Bill Text: MI HB4806 | 2019-2020 | 100th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Public utilities; public service commission; licensing of electric vehicle charging station operators; provide for. Amends title & secs. 10g, 10h & 10q of 1939 PA 3 (MCL 460.10g et seq.).

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 7-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-02-19 - Referred To Committee On Ways And Means, With Substitute (h-2) [HB4806 Detail]

Download: Michigan-2019-HB4806-Introduced.html

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HOUSE BILL No. 4806

 

 

July 2, 2019, Introduced by Reps. Schroeder, Bellino, O'Malley, Markkanen, Hornberger, Frederick, Mueller and Kuppa and referred to the Committee on Transportation.

 

     A bill to amend 1939 PA 3, entitled

 

"An act to provide for the regulation and control of public and

certain private utilities and other services affected with a public

interest within this state; to provide for alternative energy

suppliers; to provide for licensing; to include municipally owned

utilities and other providers of energy under certain provisions of

this act; to create a public service commission and to prescribe

and define its powers and duties; to abolish the Michigan public

utilities commission and to confer the powers and duties vested by

law on the public service commission; to provide for the powers and

duties of certain state governmental officers and entities; to

provide for the continuance, transfer, and completion of certain

matters and proceedings; to abolish automatic adjustment clauses;

to prohibit certain rate increases without notice and hearing; to

qualify residential energy conservation programs permitted under

state law for certain federal exemption; to create a fund; to

encourage the utilization of resource recovery facilities; to

prohibit certain acts and practices of providers of energy; to

allow for the securitization of stranded costs; to reduce rates; to

provide for appeals; to provide appropriations; to declare the

effect and purpose of this act; to prescribe remedies and

penalties; and to repeal acts and parts of acts,"

 

by amending the title and sections 10g, 10h, and 10q (MCL 460.10g,

 

460.10h, and 460.10q), the title as amended by 2016 PA 341, section

10g as amended by 2008 PA 286, section 10h as added by 2000 PA 142,

 

and section 10q as added by 2000 PA 141.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

TITLE

 

     An act to provide for the regulation and control of public and

 

certain private utilities and other services affected with a public

 

interest within this state; to provide for alternative energy

 

suppliers and electric vehicle charging station operators; to

 

provide for licensing; to include municipally owned utilities and

 

other providers of energy under certain provisions of this act; to

 

create a public service commission and to prescribe and define its

 

powers and duties; to abolish the Michigan public utilities

 

commission and to confer the powers and duties vested by law on the

 

public service commission; to provide for the powers and duties of

 

certain state governmental officers and entities; to provide for

 

the continuance, transfer, and completion of certain matters and

 

proceedings; to abolish automatic adjustment clauses; to prohibit

 

certain rate increases without notice and hearing; to qualify

 

residential energy conservation programs permitted under state law

 

for certain federal exemption; to create a fund; to encourage the

 

utilization of resource recovery facilities; to prohibit certain

 

acts and practices of providers of energy; to allow for the

 

securitization of stranded costs; to reduce rates; to provide for

 

appeals; to provide appropriations; to declare the effect and

 

purpose of this act; to prescribe remedies and penalties; and to

 

repeal acts and parts of acts.

 

     Sec. 10g. (1) As used in sections 10 through 10bb:

 

     (a) "Alternative electric supplier" means a person selling

 

electric generation service to retail customers in this state.

 

Alternative electric supplier does not include an electric vehicle

 

charging station operator or a person who physically delivers

 

electricity directly to retail customers in this state. An

 

alternative electric supplier is not a public utility.

 

     (b) "Commission" means the Michigan public service commission

 

created in section 1.

 

     (c) "Electric utility" means that term as defined in section 2

 

of the electric transmission line certification act, 1995 PA 30,

 

MCL 460.562.10h.

 

     (d) "Independent transmission owner" means an independent

 

transmission company as that term is defined in section 2 of the

 

electric transmission line certification act, 1995 PA 30, MCL

 

460.562.

 

     (e) "Merchant plant" means electric generating equipment and

 

associated facilities with a capacity of more than 100 kilowatts

 

located in this state that are not owned and operated by an

 

electric utility.

 

     (f) "Relevant market" means either the Upper Peninsula or the

 

Lower Peninsula of this state.

 

     (g) "Renewable energy source" means energy generated by solar,

 

wind, geothermal, biomass, including waste-to-energy and landfill

 

gas, or hydroelectric.

 

     (2) A school district aggregating electricity for school

 

properties or an exclusive aggregator for public or private school

 

properties is not an electric utility or a public utility for the

purpose of that aggregation.

 

     Sec. 10h. As used in this act:

 

     (a) "Assignee" means an individual, corporation, or other

 

legally recognized entity to which an interest in securitization

 

property is transferred.

 

     (b) "Commission" means the Michigan public service commission

 

in the department of consumer and industry services.created in

 

section 1.

 

     (c) "Electric utility" means that term as defined in section 2

 

of the electric transmission line certification act, 1995 PA 30,

 

MCL 460.562.a person, partnership, corporation, association, or

 

other legal entity whose transmission or distribution of

 

electricity the commission regulates under 1909 PA 106, MCL 460.551

 

to 460.559, or this act. Electric utility does not include any of

 

the following:

 

     (i) A municipally owned utility.

 

     (ii) An affiliated transmission company as that term is

 

defined in section 2 of the electric transmission line

 

certification act, 1995 PA 30, MCL 460.562.

 

     (iii) An independent transmission company as that term is

 

defined in section 2 of the electric transmission line

 

certification act, 1995 PA 30, MCL 460.562.

 

     (iv) An electric vehicle charging station operator.

