ORS 757.612: Requirements for public purpose expenditures; rules.

(1)(a) There is established an annual public purpose expenditure standard for electric companies and Oregon Community Power to fund: (A) The above-market costs of new renewable energy resources and customer investments in distribution system-connected technologies that support reliability, resilience and the integration of renewable energy resources with the distribution systems of electric companies and Oregon Community Power; (B) New low-income weatherization; (C) New energy-related investments in schools; and (D) Low-income housing. (b) The public purpose expenditure standard shall be funded by the public purpose charge described in subsection (2) of this section. (2)(a) Until January 1, 2036, an electric company or Oregon Community Power shall collect a nonbypassable public purpose charge equal to 1.5 percent of the revenues described in paragraph (b) of this subsection, apportioned as further set forth in subsection (3)(b) of this section. The electric company or Oregon Community Power shall collect the public purpose charge from all of the retail electricity consumers located within the electric company’s or Oregon Community Power’s service territory, including retail electricity consumers served by electricity service suppliers. (b) The percentages described in paragraph (a) of this subsection and subsection (3)(b) of this section shall be calculated as percentages of the total revenues collected by the electric company, Oregon Community Power or the electricity service supplier from retail electricity consumers for electricity services, distribution services, ancillary services, metering and billing, transition charges and other types of costs included in electric rates on July 23, 1999. (3)(a) The Public Utility Commission shall establish rules implementing the provisions of this section relating to electric companies and Oregon Community Power. (b) The public purpose charge described in subsection (2)(a) of this section shall be the sum total of the following percentages of revenues described in subsection (2)(b) of this section, allocated for the following purposes: (A) 0.3 percent of revenues for school districts that are located in the service territory of the electric company or Oregon Community Power, as further directed under paragraph (e) of this subsection. (B) As further directed under paragraph (f) of this subsection, 0.51 percent of revenues for: (i) The above-market costs of constructing and operating new renewable energy resources with a nominal electric generating capacity, as defined in ORS 469.300, of 20 megawatts or less; or (ii) Customer investments in distribution system-connected technologies that support reliability, resilience and the integration of renewable energy resources with the distribution system of the electric company or Oregon Community Power. (C) 0.55 percent of revenues for new low-income weatherization, as further directed under paragraph (g) of this subsection. (D) 0.14 percent of revenues for deposit in the Housing and Community Services Department Electricity Public Purpose Charge Fund established by ORS 456.587 (1) for the purpose of providing grants as described in ORS 458.625 (2). (c) The costs of administering subsections (1) to (5) of this section for an electric company or Oregon Community Power shall be paid out of the funds collected through public purpose charges. The commission may require an electric company or Oregon Community Power to direct funds collected through public purpose charges to state agencies responsible for implementing subsections (1) to (5) of this section in order to pay the costs of administering subsections (1) to (5) of this section. (d) The commission shall direct the manner in which public purpose charges are collected and spent by an electric company or Oregon Community Power and may require an electric company or Oregon Community Power to expend funds through competitive bids or other means designed to encourage competition, except that funds dedicated for new low-income weatherization shall be directed to the Housing and Community Services Department for purposes related to new low-income weatherization, as further directed in paragraph (g) of this subsection. The commission may also require funds collected through public purpose charges to be paid to a nongovernmental entity for investment in public purposes described in subsection (1) of this section. (e)(A) Funds allocated under subsection (3)(b)(A) of this section shall be distributed to individual school districts according to the weighted average daily membership (ADMw) of each school district for the prior fiscal year as calculated under ORS 327.013. The commission shall establish by rule a methodology for distributing a proportionate share of funds under this paragraph to school districts that are only partially located in the service territory of the electric company or Oregon Community Power. (B) A school district that receives funds under this paragraph shall use the funds first to pay for energy audits for schools located within the school district or for a fleet audit for the school district. To the extent practicable, a school district shall coordinate with the State Department of Energy and incorporate federal funding in complying with this paragraph. Following completion of an audit, the school district may expend funds received under this paragraph to implement the audit. (C) Once an energy audit has been conducted