[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1957 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1957

    To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to 
   authorize the Secretary of Energy to make loans to publicly owned 
electric utilities to finance and refinance projects to comply with any 
  Federal energy efficiency resource standard, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 28, 2009

  Mr. Schumer introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
       referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to 
   authorize the Secretary of Energy to make loans to publicly owned 
electric utilities to finance and refinance projects to comply with any 
  Federal energy efficiency resource standard, 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. LOANS TO PUBLICLY OWNED ELECTRIC UTILITIES TO COMPLY WITH 
              FEDERAL ENERGY EFFICIENCY RESOURCE STANDARD AND FOR OTHER 
              PURPOSES.

    Title VI of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 
U.S.C. 2601 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 610. LOANS TO PUBLICLY OWNED ELECTRIC UTILITIES TO COMPLY WITH 
              FEDERAL ENERGY EFFICIENCY RESOURCE STANDARD AND FOR OTHER 
              PURPOSES.

    ``(a) Purposes.--The purposes of this section are--
            ``(1) to reduce the cost incurred by publicly owned 
        electric utilities in complying with any Federal energy 
        efficiency resource standard and for other purposes; and
            ``(2) to minimize the impact of compliance on electricity 
        rates for consumers.
    ``(b) Definition of Publicly Owned Electric Utility.--In this 
section, the term `publicly owned electric utility' means a State 
utility with a service obligation, as those terms are defined in 
section 217 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824q) (as in effect on 
the date of enactment of this section).
    ``(c) Loans.--The Secretary shall make loans available to publicly 
owned electric utilities to carry out qualified projects approved by 
the Secretary.
    ``(d) Qualified Projects.--
            ``(1) In general.--A loan may be made under this section--
                    ``(A) to finance or refinance the costs of the 
                acquisition, construction, or improvement of an 
                electric generation, transmission, or distribution 
                facility or utility property or assets, including the 
                costs of any indirect acquisition of such a facility or 
                any utility property or assets; or
                    ``(B) to refinance bonds issued by a State utility 
                described in section 10631(c)(3) of the Revenue Act of 
                1987 (Public Law 100-203; 101 Stat. 1330-455).
            ``(2) Disapproval.--The Secretary may disapprove an 
        application for a loan for a project under this section if the 
        Secretary determines that the revenues available to repay the 
        loan are unlikely to be sufficient to cover the repayment 
        obligations of the proposed loan.
    ``(e) Terms.--A loan made by the Secretary to a publicly owned 
electric utility under this section shall--
            ``(1) be for a term of not to exceed 30 years;
            ``(2) be secured in a manner that is consistent with 
        customary financing arrangements for publicly owned electric 
        utilities; and
            ``(3) bear an annual interest rate that is not more than 
        the lesser of--
                    ``(A) 50 basis points more than the Federal funds 
                rate established by the Board of Governors of the 
                Federal Reserve System; or
                    ``(B) 2 percent.
    ``(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to carry out this section such sums as are necessary.''.
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