SB 983 - The act creates the Missouri Energy Efficiency Performance Standard. Electric companies and gas companies must implement energy efficiency programs that achieve certain percentages of energy savings over time. The percentages and timeframes are specified. After 2019, the Public Service Commission (PSC) must decide whether to increase the percentages of energy savings or maintain the levels in place at that time. The PSC must promulgate rules for the Missouri Energy Efficiency Performance Standard within 9 months of the act's effective date. The rules must: require the companies to make energy consumption data available to customers upon request; specify how the companies must measure energy savings; require the use of third-party verifiers of the companies' energy savings; and allow the companies to earn a financial incentive for exceeding the energy savings minimums.
Within 6 months of the PSC's promulgation of rules, every electric and gas company must submit an energy efficiency plan, to be submitted on a biennial basis, which describes the energy efficiency and peak reduction programs the company plans to offer to its customers, and the associated costs of the programs. The PSC must approve or reject an energy efficiency plan within 120 days. The act specifies procedures for re-submittal of a plan in case of rejection.
Electric and gas companies must submit an annual report to the PSC detailing the energy savings achieved during the reporting period, an estimate of the carbon dioxide emissions avoided by the energy savings, and energy efficiency expenditures. Municipal utilities and rural electric cooperatives must submit a similar annual report to their governing bodies. The PSC must report every 5 years on the status of the Missouri Energy Efficiency Performance Standard, its cost-effectiveness, its impact on employment, and offer recommended changes to the Standard, if any.
The PSC must assess a penalty on any electric or gas company that fails to achieve the required energy savings, which is $100 per megawatt-hour of electricity savings not achieved or $10 per million Btu of natural gas savings not achieved.
Distribution cooperative utilities and municipal utilities are also subject to the percentage requirements for energy savings and annual reporting requirements.
ERIKA JAQUES