Senate Bill S652A

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                 652--A

                       2011-2012 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                               (PREFILED)

                             January 5, 2011
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sens. VALESKY, CARLUCCI, KLEIN, SAVINO -- read twice and
  ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee  on
  Energy and Telecommunications -- recommitted to the Committee on Ener-
  gy  and Telecommunications in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 --
  committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as  amended  and
  recommitted to said committee

AN  ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to electric service
  for farmers; and providing for the  repeal  of  such  provisions  upon
  expiration thereof

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Legislative intent. The legislature finds and declares that
the installation of on-site electric generation  systems  would  address
the  high  energy  costs of farmers and would result in the creation and
retention of jobs in New  York  state.  Barriers  to  such  installation
should  be removed to encourage private investment in these technologies
and to stimulate economic growth.
  S 2. Section 65 of the public service law is amended by adding  a  new
subdivision 6-a to read as follows:
  6-A.  CERTAIN CHARGES PROHIBITED. (A) NO ELECTRIC CORPORATION OR MUNI-
CIPALITY OWNING ELECTRIC PLANT USEFUL FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF  ELECTRIC-
ITY  SHALL  IMPOSE  ON ANY CUSTOMER THAT IS A QUALIFYING FARMER ANY FEE,
PENALTY OR CHARGE OF ANY KIND OTHER THAN ITS CHARGES BASED UPON THE COST
OF SERVICES ACTUALLY PROVIDED TO SUCH CUSTOMER, FOR ELECTRICITY,  TRANS-
MISSION, DISTRIBUTION, METERING, BILLING AND CUSTOMER SERVICES. NO ELEC-
TRIC  CORPORATION OR MUNICIPALITY SHALL IMPLEMENT POLICIES OR PROCEDURES
THAT WOULD PREVENT QUALIFYING  FARMERS  FROM  INSTALLING  AND  OPERATING
ON-SITE GENERATION EQUIPMENT AND RELATED TECHNOLOGY.
  (B) FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS SUBDIVISION:

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD03506-02-1
              

S. 652--A                           2

  (I)  "FARMER"  MEANS  A  PERSON  WHOSE  FEDERAL GROSS INCOME FROM FARM
PRODUCTION FOR THE PREVIOUS TAXABLE  YEAR  WAS  AT  LEAST  TEN  THOUSAND
DOLLARS.
  (II) "QUALIFYING FARMER" MEANS A FARMER THAT INSTALLS AN ON-SITE ELEC-
TRIC  GENERATION  SYSTEM  TO PROVIDE ELECTRIC SERVICE TO A FARM (WHETHER
THE FARMER CONTINUES TO MAINTAIN ACCESS TO TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
SERVICES OR VOLUNTARILY DISCONNECTS ACCESS TO TRANSMISSION AND  DISTRIB-
UTION  SERVICES)  AND  FILES  A  NOTIFICATION  THEREOF WITH THE ELECTRIC
CORPORATION OR MUNICIPALITY, WITH A COPY TO THE DEPARTMENT, PRIOR TO THE
CUT-OFF DATE.
  (III) "CUT-OFF DATE" FOR EACH SERVICE TERRITORY MEANS  THE  DATE  WHEN
THE  ELECTRIC CORPORATION OR MUNICIPALITY SERVING SUCH SERVICE TERRITORY
SHALL HAVE RECEIVED NOTIFICATIONS FROM QUALIFYING FARMERS SUCH THAT  THE
SUM  OF  THE RATED GENERATING CAPACITY SHOWN ON SUCH NOTIFICATIONS SHALL
EQUAL OR EXCEED ONE-TENTH OF ONE PERCENT OF ITS  TOTAL  ELECTRIC  DEMAND
FOR THE YEAR NINETEEN HUNDRED NINETY-SEVEN, AS DETERMINED BY THE DEPART-
MENT,  OR  SEPTEMBER  FIRST,  TWO  THOUSAND  SEVENTEEN, WHICHEVER OCCURS
FIRST.
  S 3. Subdivision 28 of section 66 of the public service law, as  added
by chapter 82 of the laws of 1998, is amended to read as follows:
  28.  No  revenues  foregone by an electric corporation, as a result of
subjecting certain veterans' organizations [with] TO  rates  or  charges
applicable to domestic consumers pursuant to section seventy-six of this
article  OR  AS A RESULT OF PROHIBITING CERTAIN CHARGES RELATED TO ELEC-
TRIC SERVICE PROVIDED  TO  FARMERS  PURSUANT  TO  SUBDIVISION  SIX-A  OF
SECTION  SIXTY-FIVE OF THIS ARTICLE, shall be recovered from the custom-
ers of such corporation.
  S 4. This act shall take effect immediately and shall be deemed to  be
repealed September 1, 2017, except that the provisions of this act shall
continue  to  apply  to a customer who is a qualifying farmer as long as
such on-site electric generation system remains in use.