ENGROSSED
Senate Bill No. 419
(By Senators Love and Hunter)
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[Introduced January 30, 2006; referred to the Committee
on Government Organization.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact §24-2-1 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, relating to the Public Service Commission
generally; and providing that an innovative, alternative sewer
service method provided by a public utility is subject to the
jurisdiction of the Public Service Commission.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §24-2-1 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 2. POWERS AND DUTIES OF PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION.
§24-2-1. Jurisdiction of commission; waiver of jurisdiction.
(a) The jurisdiction of the commission shall extend to all
public utilities in this state and shall include any utility
engaged in any of the following public services:
Common carriage of passengers or goods, whether by air, railroad, street railroad, motor or otherwise, by express or
otherwise, by land, water or air, whether wholly or partly by land,
water or air; transportation of oil, gas or water by pipeline;
transportation of coal and its derivatives and all mixtures and
combinations thereof with other substances by pipeline; sleeping
car or parlor car services; transmission of messages by telephone,
telegraph or radio; generation and transmission of electrical
energy by hydroelectric or other utilities for service to the
public, whether directly or through a distributing utility;
supplying water, gas or electricity, by municipalities or others;
sewer systems servicing twenty-five or more persons or firms other
than the owner of the sewer systems:
Provided, That if a public
utility intends to provide sewer service by an innovative,
alternative method, as defined by the Federal Environmental
Protection Agency, the innovative, alternative method is a public
utility function and subject to the jurisdiction of the Public
Service Commission regardless of the number of customers served by
the innovative, alternative method; any public service district
created under the provisions of article thirteen-a, chapter sixteen
of this code; toll bridges, wharves, ferries; solid waste
facilities; and any other public service:
Provided, however, That
natural gas producers who provide natural gas service to not more
than twenty-five residential customers are exempt from the
jurisdiction of the commission with regard to the provisions of
such residential service:
Provided however further, That upon request of any of the customers of such natural gas producers, the
commission may, upon good cause being shown, exercise such
authority as the commission may deem appropriate over the
operation, rates and charges of such producer and for such length
of time as the commission may consider to be proper:
And provided
further, That the jurisdiction the commission may exercise over the
rates and charges of municipally operated public utilities is
limited to that authority granted the commission in section four-b
of this article:
And provided further, That the decision-making
authority granted to the commission in sections four and four-a of
this article shall, in respect to an application filed by a public
service district, be delegated to a single hearing examiner
appointed from the commission staff, which hearing examiner shall
be authorized to carry out all decision-making duties assigned to
the commission by said sections, and to issue orders having the
full force and effect of orders of the commission.
(b) The commission may, upon application, waive its
jurisdiction and allow a utility operating in an adjoining state to
provide service in West Virginia when:
(1) An area of West Virginia cannot be practicably and
economically served by a utility licensed to operate within the
State of West Virginia;
(2) Said area can be provided with utility service by a
utility which operates in a state adjoining West Virginia;
(3) The utility operating in the adjoining state is regulated by a regulatory agency or commission of the adjoining state; and
(4) The number of customers to be served is not substantial.
The rates the out-of-state utility charges West Virginia customers
shall be the same as the rate the utility is duly authorized to
charge in the adjoining jurisdiction. The commission, in the case
of any such utility, may revoke its waiver of jurisdiction for good
cause.
(c) Any other provisions of this chapter to the contrary
notwithstanding:
(1) An owner or operator of an electric generating facility
located or to be located in this state that has been designated as
an exempt wholesale generator under applicable federal law, or will
be so designated prior to commercial operation of the facility, and
for which such facility the owner or operator holds a certificate
of public convenience and necessity issued by the commission on or
before the first day of July, two thousand three, shall be subject
to subsections (e), (f), (g), (h), (i) and (j), section eleven-c of
this article as if the certificate of public convenience and
necessity for such facility were a siting certificate issued under
said section and shall not otherwise be subject to the jurisdiction
of the commission or to the provisions of this chapter with respect
to such facility except for the making or constructing of a
material modification thereof as provided in subdivision (5) of
this subsection.
