[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2757 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2757

To provide for the refund of certain overcharges for electricity in the 
                Western States, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 2, 2001

    Ms. Harman (for herself, Ms. Eshoo, Mrs. Capps, Mr. Waxman, Ms. 
 Lofgren, Ms. Woolsey, Mr. Honda, Mr. Farr of California, Mr. Sherman, 
Mr. Filner, Mr. Baca, Ms. Watson of California, Mr. Condit, Mr. Schiff, 
 Mrs. Davis of California, Ms. Solis, Mr. George Miller of California, 
Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Thompson of California, Mrs. Napolitano, Mrs. Tauscher, 
 and Mr. Matsui) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                      the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for the refund of certain overcharges for electricity in the 
                Western States, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. REFUNDS OF CERTAIN ELECTRICITY CHARGES.

    (a) Application Only to Sales of Electric Energy in Western 
Region.--This section applies only to sales of electric energy for use 
in that portion of the United States that is encompassed by the Western 
Systems Coordinating Council of the North American Electric Reliability 
Council.
    (b) Refunds Required for Certain Sales.--Not later than 30 days 
after the enactment of this Act, the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission shall order the refund of any rates and charges that applied 
to sales of electric energy by public utilities subject to the 
jurisdiction of the Commission under the Federal Power Act during the 
period beginning October 2, 2000 through June 20, 2001 to the extent 
that such rates and charges exceed just and reasonable rates as 
determined by the Commission under subsection (c). The refunds shall be 
made, with interest, to those persons who have paid such rates and 
charges.
    (c) Methodologies.--(1) For purposes of subsection (b), the 
Commission shall determine just and reasonable rates by using one of 
the two following methodologies:
            (A) Cost-of-service rates.
            (B) The June 19, 2001, order of the Federal Energy 
        Regulatory Commission modified as provided in paragraph (2).
    (2) The modifications referred to in paragraph (2) shall--
            (A) remove the 10 percent credit worthiness adder;
            (B) provide for a market price calculation based on the 
        units that would have been running in a competitive market in 
        each hour; and
            (C) provide no premium above the mitigated market-clearing 
        price based on 85 percent of the market-clearing price during 
        the most recent stage 1 emergency.
    (3) As used in this section, the term ``cost-of-service rates'' 
means rates, charges, or classifications for the sale of electric 
energy that equal to the sum of the following:
            (A) All variable and fixed costs of generating the electric 
        energy concerned.
            (B) Either--
                    (i) a reasonable risk premium, or
                    (ii) a return on invested capital used to generate 
                and transmit such electric energy that reflects 
                customary returns during the period 1994 through 1999.
          (C) Other reasonable costs associated with the acquisition, 
        conservation, and transmission of such electric energy.
    (d) Enforcement.--Any affected State may bring an action in the 
appropriate United States District Court to enforce this section.
    (e) Savings Provisions.--Nothing in this section shall affect any 
authority of the Commission existing before the enactment of this 
section.
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