and completely implemented for each school within the school district, the school district may expend funds received under this paragraph for any of the following purposes: (i) Conducting additional energy audits. A school district shall conduct an energy audit prior to expending funds on any other purpose authorized under this paragraph unless the school district has performed an energy audit within the three years immediately prior to receiving the funds. (ii) Weatherizing school district facilities and upgrading the energy efficiency of school district facilities. (iii) Energy conservation education programs. (iv) Purchasing electricity from environmentally focused sources. (v) Investing in renewable energy resources. (D) Once a fleet audit has been conducted for the school district, the school district may expend funds received under this paragraph for any of the following purposes: (i) Purchasing or leasing zero-emission vehicles, as defined in ORS 283.398, including buses. (ii) Purchasing or installing electric vehicle charging stations to provide electricity to zero-emission vehicles. (f) Of the funds allocated under subsection (3)(b)(B) of this section, 25 percent must be used for activities, resources and technologies that serve low and moderate income customers, including for technologies that do not have above-market costs. (g)(A) Funds collected by an electric company or Oregon Community Power, allocated for new low-income weatherization under subsection (3)(b)(C) of this section and directed to the Housing and Community Services Department shall be spent within the service territory of the electric company or Oregon Community Power from which the funds are collected. (B) As further determined by the Housing and Community Services Department, a portion of the funds described in this paragraph may be used for manufactured housing replacements as a means to deliver energy efficiency, pursuant to a program dedicated to manufactured housing replacement. (C) For purposes of this paragraph and as further determined by the Housing and Community Services Department, purposes related to new low-income weatherization includes providing funding for participants in programs by low-income weatherization service providers to change energy sources from bulk fuels to electricity service. (h) The commission may not establish a different public purpose charge than the public purpose charge described in subsection (2) of this section. (4)(a) A retail electricity consumer that uses more than one average megawatt of electricity at any site in the prior year shall receive a credit against public purpose charges billed by an electric company or Oregon Community Power for that site. The amount of the credit shall be equal to the total amount of qualifying expenditures for the above-market costs of new renewable energy resources and investments in distribution system-connected technologies incurred by the retail electricity consumer, not to exceed 25.5 percent of the annual public purpose charges, less administration costs incurred under this paragraph and paragraphs (b) and (c) of this subsection. The credit may not exceed, on an annual basis, the lesser of: (A) The amount of the retail electricity consumer’s qualifying expenditures; or (B) The portion of the public purpose charge billed to the retail electricity consumer that is dedicated to the above-market costs of new renewable energy resources and investments in distribution system-connected technologies. (b) To obtain a credit under paragraph (a) of this subsection, a retail electricity consumer shall file with the State Department of Energy a description of the proposed new renewable energy resource or investment in distribution system-connected technology and a declaration that the retail electricity consumer plans to incur the qualifying expenditure. The State Department of Energy shall issue a notice of precertification within 30 days of receipt of the filing, if such filing is consistent with paragraph (a) of this subsection. The credit may be taken after a retail electricity consumer provides a letter from a certified public accountant to the State Department of Energy verifying that the precertified qualifying expenditure has been made. (c) Credits earned by a retail electricity consumer as a result of qualifying expenditures that are not used in one year may be carried forward for use in subsequent years. (5) Electric utilities and retail electricity consumers shall receive a fair and reasonable credit for the public purpose expenditures of their energy suppliers. The State Department of Energy shall adopt rules to determine eligible expenditures and the method by which such credits are accounted for and used. The State Department of Energy also shall adopt methods to account for eligible public purpose expenditures made through consortia or collaborative projects. (6) For purposes of this section, “retail electricity consumers” includes any direct service industrial consumer that purchases electricity without purchasing distribution services from the electric utility. (7) For purposes of this section, funds collected by Oregon Community Power through public purpose charges are not considered moneys received from electric utility operations. [1999 c.865 §3; 2001 c.134 §9; 2001 c.819 §3; 2005 c.22 §506; 2007 c.217 §9; 2007 c.301 §27; 2007 c.807 §43a; 2007 c.837 §2a; 2009 c.813 §1; 2011 c.467 §10; 2011 c.566 §2; 2015 c.180 §50; 2017 c.200 §1; 2019 c.565 §7; 2021 c.536 §5; 2021 c.547 §1]