[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2929 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2929

To amend the Federal Power Act to require the Federal Energy Regulatory 
   Commission to review the decisions of the North American Electric 
Reliability Corporation affecting cost allocation under system support 
                         resources agreements.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 17, 2014

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Federal Power Act to require the Federal Energy Regulatory 
   Commission to review the decisions of the North American Electric 
Reliability Corporation affecting cost allocation under system support 
                         resources agreements.

    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 ``Providing Opportunities to Work for 
Energy Reliability Act'' or the ``POWER Act''.

SEC. 2. REVIEW OF DECISIONS OF NORTH AMERICAN ELECTRIC RELIABILITY 
              CORPORATION AFFECTING COST ALLOCATION UNDER SYSTEM 
              SUPPORT RESOURCES AGREEMENTS.

    Section 205 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 824d) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
    ``(g) Review of Decisions of North American Electric Reliability 
Corporation Affecting Cost Allocation Under System Support Resources 
Agreements.--
            ``(1) Definitions.--In this subsection:
                    ``(A) System support resources agreement.--
                            ``(i) In general.--The term `system support 
                        resources agreement' means an agreement between 
                        the owner of a system support resources unit 
                        and a transmission organization that provides 
                        for--
                                    ``(I) operation of the system 
                                support resources unit for a period 
                                past the date on which the owner of the 
                                system support resources unit proposes 
                                to suspend the operation of, or retire, 
                                the system support resources unit;
                                    ``(II) the payments to be made to 
                                the owner of the system support 
                                resources unit for the continued 
                                operation; and
                                    ``(III) the manner in which the 
                                costs for the continued operation will 
                                be recovered.
                            ``(ii) Inclusions.--The term `system 
                        support resources agreement' includes the 
                        associated rate schedule, or any other 
                        allocation of costs, for an agreement described 
                        in clause (i).
                    ``(B) System support resources unit.--The term 
                `system support resources unit' means a generating unit 
                that has been designated by a transmission organization 
                as a system support resources unit on--
                            ``(i) an application to the transmission 
                        organization by the owner of the unit to retire 
                        or suspend operation of the unit; and
                            ``(ii) a determination by the transmission 
                        organization that the operation of the unit is 
                        necessary to operate the transmission system 
                        consistent with applicable reliability 
                        standards.
                    ``(C) Transmission organization.--The term 
                `transmission organization' has the meaning given the 
                term in section 215(a).
            ``(2) Review by commission.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Commission shall review any 
                decision by the North American Electric Reliability 
                Corporation to approve a new balancing authority that 
                would alter cost allocations under an existing system 
                support resources agreement.
                    ``(B) Suspension of effectiveness.--The new 
                balancing authority described in subparagraph (A) shall 
                not take effect until approved by the Commission.
            ``(3) Cost-benefit analysis.--Prior to issuing a decision 
        under paragraph (4), the Commission shall publish a cost-
        benefit analysis of the proposed decision described in 
        paragraph (2)(A), including the likely financial impact of the 
        decision on ratepayers.
            ``(4) Decision by commission.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Commission shall--
                            ``(i) review a decision of the North 
                        American Electric Reliability Corporation 
                        described in paragraph (2)(A); and
                            ``(ii) issue a decision that approves, 
                        disapproves, or modifies the decision of the 
                        North American Electric Reliability 
                        Corporation.
                    ``(B) Disapproval.--The Commission shall disapprove 
                a decision of the North American Electric Reliability 
                Corporation described in paragraph (2)(A) if the 
                Commission determines that the decision would result in 
                unjust, unreasonable, unduly discriminatory, or 
                otherwise unlawful rates for ratepayers.''.
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