HOUSE BILL NO. 2248 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE HURLBERT.
5923H.01I JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk
AN ACT To repeal section 393.1640, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to utility growth projects.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 393.1640, RSMo, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu 2 thereof, to be known as section 393.1640, to read as follows: 393.1640. 1. Subject to the limitations provided for in subsection 2 of this section, 2 and upon proper application by an eligible customer prior to public announcement of a 3 growth project, a new or existing account meeting the criteria in this subsection shall qualify 4 for one of the discounts set forth in subdivision (1) or (2) of this subsection: 5 (1) When the new load is reasonably projected to be at least three hundred kilowatts 6 but not more than ten megawatts and have a load factor of at least forty-five percent, the 7 discount shall equal thirty-five percent and shall apply for five years, provided that if it is 8 expected as of the date the discount is to commence that a thirty-five percent discount would 9 produce revenues from the applicant's total bill that would not exceed the electrical 10 corporation's variable cost to serve the applicant's account or accounts that are to receive the 11 discount, the discount shall be determined so that the percentage discount, rounded to the 12 nearest one percent, is expected, as of the date the discount percentage is determined, to 13 provide revenues equal to one hundred twenty percent of the electrical corporation's variable 14 cost to serve the applicant's account or accounts that are to receive the discount; 15 (2) When the new load is reasonably projected to be more than ten megawatts but 16 less than seventy-five megawatts and have a load factor of at least fifty-five percent, the 17 discount percentage[, rounded to the nearest one percent, shall be determined such that the
EXPLANATION — Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in the above bill is not enacted and is intended to be omitted from the law. Matter in bold-face type in the above bill is proposed language. HB 2248 2
18 applicant's total bill is expected, as of the date the discount percentage is determined, to 19 provide revenues equal to one hundred twenty percent of the electrical corporation's variable 20 cost to serve the applicant's account or accounts that are to receive the discount. Such 21 discount shall apply for ten years] shall equal thirty-five percent and shall apply for five 22 years, provided that if it is expected as of the date the discount is to commence that a 23 thirty-five percent discount would produce revenues from the applicant's total bill that 24 would not exceed the electrical corporation's variable cost to serve the applicant's 25 account or accounts that are to receive the discount, the discount shall be determined so 26 that the percentage discount, rounded to the nearest one percent, is expected, as of the 27 date the discount percentage is determined, to provide revenues sufficient to recover the 28 electrical corporation's variable cost to serve the applicant's account or accounts that 29 are to receive the discount. 30 31 [For the purposes of this section, the variable cost to serve new load for purposes of 32 establishing a discount under this section shall be determined using (a) the energy and 33 capacity market prices that underlie the net base energy costs reflected in the revenue 34 requirement from the electrical corporation's most recent general rate proceeding; (b) any 35 operations and maintenance expenses that vary with respect to the total number of customers 36 or load served by the electrical corporation, excluding operations and maintenance expenses 37 associated with generating electricity; and (c) any other incremental costs to serve the 38 customer.] 39 40 To obtain one of the discounts set forth in subdivision (1) or (2) of this subsection, the 41 customer's load shall be incremental, net of any offsetting load reductions due to the 42 termination of other accounts of the customer or an affiliate of the customer within twelve 43 months prior to the commencement of service to the new load, the customer shall receive an 44 economic development incentive from the local, regional, state, or federal government, or 45 from an agency or program of any such government, in conjunction with the incremental 46 load, and the customer shall meet the criteria set forth in the electrical corporation's economic 47 development rider tariff sheet, as approved by the commission, that are not inconsistent with 48 the provisions of this subsection. An applicant shall not be eligible for a discount 49 authorized by this subsection for any new or expanded facility that is determined by an 50 electrical corporation to be a nonqualifying facility as defined in this section. 51 52 Unless otherwise provided for by the electrical corporation's tariff, the applicable discount 53 shall be a percentage applied to all base-rate components of the bill. The discount shall be 54 applied to such incremental load from the date when the meter has been permanently set until HB 2248 3
