House Committee on Transportation & Energy (04/30/2015)

Final
STAFF SUMMARY OF MEETING

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION & ENERGY

Date:	04/30/2015	ATTENDANCE

Time:	11:19 AM to 11:49 AM	Becker J.	*
		Buck	X
Place:	HCR 0112	Carver	X
		Coram	X
This Meeting was called to order by		Esgar	X
	Representative Tyler	Kraft-Tharp	*
		Melton	*
This Report was prepared by		Moreno	X
	Matt Kiszka	Neville P.	X
		Nordberg	X
		Winter	*
		Mitsch Bush	X
		Tyler	X
		X = Present, E = Excused, A = Absent, * = Present after roll call

Bills Addressed:		Action Taken:
SB15-254 SB15-261 HB15-1377		Referred to the Committee of the Whole Referred to the Committee of the Whole Amended, Referred to the Committee of the Whole

11:20 AM

Representative Tyler, Chair, called the committee to order. A quorum was present.

11:20 AM -- SB 15-254

Representative Lee, prime sponsor, came to the table to present Senate Bill 15-254. Under current law, for both cooperative electric associations (CEAs) and municipally owned utilities (MOUs), a 3-times multiplier applies to each kilowatt-hour of electricity generated from solar electric generation technologies that begin producing electricity on or before July 1, 2015, for purposes of meeting Colorado's renewable energy standard (RES). The bill extends this deadline to December 31, 2016, for MOUs but not for CEAs.

11:23 AM -- Dan Hodges, representing the Colorado Association of Municipal Utilities, and Kenny Romero, representing Colorado Springs Utilities, spoke in favor of the bill. Mr. Hodges spoke to the construction of renewable energy projects in Colorado Springs and how the bill would allow them to take advantage of the multiplier. Mr. Romero and Mr. Hodges responded to questions on how the bill would reduce the cost of compliance with RES requirements for CEAs.

11:29 AM -- Chris Worley, representing the Colorado Energy Office, spoke in favor of the bill. Mr. Worley said that the bill extends an existing compliance tool and ensures municipal utilities can take advantage of the multiplier for projects that are currently in the pipeline but cannot be completed in time for the current statutory deadline.


BILL:	SB15-254
TIME:	11:30:47 AM
MOVED:	Coram
MOTION:	Refer Senate Bill 15-254 to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a vote of 13-0.
SECONDED:	Buck
		VOTE
	Becker J.	Yes
	Buck	Yes
	Carver	Yes
	Coram	Yes
	Esgar	Yes
	Kraft-Tharp	Yes
	Melton	Yes
	Moreno	Yes
	Neville P.	Yes
	Nordberg	Yes
	Winter	Yes
	Mitsch Bush	Yes
	Tyler	Yes

Final YES: 13 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

11:33 AM -- SB 15-261

Representative Young, prime sponsor, came to the table to present on Senate Bill 15-261. A summary of the bill was distributed (Attachment A). Under current law, all public utilities, with the exception of rail carriers, must provide notice to the public and the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in the Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) at least 30 days before any change is made to any rate, fare, toll, rental, charge, classification, service, privilege, or facility. Such notice is required to be given by filing with the PUC and keeping open for public inspection a new schedule that states in plain language the changes to be made and the time when the changes will go into effect. Transportation and water utilities are required by PUC rules to give other specific notices. The remaining applicable utilities must provide one additional form of public notice by any of the following methods:

150430 AttachA.pdf

newspaper publication;
mailing;
bill insert; or
another method which the PUC may approve through an application process.

By changing the word "application" to "request", this bill changes the requirement that the PUC conduct a formal proceeding to approve another notice method. Instead, the utility will file a motion within an existing proceeding.

11:34 AM -- Darwin Winfield, representing Atmos Energy, spoke in favor of the bill. He responded to a question on whether the bill would reduce the amount of time that a consumer has from the point of notification to the point of proceeding.

11:36 AM -- Carl Larson, representing SourceGas LLC, spoke in favor of the bill. He distributed a letter of support from SourceGas' manager (Attachment B). He also acknowledged Black Hills Corporation's support for the bill.

