Regulators and utilities would consider 20% host-county power discounts

State regulators and nonregulated electric utilities would consider whether to adopt the 20% discount standard. It covers customers served in a host county and compares their rates with the same utility’s rates for the same customer class outside any host county. A host county must contain a power facility of at least 5 megawatts that sells electricity to local distribution systems and places operational, environmental, or infrastructure burdens on the county. Covered facilities include several named power sources, such as hydroelectric, solar, and wind, plus related federal or state infrastructure.

Each covered regulator or utility would have to follow deadlines for considering and deciding on the standard. State regulators would act for each electric utility whose rates they control, while each nonregulated electric utility would act for itself. The deadlines would not apply to a utility if, before enactment, its state had already implemented the same or a comparable standard, or its regulator or nonregulated utility had held a proceeding to consider one. They also would not apply if the state legislature voted on the same or a comparable standard for that utility during the three years before enactment. A review must begin, or a hearing date must be set, no later than one year after enactment; consideration and the decision must finish no later than two years after enactment.