55 the date that such incremental load no longer meets the criteria required to qualify for the 56 discount, as determined under the provisions of subsection 2 of this section. An eligible 57 customer shall also receive a ten percent discount of all base-rate components of the bill 58 applied to such incremental load for an additional one-year period beyond the period during 59 which the applicable discount under subdivision (1) or (2) of this subsection applies if the 60 electrical corporation determines that the customer is taking service from an under-utilized 61 circuit. The electrical corporation may include in its tariff additional or alternative terms and 62 conditions to a customer's utilization of the discount, subject to approval of such terms and 63 conditions by the commission. The customer, on forms supplied by the electrical corporation, 64 shall apply for the applicable discount provided for by this subsection at least ninety days 65 prior to the date the customer requests that the incremental demand receive one of the 66 discounts provided for by this subsection and shall enter into a written agreement with the 67 electrical corporation reflecting the discount percentages and other pertinent details. If the 68 incremental demand is not separately metered, the electrical corporation's determination of 69 the incremental demand shall control. The electrical corporation shall verify the customer's 70 incremental demand annually to determine continued qualification for the applicable 71 discount. [Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this subsection, the cents-per- 72 kilowatt-hour realization resulting from application of any discounted rates as calculated shall 73 be higher than the electrical corporation's variable cost to serve such incremental demand and 74 the applicable discounted rate also shall make a positive contribution to fixed costs associated 75 with service to such incremental demand. If in a subsequent general rate proceeding the 76 commission determines that application of a discounted rate is not adequate to cover the 77 electrical corporation's variable cost to serve the accounts in question and provide a positive 78 contribution to fixed costs then the commission shall increase the rate for those accounts 79 prospectively to the extent necessary to do so.] 80 2. In each general rate proceeding concluded after August 28, 2022, the difference in 81 revenues generated by applying the discounted rates provided for by this section and the 82 revenues that would have been generated without such discounts shall not be imputed into the 83 electrical corporation's revenue requirement. Instead, such revenue requirement shall be set 84 using the revenues generated by such discounted rates and the impact of the discounts 85 provided for by this section shall be allocated to all the electrical corporation's customer 86 classes, including the classes with customers that qualify for discounts under this section 87 through the application of a uniform percentage adjustment to the revenue requirement 88 responsibility of all customer classes. To qualify for the discounted rates provided for in this 89 section, customers shall meet the applicable criteria within twenty-four months of initially 90 receiving discounts based on metering data for calendar months thirteen through twenty-four 91 and annually thereafter. If such data indicates that the customer did not meet both of the three HB 2248 4
92 hundred kilowatt and forty-five percent load factor requirements for any applicable twelve- 93 month period, it shall thereafter no longer qualify for a discounted rate. For customers 94 receiving service under subdivision (2) of subsection 1 of this section, if after the fourth year, 95 the demand has not exceeded ten thousand kilowatts during any twelve-month period, the 96 customer's qualification shall revert to subdivision (1) of subsection 1 of this section. The 97 provisions of this section do not supersede or limit the ability of an electrical corporation to 98 continue to utilize economic development or retention tariffs previously approved by the 99 commission that are in effect on August 28, 2022. If, however, a customer is receiving any 100 economic development or retention-related discounts as of the date it would otherwise qualify 101 for a discount provided for by this section, the customer shall agree to relinquish the prior 102 discount concurrently with the date it begins to receive a discount under this section; 103 otherwise, the customer shall not be eligible to receive any discount under this section. 104 Customer demand existing at the time the customer begins to receive discounted rates under 105 this section shall not constitute incremental demand. The discounted rates provided for by 106 this section apply only to base-rate components, with the charges or credits arising from any 107 rate adjustment mechanism authorized by law to be applied to customers qualifying for 108 discounted rates under this section in the same manner as such rate adjustments would apply 109 in the absence of this section. 110 3. For purposes of this section, the following terms shall mean: 111 (1) "Electrical corporation" [shall mean], the same as defined in section 386.020, but 112 shall not include an electrical corporation as described in subsection 2 of section 393.110; 113 (2) "Nonqualifying facility", one or more buildings that are constructed, 114 reconstructed, enlarged, remodeled, or leased to house a group of networked computer 115 servers in this state to centralize the storage, management, and dissemination of data 116 and information pertaining to a particular business, taxonomy, or body of knowledge 117 and such buildings are connected to each other by fiber and associated equipment 118 required for operating a fiber transmission network between the buildings and internet 119 points for the purpose of providing redundancy and resiliency for the services provided 120 in each building. 121 4. An electrical corporation's authority to offer the discounts provided for by this 122 section shall terminate on the date that such electrical corporation's authority to make the 123 deferrals required by subsection 2 of section 393.1400 expires. ✔
Statutes affected: