H. B. 2177
(By Delegates McKinley and Trump)
[Introduced February 18, 1993; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend and reenact section one, article one, chapter
twenty-four of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended; and to amend article two of
said chapter by adding thereto a new section, designated
section seventeen, all relating to providing a plan for
identifying persons needing special services during power
outages; providing notification of planned outages; and
developing procedures to restore services to those persons
or assisting with alternative plans if any outage poses a
life threatening situation.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section one, article one, chapter twenty-four of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted; and that article two of said
chapter be amended by adding thereto a new section, designated
section seventeen, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS.
§24-1-1. Legislative purpose and policy; plan for internal
reorganization; promulgation of plan as rule; cooperation
with joint committee on government and finance.
(a) It is the purpose and policy of the Legislature in
enacting this chapter to confer upon the public service
commission of this state the authority and duty to enforce and
regulate the practices, services and rates of public utilities in
order to:
(1) Ensure fair and prompt regulation of public utilities in
the interest of the using and consuming public;
(2) Provide the availability of adequate, economical and
reliable utility services throughout the state;
(3) Encourage the well-planned development of utility
resources in a manner consistent with state needs and in ways
consistent with the productive use of the state's energy
resources, such as coal;
(4) Ensure that rates and charges for utility services are
just, reasonable, applied without unjust discrimination or
preference, applied in a manner consistent with the purposes and
policies set forth in article two-a of this chapter, and based
primarily on the costs of providing these services;
(5) Encourage energy conservation and the effective and
efficient management of regulated utility enterprises;
and
(6) Encourage and support open and competitive marketing of
rail carrier services by providing to all rail carriers access to
tracks as provided in section three-b, article three of thischapter. It is the purpose of the Legislature to remove
artificial barriers to rail carrier service, stimulate
competition, stimulate the free flow of goods and passengers
throughout the state and promote the expansion of the tourist
industry, thereby improving the economic condition of the state;
and
(7) Provide an identification system for residential
customers on life support systems and to develop a plan for
restoring those services, or assisting in relocating those
persons to an area with services, as soon as practical during any
power outages.
(b) The Legislature creates the public service commission to
exercise the legislative powers delegated to it. The public
service commission is charged with the responsibility for
appraising and balancing the interests of current and future
utility service customers, the general interests of the state's
economy and the interests of the utilities subject to its
jurisdiction in its deliberations and decisions.
(c) The Legislature directs the public service commission to
identify, explore and consider the potential benefits or risks
associated with emerging and state-of-the-art concepts in utility
management, rate design and conservation. The commission may
conduct inquiries and hold hearings regarding such concepts in
order to provide utilities subject to its jurisdiction and other
interested persons the opportunity to comment, and shall report
to the governor and the Legislature regarding its findings andpolicies to each of these areas not later than the first day of
the regular session of the Legislature in the year one thousand
nine hundred eighty-five, and every two years thereafter.
(d) It is legislative policy to ensure that the Legislature
and the general public become better informed regarding the
regulation of public utilities in this state and the conduct of
the business of the public service commission. To aid in the
achievement of this policy, the public service commission
annually shall present to the joint committee on government and
finance, created by article three, chapter four of this code, or
a subcommittee designated by the joint committee, a management
summary report which describes in a concise manner:
(1) The major activities of the commission for the year
especially as such activities relate to the implementation of the
provisions of this chapter;
(2) Important policy decisions reached and initiatives
undertaken during the year;
(3) The current balance of supply and demand for natural gas
and electric utility services in the state and forecast of the
probable balance for the next ten years; and
(4) Other information considered by the commission to be
important including recommendations for statutory reform and the
reasons for such recommendations.
(e) In addition to any other studies and reports required to
be conducted and made by the public service commission pursuant
to any other provision of this section, the commission shallstudy and initially report to the Legislature no later than the
first day of the regular session of the Legislature in the year
one thousand nine hundred eighty, upon:
(1) The extent to which natural gas wells or wells
heretofore supplying gas utilities in this state have been capped
off or shut in; the number of such wells, their probable extent
of future production and the reasons given and any justification
for, capping off or shutting in such wells, the reasons, if any,
why persons engaged or heretofore engaged in the development of
gas wells in this state or the Appalachian areas have been
discouraged from drilling, developing or selling the production
of such wells and whether there are fixed policies by any utility
or group of utilities to avoid the purchase of natural gas
produced in the Appalachian region of the United States generally
and in West Virginia specifically.
