Electrical Service: Require Long Range Energy Resource Planning and Certification of Plant Facilities, Long-Term Power Purchases, and Demand-Side Capacity Options

The Act requires that regulated electric utilities submit to the Public Service Commission an integrated resource plan for meeting long-range energy needs, which the Commission must approve or devise a plan of its own. The Act also requires that the Commission certify the construction or sale of electric plants, purchases of long-term electric power, and expenditures for demand-side capacity options before the electric utility takes any of these actions. Once the Commission orders certification of such an action by the electric utility, the utility can automatically recover, with certain exceptions, the costs of such action from ratepayers.