278.183 Surcharge to recover costs of compliance with environmental requirements
626 words·~3 min read·
/ky/278-183A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
for coal combustion wastes and by-products -- Environmental compliance
plan, review and adjustment.
(1)Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, effective January 1, 1993, a
utility shall be entitled to the current recovery of its costs of complying with the
Federal Clean Air Act as amended and those federal, state, or local environmental
requirements which apply to coal combustion wastes and by-products from facilities
utilized for production of energy from coal in accordance with the utility's
compliance plan as designated in subsection
(2)of this section. These costs shall
include a reasonable return on construction and other capital expenditures and
reasonable operating expenses for any plant, equipment, property, facility, or other
action to be used to comply with applicable environmental requirements set forth in
this section. Operating expenses include all costs of operating and maintaining
environmental facilities, income taxes, property taxes, other applicable taxes, and
depreciation expenses as these expenses relate to compliance with the
environmental requirements set forth in this section.
(2)Recovery of costs pursuant to subsection
(1)of this section that are not already
included in existing rates shall be by environmental surcharge to existing rates
imposed as a positive or negative adjustment to customer bills in the second month
following the month in which costs are incurred. Each utility, before initially
imposing an environmental surcharge pursuant to this subsection, shall thirty
days in advance file a notice of intent to file said plan and subsequently submit to
the commission a plan, including any application required by KRS 278.020(1), for
complying with the applicable environmental requirements set forth in subsection
(1)of this section. The plan shall include the utility's testimony concerning a
reasonable return on compliance-related capital expenditures and a tariff addition
containing the terms and conditions of a proposed surcharge as applied to individual
rate classes. Within six
(6)months of submittal, the commission shall conduct a
hearing upon the request of a party, and shall, regardless of whether or not a hearing
is requested:
(a)Consider and approve the plan and rate surcharge if the commission finds the
plan and rate surcharge reasonable and cost-effective for compliance with the
applicable environmental requirements set forth in subsection
(1)of this
section;
(b)Establish a reasonable return on compliance-related capital expenditures; and
(c)Approve the application of the surcharge.
(3)The amount of the monthly environmental surcharge shall be filed with the
commission ten
(10)days before it is scheduled to go into effect, along with
supporting data to justify the amount of the surcharge which shall include data and
information as may be required by the commission. At six
(6)month intervals, the
commission shall review past operations of the environmental surcharge of each
utility, and after hearing, as ordered, shall, by temporary adjustment in the
surcharge, disallow any surcharge amounts found not just and reasonable and
reconcile past surcharges with actual costs recoverable pursuant to subsection
(1)of
this section. Every two
(2)years the commission shall review and evaluate past
operation of the surcharge, and after hearing, as ordered, shall disallow improper
expenses, and to the extent appropriate, incorporate surcharge amounts found just
and reasonable into the existing base rates of each utility.
(4)The commission may employ competent, qualified independent consultants to assist
the commission in its review of the utility's plan of compliance as specified in
subsection
(2)of this section. The cost of any consultant shall be included in the
surcharge approved by the commission.
(5)The commission shall retain all jurisdiction granted by this section and KRS
278.020 to review the environmental surcharge authorized by this section and any
complaints as to the amount of any environmental surcharge or the incorporation of
any environmental surcharge into the existing base rate of any utility.