150430 AttachB.pdf

11:38 AM -- Becky Quintana, representing the Public Utilities Commission, spoke in favor of the bill. She said the bill will not change the PUC's authority, but will streamline a process and remove the requirement for a separate legal proceeding when a utility requests a rate change. She responded to a question on whether the bill changes the requirement for the amount of notification time. She said the Office of Consumer Counsel also supports the bill.


BILL:	SB15-261
TIME:	11:40:15 AM
MOVED:	Coram
MOTION:	Refer Senate Bill 15-261 to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a vote of 13-0.
SECONDED:	Melton
		VOTE
	Becker J.	Yes
	Buck	Yes
	Carver	Yes
	Coram	Yes
	Esgar	Yes
	Kraft-Tharp	Yes
	Melton	Yes
	Moreno	Yes
	Neville P.	Yes
	Nordberg	Yes
	Winter	Yes
	Mitsch Bush	Yes
	Tyler	Yes

Final YES: 13 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

11:41 AM -- HB 15-1377

Representatives Moreno and J. Becker came to the table to present HB15-1377. Current law allows for the operation of shared, renewable energy generation facilities using solar technologies, also known as community solar gardens (CSGs). Output from CSGs counts against an investor-owned utility's distributed generation requirement under Colorado's renewable energy standard. This reengrossed bill expands upon this concept by allowing the generation from shared generation facilities using other renewable energy technologies, including small wind, small hydroelectric, geothermal, and biomass, to count against the retail distribution requirements for a cooperative electric associations (CEA) if the shared facility:

has a nameplate rating of 2 megawatts or less;
is located within the service territory of the CEA;
generates electricity for subscriber-members of the CEA;
has at least 4 subscribers for facilities with a nameplate rating of 50 kilowatts or less; and
has at least 10 subscribers for facilities with a nameplate rating of more than 50 kilowatts.

The bill specifies that a subscriber's share of generation may not exceed 120 percent of his or her annual consumption. Finally, the bill authorizes each CEA to establish the terms of subscription for facilities in their service area.

A strike below amendment, L.001, was distributed to the committee (Attachment C). Representatives Moreno and J. Becker explained that the amendment provides simpler language, defines CEA compliance with distributed generation requirements of the renewable energy standard, and extends the concept of CSGs to renewable energy gardens.

150430 AttachC.pdf


BILL:	HB15-1377
TIME:	11:45:02 AM
MOVED:	Moreno
MOTION:	Adopt amendment L.001 (Attachment C). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:	Melton
		VOTE
	Becker J.
	Buck
	Carver
	Coram
	Esgar
	Kraft-Tharp
	Melton
	Moreno
	Neville P.
	Nordberg
	Winter
	Mitsch Bush
	Tyler

Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection

11:45 AM

Representative Becker explained Amendment L.003 (Attachment D).

150430 AttachD.pdf
BILL:	HB15-1377
TIME:	11:46:02 AM
MOVED:	Moreno
MOTION:	Adopt amendment L.003 (Attachment D). The motion passed without objection.
SECONDED:	Becker J.
		VOTE
	Becker J.
	Buck
	Carver
	Coram
	Esgar
	Kraft-Tharp
	Melton
	Moreno
	Neville P.
	Nordberg
	Winter
	Mitsch Bush
	Tyler

Final YES: 0 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: Pass Without Objection


BILL:	HB15-1377
TIME:	11:48:02 AM
MOVED:	Moreno
MOTION:	Refer House Bill 15-1377, as amended, to the Committee of the Whole. The motion passed on a vote of 13-0.
SECONDED:	Melton
		VOTE
	Becker J.	Yes
	Buck	Yes
	Carver	Yes
	Coram	Yes
	Esgar	Yes
	Kraft-Tharp	Yes
	Melton	Yes
	Moreno	Yes
	Neville P.	Yes
	Nordberg	Yes
	Winter	Yes
	Mitsch Bush	Yes
	Tyler	Yes

Final YES: 13 NO: 0 EXC: 0 ABS: 0 FINAL ACTION: PASS

11:49 AM

The committee adjourned.