5.2. ERMUSR 09-08-2015 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Upon finding a net benefit to the utility or the state, the Public Utilities Commission shall approve an EITE rate schedule and any corresponding EITE rate. The PUC shall make this determination within 90 days of the utility's filing. Following approval of an EITE rate schedule,the utility shall create a separate account to track the difference between rates that would have been collected and the EITE rate schedule. In the next rate case or through an EITE cost recovery rate rider, the PUC shall allow the utility to collect any costs, including reduced revenues. The costs shall not be recovered from EITE customers or low-income residential ratepayers. When filing for an EITE rate schedule, a utility must deposit$10,000 into a low-income affordability program. The PUC may assess reasonable costs on the utility proposing the EITE rate schedule, not to exceed$854,000 per biennium. (Similar provisions included in HF 1782-Anzelc/SF 1312- Tomassoni) Multiyear Rate Plan (based on e21 Initiative). The statutes allowing for multiyear rate plans for investor-owned utilities are modified. A five year time period(increased from three years) is now allowed. When proposing a multiyear rate plan, a utility must list all planned investments for the rate plan period. The PUC may require performance measures and incentives as part of the plan. The PUC may allow the utility to adjust its capital costs or other costs during the plan period. The utility may propose recovery of its forecast base, operations and maintenance costs,tariffs to expand products and services, and costs of operating nuclear facilities. The utility may request to be allowed to implement interim rates in the first two years of the plan period. A utility under a multiyear rate plan must identify investments needed to modernize its transmission and distribution systems under the state's Transmission and Distribution Plan. The utility can recover these costs. A utility under a multiyear rate plan must perform a distribution study to identify interconnection points for small distributed generation and identify upgrades needed to support distributed generation. The utility can recover these costs. (Both HF 1315- Garofalo and SF 1735-Marty, which were not companion bills, contained provisions on multiyear,performance-based rate plans) Effective date: July 1, 2015 OMNIBUS ENVIRONMENT,NATURAL RESOURCES,AND AGRICULTURE BILL 2015 First Special Session Laws Chapter 4 HF 4 Rep. Denny McNamara(R-Hastings) *SF 5 Sen. David Tomassoni (DFL-Chisholm) This bill includes the biennial budget appropriations (FY 2016-17) for the Department of Natural Resources, Department of Agriculture, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), Board of 123