(2) The extent of the export and import of natural gas
utility supplies in West Virginia.
(3) The cumulative effect of the practices mentioned in
subdivisions (1) and (2) of this subsection upon rates
theretofore and hereafter charged gas utility customers in West
Virginia.
In carrying out the provisions of this section the
commission shall have jurisdiction over such persons, whether
public utilities or not, as may be in the opinion of the
commission necessary to the exercise of its mandate and may
compel attendance before it, take testimony under oath and compelthe production of papers or other documents. Upon reasonable
request by the commission, all other state agencies shall
cooperate with the commission in carrying out the provisions and
requirements of this subsection.
(f) No later than the first day of the regular session of
the Legislature in the year one thousand nine hundred eighty, the
public service commission shall submit to the Legislature a plan
for internal reorganization which plan shall specifically address
the following:
(1) A division within the public service commission which
shall include the office of the commissioners, the hearing
examiners and such support staff as may be necessary to carry out
the functions of decision making and general supervision of the
commission, which functions shall not include advocacy in cases
before the commission;
(2) The creation of a division which shall act as an
advocate for the position of and in the interest of all
customers;
(3) The means and procedures by which the division to be
created pursuant to the provisions of subdivision (2) of this
subsection shall protect the interests of each class of customers
and the means by which the commission will assure that such
division will be financially and departmentally independent of
the division created by subdivision (1) of this subsection;
(4) The creation of a division within the public service
commission which shall assume the duties and responsibilities nowcharged to the commissioners with regard to motor carriers which
division shall exist separately from those divisions set out in
subdivisions (1) and (2) of this subsection and which shall
relieve the commissioners of all except minimal administrative
responsibilities as to motor carriers and which plan shall
provide for a hearing procedure to relieve the commissioners from
hearing motor carrier cases;
(5) Which members of the staff of the public service
commission shall be exempted from the salary schedules or pay
plan adopted by the civil service commission and identify such
staff members by job classification or designation, together with
the salary or salary ranges for each such job classification or
designation;
(6) The manner in which the commission will strengthen its
knowledge and independent capacity to analyze key conditions and
trends in the industries it regulates extending from general
industry analysis and supply-demand forecasting to continuing and
more thorough scrutiny of the capacity planning, construction
management, operating performance and financial condition of the
major companies within these industries.
Such plan shall be based on the concept that each of the
divisions mentioned in subdivisions (1), (2) and (4) of this
subsection shall exist independently of the others and the plan
shall discourage ex parte communications between them by such
means as the commission shall direct, including, but not limited
to, separate clerical and professional staffing for eachdivision. Further, the public service commission is directed to
incorporate within the said plan to the fullest extent possible
the recommendations presented to the subcommittee on the public
service commission of the joint committee on government and
finance in a final report dated February, one thousand nine
hundred seventy-nine, and entitled "A Plan for Regulatory Reform
and Management Improvement."
The commission shall before the fifth day of January, one
thousand nine hundred eighty, adopt said plan by order, which
order shall promulgate the same as a rule of the commission to be
effective upon the date specified in said order, which date shall
be no later than the thirty-first day of December, one thousand
nine hundred eighty. Certified copies of such order and rule
shall be filed on the first day of the regular session of the
Legislature, one thousand nine hundred eighty, by the chairman of
the commission with the clerk of each house of the Legislature,
the governor and the secretary of state. The chairman of the
commission shall also file with the office of the secretary of
state the receipt of the clerk of each house and of the governor,
which receipt shall evidence compliance with this section.
Upon the filing of a certified copy of such order and rule,
the clerk of each house of the Legislature shall report the same
to their respective houses and the presiding officer thereof
shall refer the same to appropriate standing committee or
committees.
Within the limits of funds appropriated therefor, the ruleof the public service commission shall be effective upon the date
specified in the order of the commission promulgating it unless
an alternative plan be adopted by general law or unless the rule
is disapproved by a concurrent resolution of the Legislature
adopted prior to adjournment sine die of the regular session of
the Legislature to be held in the year one thousand nine hundred
eighty:
Provided, That if such rule is approved in part and
disapproved in part by a concurrent resolution of the Legislature
adopted prior to such adjournment, such rule shall be effective
to the extent and only to the extent that the same is approved by
such concurrent resolution.
The rules promulgated and made effective pursuant to this
section shall be effective notwithstanding any other provisions
of this code for the promulgation of rules or regulations.
(g) The public service commission is hereby directed to
cooperate with the joint committee on government and finance of
the Legislature in its review, examination and study of the
administrative operations and enforcement record of the railroad
safety division of the public service commission and any similar
studies.
(h) (1) The Legislature hereby finds that rates for natural
gas charged to customers of all classes have risen dramatically
in recent years to the extent that such increases have adversely
affected all customer classes. The Legislature further finds
that it must take action necessary to mitigate the adverse
consequences of these dramatic rate increases.
(2) The Legislature further finds that the practices of
natural gas utilities in purchasing high-priced gas supplies, in
purchasing gas supplies from out-of-state sources when West
Virginia possesses abundant natural gas, and in securing
supplies, directly or indirectly by contractual agreements
including take-or-pay provisions, indefinite price escalators, or
most-favored nation clauses have contributed to the dramatic
increase in natural gas prices. It is therefore the policy of
the Legislature to discourage such purchasing practices in order
to protect all customer classes.
(3) The Legislature further finds that it is in the best
interests of the citizens of West Virginia to encourage the
transportation of natural gas in intrastate commerce by
interstate or intrastate pipelines or by local distribution
companies in order to provide competition in the natural gas
industry and in order to provide natural gas to consumers at the
lowest possible price.
(i) The Legislature further finds that transactions between
utilities and affiliates are a contributing factor to the
increase in natural gas and electricity prices and tend to
confuse consideration of a proper rate of return calculation.
The Legislature therefore finds that it is imperative that the
public service commission have the opportunity to properly study
the issue of proper rate of return for lengthy periods of time
and to limit the return of a utility to a proper level when
compared to return or profit that affiliates earn on transactionswith sister utilities.
ARTICLE 2. POWERS AND DUTIES OF PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION.
§24-2-17. Power services to those on life support systems;
maintaining a registry; notification of interruption of
services; priority in service restoration; coordination of
relocation services.
(a) In addition to all other powers and duties conferred
upon the public service commission herein, the commission shall
be charged with developing rules to be followed by all electric
power companies in this state for purposes of accomplishing the
following:
(1) Identifying and maintaining a registry of persons in
private residences that are dependent on life support systems and
updating that registry no less than twice annually;
(2) Providing adequate notice of planned power outages to
each individual in the registry;
(3) Organizing service restoration so that priority is given
to individuals listed in the registry; and
(4) Determining alternative plans to be implemented when
interruption of services poses a life threatening situation for
those persons listed in the registry.
(b) Each electric utility company must develop plans in
accordance with the commission's rules and such plans must
include the following:
(1)
Planned outages. -- Provisions for providing notice and
coordinating services during planned outages which accommodatethe needs of those persons identified in the registry within
their service district;
(2)
Unplanned outages. -- Procedures which ensure that a
good faith effort will be made to give priority in-service
restoration to those individuals identified in the registry in
their service district; and
(3)
Life threatening situations. -- Plans for coordinating
the relocation of those persons on life support systems if any
power outage creates a life threatening situation.
(c) An electric power company that complies with the rules
promulgated by the commission in accordance with this section is
not liable for any damages in a civil action for any injuries or
deaths arising from any act or omission in connection with
developing and implementing a plan mandated by this section.
Nothing in this section shall be construed as requiring
power companies to provide life support back-up systems.
NOTE: The purpose of the bill is to authorize the
commission to develop rules requiring power companies to identify
persons within their district on life support systems; develop
procedures that ensure notification of planned power outages;
make reasonable efforts to give priority to those customers when
restoring services; and coordinate relocation efforts when power
outages present life threatening situations.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
§24-2-17 is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.