AS 42.05.221 - 05 42.05.281 , 42.05.381(h) - (j), and 42.05.385. However, 06 (1) the governing body of a political subdivision may elect to be 07 subject to this chapter; and 08 (2) a utility or electric operating entity that is owned and operated by 09 a political subdivision and that directly competes with another utility or electric 10 operating entity is subject to this chapter and any other utility or electric operating 11 entity owned and operated by the political subdivision is also subject to this chapter. 12 * Sec. 3. AS 42.05.711(d) is amended to read: 13 (d) The commission may exempt a utility, a class of utilities, or a utility 14 service from all or a portion of this chapter if the commission finds that the exemption 15 is in the public interest. However, the commission may not issue an exemption 16 from AS 42.05.381(h) - (j). 17 * Sec. 4. AS 42.05.711(e) is amended to read: 18 (e) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, any electric or 19 telephone utility that does not gross $50,000 annually is exempt from regulation under 20 this chapter , other than AS 42.05.381(h) - (j), unless the subscribers petition the 21 commission for regulation under AS 42.05.712(h). 22 * Sec. 5. AS 42.05.711(f) is amended to read: 23 (f) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, an electric or 24 telephone utility that does not gross $500,000 annually may elect to be exempt from 25 the provisions of this chapter , other than AS 42.05.221 - 42.05.281 and 42.05.381(h) - 26 (j), under the procedure described in AS 42.05.712. 27 * Sec. 6. AS 42.05.711(h) is amended to read: 28 (h) A cooperative organized under AS 10.25 may elect to be exempt from the 29 provisions of this chapter, other than AS 42.05.221 - 42.05.281 and 42.05.381(h) - (j) , 30 under the procedure described in AS 42.05.712.