§8484 Electric utility conservation plan

Summary

An electric utility must follow these rules if it used natural gas as the main fuel in any powerplant at any time during the one-year period ending on August 13, 1981, and if it plans to use natural gas as a main fuel in any plant. Each utility covered must send a conservation plan to the Secretary within 1 year after August 13, 1981, get the plan approved, and carry it out for 5 years starting on the approval date. The Secretary must decide to approve or reject a plan within 120 days and must give written reasons if rejecting. If rejected, the utility gets a reasonable time to try again. A utility can change an approved plan, but the change must be approved again. The plan must aim to cut, by the fifth year, at least 10 percent of the utility’s annual electric output that was produced by natural gas during the most recent 4 calendar quarters ending before August 13, 1981. The plan must include the actions required by part 1 of title II of the National Energy Conservation Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 8211 et seq.), a public information program about conservation, and any other measures the utility chooses. It may include renewable energy (but not hydroelectric). The plan must also show how the utility can recover the money it spends on the plan as set by the state regulator or, for nonregulated utilities, by the utility itself.