Application for certificate; hearing; decision; contents of certificate; fee

(a) A utility seeking a certificate or an amendment to a certificate shall make an application to the commission which contains the information required by this chapter. (b) No sooner than 30 days after an application is made for a certificate or an amendment, the commission shall conduct a public hearing on the application. Within 300 days after filing of the first such application and within 180 days after filing of each application thereafter, the commission shall issue an order adopting a forecast of future Georgia retail electricity requirements of the utility and describing in what manner the prospective certificate relates to the integrated resource plan and either granting the requested certificate or denying the requested certificate and authorizing a specific alternative means of supplying the requirements found by the commission to exist. Each certificate shall describe the capacity resource, its approximate construction or implementation schedule, and its approved cost. If the commission fails to so act within 300 days after the first such application has been made and within 180 days after each subsequent application has been made, the forecast application and certificate shall be deemed granted by operation of law. (c) Within 60 days after the filing of an integrated resource plan or an application has been made with the commission for a certificate or amendment, the commission shall establish a fee therefor and notify the applicant thereof. The fee amount so established shall be in an amount reasonably necessary to defray the expense of the commission in reviewing the plan or determining whether to grant the application, including but not limited to the expense of conducting any certification proceedings required for such application. The fee so established shall not be recoverable from ratepayers of the applicant if the application or certification is denied nor shall the fee for review of the plan or any subsequent amendment thereto be recoverable from ratepayers. Such fee must be remitted to the commission before the commission may take any further action upon the application. For purposes of any time periods established in subsection (b) of this Code section and subsection (c) of Code Section 46-3A-2, an application shall be deemed to have been filed only when the fee established therefor has been remitted to the commission. In the event a joint application is filed by more than one utility, a single such fee only shall be required. The funds assessed and collected pursuant to this subsection shall be deposited in the state’s general fund. (Code 1981, § 46-3A-5, enacted by Ga. L. 1991, p. 1696, § 1.) 46-3A-6. Reexamination of a certificate of public convenience and necessity; modification or revocation. Upon application of a utility or upon its own motion, the commission may reexamine any certificate granted under this chapter to determine 319 Page: 320 Job Path: @mfgmic/west/stcodes/ga/repl/qj04040.63 Date: 06/30/04 Time: 20:54:58 0000 42051-21 (QS) GA 04 RV34 -- 3rd RUN 46-3A-6 PUBLIC UTILITIES, ETC. 46-3A-7 whether new forecasts of future requirements require the modification of the construction, purchase, sale, or expenditure for a certificated capacity resource. If upon such reexamination the commission finds that the certificated capacity resource is no longer needed or that any additional certificated capacity resource is needed to assure a reliable supply of electric power and energy for the utility’s Georgia retail customers, the commission may modify or revoke the certificate. If the utility cancels, abandons, or increases some or all of the capacity resource as a result of such modification or revocation of the certificate, it may recover through any rate-making vehicle over a reasonable period of time, absent fraud, concealment, failure to disclose a material fact, imprudence, or criminal misconduct, the amount of its investment in such capacity resource, along with the cost of carrying the unamortized portion of that investment, net of actual salvage value, to the extent such investment is verified as made pursuant to the certificate. The commission shall disallow such investment and costs resulting from fraud, concealment, failure to disclose a material fact, imprudence, or criminal misconduct. (Code 1981, § 46-3A-6, enacted by Ga. L. 1991, p. 1696, § 1.) 46-3A-7. Construction costs as part of rate base; review of construction work in progress; verification of expenditures; recovery of costs of canceled construction. (a) So long as the commission has not modified or revoked the certificate for an electric plant under Code Section 46-3A-6 and to the extent the utility seeks to add to its rate base upon completion of the plant construction costs that do not exceed 100 percent of those approved by the commission under Code Section 46-3A-5, Code Section 46-3A-6, or subsection (b) of this Code section, that construction cost amount may be excluded from the rate base only on the basis of fraud, concealment, failure to disclose a material fact, imprudence, or criminal misconduct. Inclusion of costs in excess of 100 percent of those approved by the commission shall not be permitted unless shown by the utility to have been reasonable and prudent. (b) In addition to the review of the continuing need for an electric plant under construction prescribed in Code Section 46-3A-6, the commission, upon its own motion, may conduct or the utility may request that the commission conduct an ongoing review of such construction as it proceeds. Every one to three years, or at such lesser intervals upon the direction of the commission or request of the utility, the applicant shall file a progress report and any proposed revisions in the cost estimates, construction schedule, or project configuration. Within 180 days of such filing, the commission shall verify and approve or disapprove expenditures made pursuant to the certificate and shall approve, disapprove, or modify any proposed revisions. If the commission fails to so act within 180 days after 320 Page: 321 Job Path: @mfgmic/west/stcodes/ga/repl/qj04040.63 Date: 06/30/04 Time: 20:54:58 0000 42051-21 46-3A-7 (QS) GA 04 RV34 -- 3rd RUN INTEGRATED RESOURCE PLANNING 46-3A-9 such filing, the previous expenditures and any proposed revisions shall be deemed approved by operation of law. (c) If the commission verifies expenditures as made pursuant to a certificated capacity resource, that verification forecloses subsequent exclusion of those costs from the utility’s rate base, absent fraud, concealment, failure to disclose a material fact, imprudence, or criminal misconduct. (d) If the commission disapproves of all or part of the proposed revisions and the utility cancels construction of some or all of the facility as a result of the disapproval, the utility may recover through any rate-making vehicle over a reasonable period of time, absent fraud, concealment, failure to disclose a material fact, imprudence, or criminal misconduct, the amount of its actual investment, net of actual salvage value, in the partially completed portion of the facility along with the cost of carrying the unamortized balance of that investment to the extent such investment is verified as made pursuant to the certificate. (Code 1981, § 46-3A-7, enacted by Ga. L. 1991, p. 1696, § 1.) 46-3A-8. Recovery of actual cost of certificated long-term power purchase.