Title 40, Public Buildings, Property, and WorksRelease 119-110

§17902 Sale of Electric Energy

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

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

A federal agency head may sell electricity from the agency’s coal-fired power plants in Alaska to anyone who is not the federal government, even if local power could be used, but only if the agency head decides four things: the power comes from an existing coal plant; the power is extra beyond what the agency needs and not needed by another federal agency; the buyers will pay less than they would otherwise; and the sale will cut the buyer’s oil or natural gas use below what it would be without the sale. The sale price must cover the fuel and variable operating and maintenance costs caused by the sale, plus an amount equal to one-half of the difference between the cost to produce the power by coal and the cost to produce the displaced power by oil or gas.

Full Legal Text

Title 40, §17902

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

(a)In General.—
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)Pricing Policies.—
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 40, Public Buildings, Property, and Works

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110