4 Colo. Code Regs. § 723-3-3661
Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 23, December 10, 2024
Section 4 CCR 723-3-3661 - Retail Rate Impact(a) The net retail rate impact of actions taken by an investor owned QRU to comply with the RES shall not exceed two percent of the total electric bill annually for each customer of that QRU. However, a retail customer who installs renewable distributed generation may pay a RESA charge under paragraph 3664(h) that exceeds two percent of that customer's annual electric bill.(b) The net retail rate impact of actions taken by a cooperative electric association QRU to comply with the RES shall not exceed two percent of the total electric bill annually for each customer of that QRU.(c) The net retail rate impact shall include the prudently incurred direct and indirect costs of all actions by a QRU to meet the RES, including, but not limited to, program administration, rebates and performance-based incentives, payments under renewable energy supply contracts, payments under renewable energy credit contracts, payments made for RECs purchased through brokers or exchanges, computer modeling and analysis time, QRU investment in and return on investment for eligible energy resources, and expenditures made to purchase unsubscribed energy and RECs from CSGs.(d) The administrative costs of a QRU to implement these rules are capped at ten percent per year of the total annual collection. A QRU may include in its compliance plan a waiver request of this rule during the initial ramp-up stage of the QRU's program.(e) For purposes of calculating the retail rate impact, the investor owned QRU shall use the same methods and assumptions it used in its most recently approved electric resource plan under the Commission's Electric Resource Planning Rules, unless otherwise approved by the Commission. Confidential information may be protected in accordance with rules 1100 through 1102 of the Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure.(f) In its compliance plan filed under rule 3657, the investor owned QRU shall estimate the retail rate impact of its plan to comply with the RES at the time of the beginning of the compliance period year and for a minimum of the ten years thereafter (the "RES planning period") and shall submit a report detailing the development of the retail rate impact estimate. The compliance plan shall identify the funds that need to be made available to the QRU, including RESA account balances over the RES planning period and any carried-forward deferred account balances from before the RES planning period, to comply with the RES under rule 3654, the requirements for renewable distributed generation under rule 3655, and the retail rate impact under this rule 3661.(g) The retail rate impact shall be determined net of new alternative sources of electricity supply from non-eligible energy resources that are reasonably available at the time of the determination.(h) The basic method for investor owned QRUs for performing the estimate of the retail rate impact cap is as follows.(I) The QRU shall determine all commercially available resources to the QRU, either through ownership or by contract, for the RES planning period. The projected costs of these available resources shall be reflected in both of the scenarios analyzed under this paragraph.(II) The QRU shall determine the QRU's capacity and energy requirements over the RES planning period. The QRU shall develop two scenarios to estimate the resource composition of the QRU's future electric system and the cost and benefits of that system over the RES planning period. The first scenario, a RES plan or "RES plan" should reflect the QRU's plans and actions to acquire new eligible energy resources necessary to meet the RES. The second scenario, a "No RES plan" should reflect the QRU's resource plan that replaces the new eligible energy resources in the RES plan with new nonrenewable resources reasonably available.(III) Eligible energy resources whose acquisition commenced prior to July 2, 2006 shall be included in both the RES and No RES plans. Eligible energy resources acquired pursuant to a Commission-approved electric resource plan as new energy technologies or demonstration projects under § 40-2-123(1)(a), C.R.S., shall be included in both the RES and No RES plans.(IV) The QRU shall compare the costs and benefits of the two plans to project the estimated annual net retail rate impact for the RES planning period. The maximum retail rate impact shall not exceed two percent of the total retail bill annually for each customer. To the extent the RES plan exceeds this maximum retail rate impact over the RES planning period, the investor owned QRU shall modify the RES plan to limit the acquisition of eligible energy resources so as not to exceed the maximum retail rate impact for the RES planning period. In calculating the net retail rate impact, the QRU shall take into account the projected net retail rate impact of the new eligible energy resources and the sum of the on-going annual net incremental costs of all eligible energy resources that the investor owned QRU has contracted to acquire under the SRO programs under rule 3658 and all eligible energy from resources that were constructed by the investor owned QRU or contracted for by the investor owned QRU after July 2, 2006.(V) The on-going annual net incremental costs used in the retail rate impact calculation under subparagraph 3661(h)(IV) shall be established in each compliance plan filed under rule 3657. These costs shall then be locked down until the Commission issues a final decision regarding the investor owned QRU's next compliance plan filing when such costs shall be unlocked and reset to reflect changes in methods and assumptions used by the investor owned QRU under the Commission's Electric Resource Planning Rules, unless otherwise approved by the Commission. On-going annual net incremental costs locked down before October 31, 2015 shall not be reset until the Commission issues a final decision regarding the investor owned QRU's compliance plan filed on or before October 31, 2015.(VI) If, in a compliance plan filed under rule 3657, the Commission approves a calculation of the retail rate impact that differs from a calculation in an earlier approved plan, the Commission shall allow the investor owned QRU to fully recover the costs of eligible energy resources and RECs already acquired by the investor owned QRU through one or more adjustment clauses.(i) If the retail rate impact does not exceed the maximum percent level, a QRU may acquire more than the minimum amount of eligible energy resources and RECs required under the RES.38 CR 17, September 10, 2015, effective 9/30/201539 CR 06, March 25, 2016, effective 4/14/201639 CR 08, April 25, 2016, effective 5/15/201640 CR 22, November 25, 2017, effective 12/15/201742 CR 03, February 10, 2019, effective 3/2/201942 CR 07, April 10, 2019, effective 4/30/201942 CR 09, May 10, 2019, effective 5/30/201943 CR 08, April 25, 2020, effective 5/15/202043 CR 12, June 25, 2020, effective 7/15/202043 CR 20, October 25, 2020, effective 11/14/202044 CR 13, July 10, 2021, effective 7/30/202144 CR 24, December 25, 2021, effective 1/14/202245 CR 18, September 25, 2022, effective 10/15/202246 CR 02, January 25, 2023, effective 2/14/2023