2010 Pennsylvania Code
Title 15 - CORPORATIONS AND UNINCORPORATED ASSOCIATIONS
Chapter 74 - Generation Choice for Customers of Electric Cooperatives
7405 - Customer choice in electric cooperative service territories.

     § 7405.  Customer choice in electric cooperative service
                territories.
        (a)  General rule.--
            (1)  An electric cooperative corporation shall provide
        open and nondiscriminatory access and allow other electric
        generation suppliers that have been licensed or certified by
        the commission or jurisdictional public utilities to utilize
        the cooperative's facilities to make sales to end-use
        customers it serves. A person that, on or after the effective
        date of this chapter, receives retail electric service at an
        electric-consuming facility from an electric cooperative in
        this Commonwealth or owns or occupies an electric-consuming
        facility within the service territory of an electric
        cooperative corporation shall have the right to purchase and
        receive electric generation from another source at the
        conclusion of a four-year transition and phase-in period
        beginning on the effective date of this chapter and ending
        January 1, 2001. The following schedule for phased
        implementation of retail access shall be adhered to unless
        the commission should determine to extend the transition and
        phase-in period for its jurisdictional electric utilities
        under 66 Pa.C.S. § 2806 (relating to implementation, pilot
        programs and performance-based rates), in which case the
        transition and phase-in period for electric cooperative
        corporations shall be substantially similar to that
        established by the commission for direct access to the
        competitive electric generation market by customers of
        electric utilities:
                (i)  As of January 1, 1999, a maximum of 33% of the
            peak load of each customer class shall have the
            opportunity for direct access.
                (ii)  As of January 1, 2000, a maximum of 66% of the
            peak load of each customer class shall have the
            opportunity for direct access.
                (iii)  As of January 1, 2001, all customers of
            electric cooperative corporations in this Commonwealth
            shall have the opportunity for direct access.
            (2)  If the commission establishes a phase-in period
        which is not uniform among electric utilities, then the
        phase-in period for persons in the service territories of
        electric cooperative corporations may be as long as that of
        the longest phase-in period permitted by the commission. No
        electric cooperative corporation may utilize the transmission
        or distribution system of an electric utility regulated by
        the commission for the purpose of providing generation
        electric service until the electric cooperative begins its
        phase-in period. No electric utility regulated by the
        commission may utilize the transmission or distribution
        system of an electric cooperative corporation until the
        electric utility begins its phase-in period other than for
        pilot programs.
            (3)  Electric cooperative corporations may develop retail
        pilot programs for their own service territories.
            (4)  Customer bills issued by an electric cooperative
        corporation shall contain unbundled charges sufficient to
        enable the customer to determine the generation component of
        and basis for those charges. Electric generation shall be
        delivered to the departing member by the electric cooperative
        which has the exclusive right to provide retail electric
        service in such area under Chapter 73 (relating to electric
        cooperative corporations) at the nondiscriminatory prices,
        terms and conditions determined by the electric cooperative
        corporation.
            (5)  It shall be the duty of an electric cooperative
        corporation which is a borrower from the Rural Utilities
        Service of the United States Department of Agriculture to
        maintain the integrity and safety of its distribution system
        in a manner to provide service to all customers connected to
        such system consistent with standards established by the
        Rural Utilities Service. It shall be the duty of an electric
        cooperative corporation which is not a borrower from the
        Rural Utilities Service to maintain the integrity and safety
        of its distribution system in a manner to provide service to
        all customers connected to such system consistent with
        standards of the National Electric Safety Code.
            (6)  The right in this subsection to take generation
        service from another source and the duty of an electric
        cooperative corporation to deliver service shall be expressly
        subject to and contingent upon the full advance satisfaction
        by a departing member of all of the following conditions,
        unless waived by the electric cooperative corporation:
                (i)  The departing member must give written notice of
            intent to receive generation service from another source
            to the electric cooperative corporation.
                (ii)  With the written notice of intent required by
            subparagraph (i), the departing member must provide to
            the electric cooperative corporation written evidence
            reasonably satisfactory to the electric cooperative
            corporation that the departing member has acquired all
            necessary transmission services and related ancillary
            services as may be necessary to transmit the generation
            service from the alternative electric supplier to the
            distribution system of the electric cooperative
            corporation.
                (iii)  The departing member must have made all
            payments for electric service or other services or
            products rendered to date by the electric cooperative
            corporation and must not otherwise be in violation or
            default of any membership requirement, rule or regulation
            of the electric cooperative corporation.
                (iv)  The departing member or the provider of the
            competing generation source must make full payment of a
            transition surcharge or transition surcharges to each
            electric cooperative corporation which provides
            distribution, transmission or generation service,
            directly or indirectly, to the departing member or
            associated electric consuming facility. During the
            conduct of a pilot program, the electric cooperative
            corporation may choose not to apply the transition
            surcharge to departing members. The duty to pay a
            transition surcharge by a departing member and the right
            of an electric cooperative corporation to collect a
            transition surcharge shall not apply to departing members
            who become new members of an electric cooperative
            corporation following the expiration of the phase-in
            provided for in this chapter.
        (b)  Effectiveness of existing contracts.--Notwithstanding
     the rights set forth in subsection (a), where an agreement for
     electric service evidenced by a signed writing between an
     electric cooperative corporation and any person exists prior to
     the effective date of this chapter, the person shall be bound by
     its terms and conditions and shall not have the right to receive
     generation service from another source until the expiration of
     the term of the agreement or otherwise pursuant to the terms and
     conditions of the agreement.