Resolve, Directing the Public Utilities Commission To Review Certain Electricity Distribution Charges Assessed on Businesses

Sec. 1. Public Utilities Commission review. Resolved: That the Public Utilities Commission shall submit a report to the Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology regarding the demand charges placed on the medium rate class by an investor-owned transmission and distribution utility, referred to as a "utility" in this resolve. The report must include the following:

1. An examination of how a utility determines whether a business should be in the medium rate class and therefore subject to the demand charges;

2. An examination of the impact of demand charges on seasonal businesses that reach the demand charge break point only a few times per year or only during peak seasonal usage and whether a utility's current terms and conditions that govern demand charges are just and reasonable for seasonal businesses;

3. An examination of the impact of demand charges on new customers, including a business account whose electricity use may change as a result of a change in ownership, and whether a utility's current terms and conditions that govern demand charges are just and reasonable for new customers;

4. An examination of the impact of demand charges on business innovation and whether there are actions that can be taken to ensure that the demand charge does not negatively affect a business' willingness to test a new technology that increases electricity use; and

5. Any recommended changes to a utility's terms and conditions to make the demand charges more just and reasonable, especially for the types of customers described in subsections 2 to 4, and a description of the process that will be needed to implement the recommendations.

The Public Utilities Commission shall submit the report to the Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology no later than January 15, 2014. The Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technology may report out a bill on the subject matter of the report to the Second Regular Session of the 126th Legislature.