(a) The Department of Public Service is hereby designated as the agent of the State of Vermont with full powers to act for and represent the State in any negotiations, arrangements, or proceedings for the procurement of electric energy from any source outside the State of Vermont or electric energy generated in the State by a producer, cooperative, municipal, or privately owned, which is subject to the supervision of the Department under this chapter with the right, with the approval of the Commission and the Governor, to contract for the purchase of such power and the resale on a nonprofit basis of such power to the electric distribution or transmission companies, cooperative, municipal, and privately owned, without preference or discrimination, for distribution within the State; provided, however, that purchases from sources inside the State of Vermont may be contracted for by the Department of Public Service as agent for the State only upon request of the seller and a determination by the Department that the purchase of such power and its resale on a nonprofit basis to electric distribution or transmission companies, cooperative, municipal, and privately owned, is in furtherance of the needs of the State of Vermont. If the term of any proposed purchase exceeds five years, it shall be subject to the approval of the Commission under section 248 of this title. In addition the Department of Public Service may, with the approval of the Commission and the Governor, contract for the resale of the power outside the State of Vermont, if resale outside the State is reasonably incidental to and in furtherance of the needs of the State of Vermont. Revenues realized by the Department from such resale outside the State shall be used to defray the costs of such resale, and any revenues in excess of such costs, including interest earned on excess revenues, shall be applied first to reduce the Department's retail rates under section 212a of this title, and thereafter any remaining excess shall be applied to reduce the Department's wholesale rates to Vermont utilities. The Department of Public Service, with the approval of the Commission, is authorized and empowered to enter into contracts for the transmission of such energy from the place of purchase to the point or points of resale. The Department shall take all reasonable steps to ensure that the contracts it enters into for the transmission, purchase, and wholesale or retail sale of electricity shall be in writing. The Department of Public Service is authorized and empowered to employ additional engineering and legal personnel to assist in the procurement of such energy.

(b) [Repealed.]

(c) An enterprise fund is established in the Department of Public Service to consist of revenues from the resale of power and to support the activities authorized in this section and sections 212 and 212a of this title. Balances shall remain in the fund at the end of each fiscal year, and the fund shall be appropriated and expended in accordance with 32 V.S.A. § 462(b). These monies shall not be available to meet the general obligations of the State. (Amended 1959, No. 329 (Adj. Sess.), § 39(b), eff. March 1, 1961; 1967, No. 196; 1979, No. 204 (Adj. Sess.), § 25, eff. Feb. 1, 1981; 1987, No. 65, § 2, eff. May 28, 1987; 1987, No. 281 (Adj. Sess.), § 308, eff. June 21, 1988; 2011, No. 139 (Adj. Sess.), § 51, eff. May 14, 2012; 2011, No. 162 (Adj. Sess.), § E.233.)