48:3-98.3 Initiation, completion of schedule to support commencement of LCAPP.
3. Notwithstanding any provisions of the "Administrative Procedure Act," P. L. 1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.) to the contrary, the board shall initiate and complete a proceeding in accordance with the schedule set forth in this section to support the commencement of the LCAPP:
a. The board shall initiate and allow such proceeding to be completed no later than 60 days after the effective date of P.L.2011, c.9 (C.48:3-98.2 et al.) to allow for the commencement of the LCAPP. The SOCA or SOCAs resulting from that proceeding shall be awarded and executed no later than 30 days after the approval of the form of the SOCA or SOCAs. The LCAPP shall require selected eligible generators with board approved and executed SOCAs to participate and be accepted as a capacity resource in the base residual auction conducted by PJM.
b. The board shall require that the electric public utilities within the State retain an agent, with the approval of the board, to administer the LCAPP. The agent retained in accordance with this section shall, on behalf of the board, be responsible for:
(1) assisting the board with the establishment of the LCAPP that allows for offering financially-settled SOCAs for the purpose of facilitating the development of eligible generators;
(2) prequalifying eligible generators for participation in the LCAPP through a showing of environmental, economic, and community benefits, and through demonstration of reasonable certainty of completion of development, construction and permitting activities necessary to meet the desired in-service date; and
(3) recommending to the board the selection of winning eligible generators based on the net benefit to ratepayers of each prequalified eligible generator's offer price and term. Eligible generators that can enter commercial operation for delivery year 2015 are to be provided with a weighted preference in addition to the net benefit ratepayer test. Eligible generators shall also indicate the amount of capacity they are offering in the LCAPP.
c. In the proceeding initiated by the board pursuant to this section, the board shall adopt, after notice, the opportunity for comment, and public hearing, an order addressing the following requirements for the LCAPP:
(1) that electric public utilities shall procure 2,000 megawatts of financially-settled SOCAs from eligible generators, which shall include new generation capacity;
(2) that eligible generators participating in the LCAPP shall be required to offer a quantity, in megawatts, offer a price per megawatt-day, and a term of the SOCA to be evaluated by the agent and approved by the board;
(3) that, taking into consideration the agent's recommendation, the board approve the selected eligible generators from among the qualified eligible generators participating in the LCAPP for the award of board-approved long-term financially-settled SOCAs for a term to be determined by the board but not to exceed 15 years;
(4) that the board establish a method and the contract terms for providing for selected eligible generators to receive payments from the electric public utilities for the difference between the SOCP and the RCP multiplied by the SOCA capacity in the event the SOCP is greater than the RCP for any applicable delivery year and for providing for electric public utilities to receive refunds from the selected eligible generators for the difference between the SOCP and the RCP multiplied by the SOCA capacity in the event the RCP is greater than the SOCP for any applicable delivery year;
(5) that no single eligible generator or its affiliate may enter into more than 700 megawatts of financially-settled standard offer capacity agreements;
(6) that the board establish criteria associated with the prequalification of eligible generators for participation in the LCAPP through a showing of environmental, economic, and community benefits, and through demonstration of reasonable certainty of completion of development, construction and permitting activities necessary to meet the desired in-service date;
(7) that the board establish a method for evaluating and comparing the net value to ratepayers of each eligible generator's offer price and term;
(8) that the board establish a method for providing a weighted preference for eligible generators that can enter commercial operation for delivery year 2015;
(9) that eligible generators approved by the board, enter into a SOCA with each of the State's four electric public utilities provided that each electric public utility shall pay or receive refunds pursuant to an annually calculated load-ratio share of the capacity of the SOCA based upon each electric public utility's annual forecasted peak demand as determined by PJM;
(10) that the resulting SOCA shall bind the electric public utilities to the board approved SOCAs with selected eligible generators for the term of the SOCA;
(11) that the selected eligible generators with executed SOCAs shall offer the capacity, electricity, and ancillary services into the PJM wholesale markets as required by the PJM market rules; and
(12) that selected eligible generators with executed SOCAs shall participate in and clear the annual base residual auction conducted by the PJM as part of its reliability pricing model for each delivery year of the entire term of the agreement.
d. The board shall order the full recovery of all costs associated with the electric public utilities' resulting SOCAs, and the costs of the agent retained pursuant to subsection b. of this section, from ratepayers through a non-bypassable, irrevocable charge.
e. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, each SOCA shall become irrevocable upon the issuance of such order approving a SOCA.
f. Neither the board or any other governmental entity shall have the authority, directly or indirectly, legally or equitably, to rescind, alter, repeal, modify or amend a SOCA or an LCAPP cost rate order, to revalue, re-evaluate, or revise the amount of LCAPP costs, or to determine that the LCAPP charges or the revenues to recover the LCAPP charges for such SOCAs are unjust or unreasonable.
L.2011, c.9, s.3.