 

     (d) "Electric vehicle" means that term as defined in section

 

2(f)(iii) of the Michigan next energy authority act, 2002 PA 593,

 

MCL 207.822.

 

     (e) "Electric vehicle charging station" means an electric

component assembly or cluster of component assemblies designed

 

specifically to charge batteries within an electric vehicle by

 

permitting the transfer of electric energy to a battery or other

 

storage device in an electric vehicle.

 

     (f) "Electric vehicle charging station operator" means a

 

retail seller of electricity that is used solely to operate an

 

electric vehicle charging station.

 

     (g) (d) "Financing order" means an order of the commission

 

approving the issuance of securitization bonds and the creation of

 

securitization charges and any corresponding utility rate

 

reductions.

 

     (h) (e) "Financing party" means a holder of securitization

 

bonds, including trustees, collateral agents, and other persons

 

acting for the benefit of the holder.

 

     (i) (f) "Nonbypassable charge" means a charge in a financing

 

order payable by a customer to an electric utility or its assignees

 

or successors regardless of the identity of the customer's electric

 

generation supplier.

 

     (j) (g) "Qualified costs" means an electric utility's

 

regulatory assets as determined by the commission, adjusted by the

 

applicable portion of related investment tax credits, plus any

 

costs that the commission determines that the electric utility

 

would be unlikely to collect in a competitive market, including,

 

but not limited to, retail open access implementation costs and the

 

costs of a commission approved restructuring, buyout or buy-down of

 

a power purchase contract, together with the costs of issuing,

 

supporting, and servicing securitization bonds and any costs of

retiring and refunding the electric utility's existing debt and

 

equity securities in connection with the issuance of securitization

 

bonds. Qualified costs include taxes related to the recovery of

 

securitization charges.

 

     (k) (h) "Securitization bonds" means bonds, debentures, notes,

 

certificates of participation, certificates of a beneficial

 

interest, certificates of ownership, or other evidences of

 

indebtedness that are issued by an electric utility, its

 

successors, or an assignee under a financing order, that have a

 

term of not more than 15 years, and that are secured by or payable

 

from securitization property. If certificates of participation,

 

certificates of beneficial interest, or certificates of ownership

 

are issued, references in this act to principal, interest, or

 

premium shall refer to comparable amounts under those certificates.

 

     (l) (i) "Securitization charges" means nonbypassable amounts

 

to be charged for the use or availability of electric services,

 

approved by the commission under a financing order to fully recover

 

qualified costs, that shall be are collected by an electric

 

utility, its successors, an assignee, or other collection agents as

 

provided for in the financing order.

 

     (m) (j) "Securitization property" means the property described

 

in section 10j.

 

     Sec. 10q. (1) A person shall not engage do either of the

 

following:

 

     (a) Engage in the business of an alternative electric supplier

 

in this state unless the person obtains and maintains a license

 

issued under section 10a.

     (b) Engage in the business of an electric vehicle charging

 

station operator unless the person obtains and maintains a license

 

issued under subsection (2).

 

     (2) The commission shall issue orders establishing a licensing

 

procedure for electric vehicle charging station operators. The

 

commission shall allow electric vehicle charging station operators

 

to sell that electricity at a profit. To ensure adequate service to

 

customers in this state, the commission shall require that electric

 

vehicle charging station operators do all of the following:

 

     (a) Maintain an office in this state.

 

     (b) Have financial, managerial, and technical capabilities

 

that the commission considers necessary.

 

     (c) Maintain records that the commission considers necessary.

 

     (d) Remain accessible to the commission, to consumers, and to

 

electric utilities in this state.

 

     (e) Collect and remit all applicable taxes.

 

     (3) (2) In addition to any other information required by the

 

commission in connection with a licensing application under section

 

10a or subsection (2), the applicant shall be required to do both

 

of the following:

 

     (a) Provide information, including information as to the

 

applicant's safety record and its history of service quality and

 

reliability, as to the applicant's technical ability, as defined

 

under regulations of the commission, to safely and reliably

 

generate or otherwise obtain and deliver electricity and provide

 

any other proposed services.

 

     (b) Demonstrate that the employees of the applicant that will

be installing, operating, and maintaining generation or facilities,

 

transmission facilities, or electric vehicle charging stations

 

within this state, or any entity with which the applicant has

 

contracted to perform those functions within this state, have the

 

requisite knowledge, skills, and competence to perform those

 

functions in a safe and responsible manner in order to provide safe

 

and reliable service.

 

     (4) (3) The commission shall order the applicant for a license

 

under section 10a or subsection (2) to post a bond or provide a

 

letter of credit or other financial guarantee in a reasonable

 

amount established by the commission of not less than $40,000.00,

 

if the commission finds after an investigation and review that the

 

requirement of a bond would be in the public interest.

 

     (5) (4) Only investor-owned, cooperative, or municipal

 

municipally owned electric utilities shall own, construct, or

 

operate electric distribution facilities or electric meter

 

equipment used in the distribution of electricity in this state.

 

This subsection does not prohibit a self-service power provider

 

from owning, constructing, or operating electric distribution

 

facilities or electric metering equipment for the sole purpose of

 

providing or utilizing self-service power. This subsection does not

 

prohibit an electric vehicle charging station operator from owning,

 

constructing, or operating an electric vehicle charging station.

 

This act does not affect the current rights, if any, of a

 

nonutility to construct or operate a private distribution system on

 

private property or private easements. This does not preclude

 

crossing of public rights-of-way.

     (6) (5) The commission shall not prohibit an electric utility

 

from metering and billing its customers for services provided by

 

the electric utility.