PURPA Standards in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007
Summary: The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) was signed into law on December 19, 2007 to do the following:
- move the United States toward greater energy independence and security;
- increase the production of clean renewable fuels;
- protect consumers;
- increase efficiency of products, buildings, and vehicles;
- promote research on and deploy greenhouse gas capture and storage options; and
- to improve the energy performance of the Federal Government.
The EISA requires state regulatory authorities and non-state-regulated utilities (such as Colorado Springs Utilities) to consider implementing standards concerning national energy issues.
Background: The EISA amends the PURPA and the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. The EISA amended PURPA by adding four new standards for consideration:
- Integrated Resource Planning
- Rate Design Modifications to Promote Energy Efficiency Investments
- Consideration of Smart Grid Investments
- Smart Grid Information
The EISA also added a stand-alone “standard” that amended the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. The EISA non-PURPA standard is:
- Additional Incentives for Recovery, Use and Prevention of Industrial Waste Energy
The EISA labels two standards as (16), two as (17), and one is unnumbered. To avoid confusion, they are numbered here as 16-20:
- Standard 16 – Integrated Resource Planning: Each electric utility shall integrate energy efficiency resources into utility, State, and regional plans, and adopt procedures establishing cost-effective energy efficiency as a priority resource.
- Standard 17 – Rate Design Modifications to Promote Energy Efficiency Investments: The rates allowed to be charged by any electric utility shall align utility incentives with the delivery of cost-effective energy efficiency and promote energy efficiency investments.
- Standard 18 – Consideration of Smart Grid Investments: Each State shall consider requiring that, prior to undertaking investments in nonadvanced grid technologies, an electric utility of the State demonstrate to the State that the electric utility considered an investment in a qualified smart grid system based on appropriate factors, including total costs, cost-effectiveness, improved reliability, security, system performance, and societal benefit.
- Standard 19 – Smart Grid Information: All electricity purchasers shall be provided direct access, in written or electronic machine-readable form as appropriate, to information from their electricity provider . . . includ[ing] prices, usage, intervals and projections, and sources of power.
- Standard 20 – Additional Incentives for Recovery, Use, and Prevention of Industrial Waste Energy: An owner or operator of a waste energy recovery project . . . that generates net excess power shall be eligible to benefit from [statutory options for the] disposal of the net excess power.
If interested in having your comments, views, or opinions regarding any of these standards considered by Colorado Springs Utilities as part of this process, please send us an e-mail.
