[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1491 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1491

 To amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to expand 
             the electric rate-setting authority of States.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 2, 2011

   Mr. Wyden 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 expand 
             the electric rate-setting authority of States.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``PURPA's Legislative Upgrade to State 
Authority Act'' or ``PURPA PLUS Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) section 210 of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies 
        Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 824a-3)--
                    (A) established a new class of nonutility 
                generators known as ``qualifying cogeneration 
                facilities'' and ``qualifying small power production 
                facilities''; and
                    (B) encouraged the development of alternate sources 
                of energy with the requirement that utilities purchase 
                energy offered by qualifying facilities;
            (2) since the date of enactment of that section, materials 
        and designs for qualifying facility technologies have advanced 
        and placed renewable resources and cogeneration facilities 
        within the reach of more consumers, including technologies such 
        as--
                    (A) solar photovoltaic panels;
                    (B) small wind turbines;
                    (C) storage technologies to support renewable 
                energy;
                    (D) small hydroelectric generators on existing 
                dams, diversions, and conduits;
                    (E) hydrokinetic generators;
                    (F) gas microturbines;
                    (G) steam-cycle turbines;
                    (H) Stirling engines;
                    (I) fuel cells; and
                    (J) biomass boilers;
            (3) States need additional regulatory flexibility and 
        authority to be able to incentivize the qualifying facilities; 
        and
            (4) the avoided cost caps on qualifying facilities should 
        be removed so that States can set the rates for qualifying 
        facilities of not more than 2 megawatts capacity.

SEC. 3. STATE AUTHORITY TO INCENTIVIZE QUALIFYING FACILITIES.

    Section 210(b) of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 
1978 (16 U.S.C. 824a-3(b)) is amended in the last sentence by inserting 
before the period at the end the following: ``, except that the rule 
shall provide that a State regulatory authority or nonregulated 
electric utility, acting under State authority, may set rates that 
exceed the incremental cost of alternative electric energy for 
purchases from any qualifying cogeneration facility or qualifying small 
power production facility of not more than 2 megawatts capacity''.
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