(2) Any person, corporation or other entity that intends to construct or construct and operate an electric generating facility
to be located in this state that has been designated as an exempt
wholesale generator under applicable federal law, or will be so
designated prior to commercial operation of the facility, and for
which facility the owner or operator does not hold a certificate of
public convenience and necessity issued by the commission on or
before the first day of July, two thousand three, shall, prior to
commencement of construction of the facility, obtain a siting
certificate from the commission pursuant to the provisions of
section eleven-c of this article in lieu of a certificate of public
convenience and necessity pursuant to the provisions of section
eleven of this article. An owner or operator of an electric
generating facility as is described in this subdivision for which
a siting certificate has been issued by the commission shall be
subject to subsections (e), (f), (g), (h), (i) and (j), section
eleven-c of this article and shall not otherwise be subject to the
jurisdiction of the commission or to the provisions of this chapter
with respect to such facility except for the making or constructing
of a material modification thereof as provided in subdivision (5)
of this subsection.
(3) An owner or operator of an electric generating facility
located in this state that had not been designated as an exempt
wholesale generator under applicable federal law prior to
commercial operation of the facility, that generates electric
energy solely for sale at retail outside this state or solely for sale at wholesale in accordance with any applicable federal law
that preempts state law or solely for both such sales at retail and
such sales at wholesale, and that had been constructed and had
engaged in commercial operation on or before the first day of July,
two thousand three, shall not be subject to the jurisdiction of the
commission or to the provisions of this chapter with respect to
such facility, regardless of whether such facility subsequent to
its construction has been or will be designated as an exempt
wholesale generator under applicable federal law:
Provided, That
such owner or operator shall be subject to subdivision (5) of this
subsection if a material modification of such facility is made or
constructed.
(4) Any person, corporation or other entity that intends to
construct or construct and operate an electric generating facility
to be located in this state that has not been or will not be
designated as an exempt wholesale generator under applicable
federal law prior to commercial operation of the facility, that
will generate electric energy solely for sale at retail outside
this state or solely for sale at wholesale in accordance with any
applicable federal law that preempts state law or solely for both
such sales at retail and such sales at wholesale and that had not
been constructed and had not been engaged in commercial operation
on or before the first day of July, two thousand three, shall,
prior to commencement of construction of the facility, obtain a
siting certificate from the commission pursuant to the provisions of section eleven-c of this article in lieu of a certificate of
public convenience and necessity pursuant to the provisions of
section eleven of this article. An owner or operator of an
electric generating facility as is described in this subdivision
for which a siting certificate has been issued by the commission
shall be subject to subsections (e), (f), (g), (h), (i) and (j),
section eleven-c of this article and shall not otherwise be subject
to the jurisdiction of the commission or to the provisions of this
chapter with respect to such facility except for the making or
constructing of a material modification thereof as provided in
subdivision (5) of this subsection.
(5) An owner or operator of an electric generating facility
described in this subsection shall, before making or constructing
a material modification of the facility that is not within the
terms of any certificate of public convenience and necessity or
siting certificate previously issued for the facility or an earlier
material modification thereof, obtain a siting certificate for the
modification from the commission pursuant to the provisions of
section eleven-c of this article in lieu of a certificate of public
convenience and necessity for the modification pursuant to the
provisions of section eleven of this article and, except for the
provisions of section eleven-c of this article, shall not otherwise
be subject to the jurisdiction of the commission or to the
provisions of this chapter with respect to such modification.
(6) The commission shall consider an application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity filed pursuant to
section eleven of this article to construct an electric generating
facility described in this subsection or to make or construct a
material modification of such electric generating facility as an
application for a siting certificate pursuant to section eleven-c
of this article if the application for the certificate of public
convenience and necessity was filed with the commission prior to
the first day of July, two thousand three, and if the commission
has not issued a final order thereon as of that date.
(7) The limitations on the jurisdiction of the commission
over, and on the applicability of the provisions of this chapter
to, the owner or operator of an electric generating facility as
imposed by, and described in this subsection, shall not be deemed
to affect or limit the commission's jurisdiction over contracts or
arrangements between the owner or operator of such facility and any
affiliated public utility subject to the provisions of this
chapter.