Title 40Public Buildings, Property, and WorksRelease 119-73

§17902 Sale of electric energy

Title 40 › Subtitle SUBTITLE VI— - MISCELLANEOUS › Chapter CHAPTER 179— - ALASKA FEDERAL-CIVILIAN ENERGY EFFICIENCY SWAP › § 17902

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Allows the head of a federal agency to sell or sign a contract to sell electricity from the agency’s coal-fired power plants in Alaska to people or companies that are not the federal government, even if local sources could supply the power, when 4 conditions are met. The electricity must come from an existing coal plant, be extra power the agency does not need and is not set aside for another federal agency, cost buyers less than they would otherwise pay, and cause the buyer to use less oil or natural gas than they would without the sale. The sale price must pay for the fuel and the variable operating and maintenance costs caused by the sale, plus one-half of the difference between the cost to make the power from coal and the cost to make the same power from the oil or gas being replaced.

Full Legal Text

Title 40, §17902

Public Buildings, Property, and Works — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)To conserve oil and natural gas and better utilize coal, the head of a federal agency may sell, or enter into a contract to sell, to any non-federal person electric energy generated by coal-fired electric generating facilities of that agency in Alaska without regard to any provision of law that precludes the sale when the electric energy to be sold is available from other local sources, if the head of the federal agency determines that—
(1)the electric energy to be sold is generated by an existing coal-fired generating facility;
(2)the electric energy to be sold is surplus to the federal agency’s needs and is in excess of the electric energy specifically generated for consumption by, or necessary to serve the requirements of, another federal agency;
(3)the cost to the ultimate consumers of the electric energy to be sold is less than the cost that, in the absence of the sale, would be incurred by those consumers for the purchase of an equivalent amount of energy; and
(4)the sale will reduce the total consumption of oil or natural gas by the non-federal person purchasing the electric energy below the level of consumption that would occur in the absence of the sale.
(b)Federally generated electric energy sold by the head of a federal agency under subsection (a) shall be priced to recover the fuel and variable operation and maintenance costs of the facility generating the energy that are attributable to that sale, plus an amount equal to one-half the difference between—
(1)the costs of producing the electric energy by coal generation; and
(2)the costs of producing electric energy by the oil or gas generation being displaced.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 1790240:795a.Pub. L. 96–571, § 3, Dec. 22, 1980, 94 Stat. 3341. In subsection (a), the words “to be sold” are added for clarity. In clause (4), the words “below the level of consumption that” are substituted for “below that consumption which” for clarity. In subsection (b), before clause (1), the words “fuel and variable operation and maintenance costs of the facility generating the energy that are attributable to that sale” are substituted for “fuel costs and variable operation and maintenance costs of the Federal generating facility concerned which costs are attributable to such sale” for clarity.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

40 U.S.C. § 17902

Title 40Public Buildings, Property, and Works

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73