65-407 C.M.R. ch. 360, § 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS

A. Definitions. Terms defined in the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA), Public Law 95-617, shall have the same meaning for purposes of this chapter as they have under PURPA, unless further defined in this chapter. In addition the following definitions apply for purposes of this chapter.

1. "Affiliate" means a person who:

a. Directly controls, is controlled by or is under common control with, a qualifying facility or industrial enterprise; or

b. Substantially owns, directly or indirectly, or operates, a qualifying facility or industrial enterprise.

2. "Associate" means:

a. An affiliate; or

b. A person that contracts to receive the thermal output of a cogeneration facility.

3. "Avoided costs" means the incremental costs to an electric or transmission and distribution utility of electric energy, capacity, load management, and/or conservation measures which, but for the purchase from the qualifying facility or qualifying facilities, such utility would obtain from another source. After the date of retail access, "avoided costs" mean the market value of the electric energy or capacity supplied by a qualifying facility to a transmission and distribution utility.

4. "Back-up power" means electric energy or capacity supplied by an electric or transmission and distribution utility to replace energy ordinarily generated by a facility's own generation equipment during an unscheduled outage of the facility.

5. "Biomass" means any organic material not derived from fossil fuels.

6. "Bottoming-cycle cogeneration facility" means a cogeneration facility in which the energy input to the system is first applied to a useful thermal energy process, and the reject heat emerging from the process is then used for electrical power production.

7. "Cogeneration facility" means equipment used to produce electric energy and forms of useful thermal energy (such as heat or steam), used for heating or cooling purposes, through the sequential use of energy.

8. "Energy input" in the case of energy in the form of natural gas or oil is to be by the lower heating value of the natural gas or oil.

9. "Existing contract" means a contract or an amendment to a contract executed prior to September 19, 1997 under which a qualifying facility sells energy or energy and capacity to an electric or transmission and distribution utility.

10. "Interconnection costs" means the reasonable costs of connection, switching, metering, transmission, distribution, safety provisions and administrative costs incurred by the electric or transmission and distribution utility directly related to the installation and maintenance of the physical facilities necessary to permit interconnected operations with a qualifying facility, or industrial enterprise under section 7(A), including transmission or distribution of the qualifying facility's power to another utility's transmission or distribution system to the extent such costs exceed the corresponding costs which the utility would have incurred if it had not engaged in interconnected operations, but instead generated an equivalent amount of electric energy itself or purchased an equivalent amount of electric energy or capacity from other sources. Interconnection costs do not include any costs included in the calculation of avoided costs. Interconnection costs shall also include an equitable portion of the cost of improvements to the utility's existing transmission and distribution facilities necessitated by the interconnection with a qualifying facility or industrial enterprise.

11. "Interruptible power" means electric energy or capacity subject to interruption by the provider of such energy or capacity under specified conditions.

12. "Maintenance power" means electric energy or capacity supplied by an electric or transmission and distribution utility during scheduled outages of the qualifying facility.

13. "Natural gas" means either natural gas unmixed, or any mixture of natural gas and synthetic gas.

14. "Net energy" means for any time period the total electrical energy used by a qualifying facility plus the total electrical energy used by any related retail consumer of electricity located at the same site minus the total electrical generation of the qualifying facility.

15. "Net energy billing" means a billing and metering practice that uses a single meter, capable of registering the flow of electricity in two directions, to record net energy transactions between an electric utility and a qualifying facility.

16. "Oil" means crude oil, residual fuel oil, natural gas liquids, or any refined petroleum product.

17. "Parallel operation" means the synchronous operation of a utility's generating system with the electrical generating equipment of a qualifying facility.

18. "Person" means a corporation, partnership, limited partnership, business association, trust, estate, municipal or quasi-municipal entity, or natural person.

19. "Qualifying facility" means any small power producer or cogenerator which meets the criteria set forth in section 2 of this chapter.

20. "Rate" means any price, rate, charge, or classification made, demanded, observed, or received with respect to the sale or purchase of electric energy or capacity, or any rule, regulation, or practice respecting any such rate, charge, or classification, and any contract pertaining to the sale or purchase of electric energy or capacity.

21. "Small electric utility" means any electric utility that is not an investor-owned electric or transmission and distribution utility.

22. "Supplementary firing" means an energy input to the cogeneration facility used only in the thermal process of a topping-cycle cogeneration facility or only in the electric generation process of a bottoming-cycle cogeneration facility.

23. "Supplementary power" means electric energy or capacity, regularly used by a qualifying facility in addition to that which the facility generates itself.

24. "System emergency" means a condition on a utility system which is likely to result in imminent significant disruption of service to customers or is imminently likely to endanger life or property.

25. "Topping-cycle cogeneration facility" means a cogeneration facility in which the energy input to the facility is first used to produce useful power output, and the reject heat from electrical power production is then used to produce useful thermal energy.

26. "Total energy output" of a topping-cycle cogeneration facility is the sum of the useful electrical power output and useful thermal energy output.

27. "Total energy input" means the total energy of all forms supplied from external sources other than supplementary firing to the facility.

28. "Useful power output" of a cogeneration facility means the electric or mechanical energy made available for use, exclusive of any such energy used in the electrical power production process.

29. "Useful thermal energy output" of a topping-cycle cogeneration facility means the thermal energy made available for use in any process or used in any heating or cooling application.

30. "Variable operating and maintenance cost" means that portion of the operating and maintenance expenses associated with generating facilities which change with changes in the use of those facilities.

31. "Waste" means by-product materials other than biomass.

B. Exceptions. Upon the request of any person subject to the provisions of this chapter or upon its own motion, the Commission may deviate from the provisions of this chapter for good cause shown or to the extent it deems necessary to further the purposes and policies of this chapter.

Notes

65-407 C.M.R. ch. 360, § 1