ORS 757.212: Resource rate plans; customers who may elect to be exempt; order approving plan; effect of approving plan; rules.

(1) For purposes of this section: (a) “Resource rate plan” means a plan by a public utility to construct a generating plant or to enter into a wholesale power purchase or sales agreement with a term that is longer than one year. (b) “Site” means: (A) Buildings or other related structures that are interconnected by facilities owned by a single public utility customer and that are served through a single electric meter; or (B) A single contiguous area of land containing buildings or other structures that are separated by not more than 1,000 feet, such that: (i) Each building or structure included in the site is not more than 1,000 feet from at least one other building or structure in the site; (ii) Buildings and structures in the site, and land containing and connecting buildings and structures in the site, are owned by a public utility customer who is billed for electricity use at the buildings and structures; and (iii) Land shall be considered to be contiguous even if there is an intervening public or railroad right of way, provided that rights-of-way land on which municipal infrastructure facilities exist, such as street lighting, sewerage transmission and roadway controls, shall not be considered contiguous. (2) The Public Utility Commission may approve a resource rate plan as an alternative form of regulation plan under ORS 757.210. A public utility must make a separate tariff filing for each proposed resource rate plan. If the commission approves a resource rate plan by a public utility based on the construction of a generating plant, the order approving the plan must state how the commission will reflect the costs and revenues of the generating plant in the utility’s rates during all or a portion of the expected useful life of the generating plant. If the commission approves a resource rate plan based on a wholesale power purchase or sales agreement with a term longer than one year, the order approving the plan must state how the commission will reflect the costs and revenues under the wholesale power purchase or sales agreement in the utility’s rates during all or a portion of the term of the agreement. (3) A customer receiving electricity from a public utility may elect to be exempt from the costs and benefits of a resource rate plan for any single site at which the customer has had a peak load in excess of nine megawatts in any hour during the 12-month period immediately preceding the date on which the public utility files a tariff under this section. A public utility filing a tariff under this section must give written notice of the provisions of this subsection to all of its customers that are eligible to make an election under this subsection. The notice must be given within three days after the tariff is filed. An election under this subsection must be made by a customer within 30 days after the tariff is filed. (4) A public utility customer that elects to be exempt under subsection (3) of this section may also elect to be exempt from the costs and benefits of a resource rate plan for any single site at which the customer has had a peak load in excess of one megawatt in any hour during the 12-month period immediately preceding the date on which the public utility files a tariff under this section. An election under this subsection must be made as part of the election under subsection (3) of this section. (5) The commission shall ensure that customers making an election under subsection (3) or (4) of this section are charged the market cost for all electricity that is required to replace the electricity that would otherwise have been provided under the resource rate plan, and that the election does not result in increased costs or risks to the public utility or to other customers of the public utility. (6) The commission, by rule, may allow customers of a public utility other than those customers described in subsection (3) of this section to elect to be exempt from the costs and benefits of a resource rate plan. (7) If the commission approves a resource rate plan, the order of the commission must also address: (a) The extent to which the public utility will use power from the generating plant or from the power purchase or sales agreement to serve its retail customers in Oregon; (b) The allocation of power available from the generating plant or power purchase or sales agreement among different classes of the public utility’s customers; (c) The ratemaking consequences of the generating plant or power purchase or sales agreement, including the consequences of variations in the amount of power that is actually available after the plan is in operation compared with the amount of power that was anticipated to be available at the time the plan was approved; and (d) Any other issue the commission chooses to consider. (8) If the commission approves a resource rate plan, the commission may not thereafter review the costs and rates specific to the resource rate plan or other obligations of the public utility under the plan, or consider any complaint under ORS 756.500 seeking review of the costs and rates specific to the resource rate plan or other obligations of the public utility under the plan, except for the purpose of determining whether the public utility is in compliance with the plan and has established rates in accordance with the plan. (9) A resource rate plan and a public utility’s rates under a resource rate plan are not subject to ORS 757.355. (10) The commission may not set aside or modify an order approving a resource rate plan unless the public utility operating under the plan approves the setting aside or modification. [2001 c.913 §2; 2005 c.638 §8]