A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to authorize the utilities commission to reassign territories of electric membership corporations to municipal electric suppliers in the absence of approved territorial agreements.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 160A‑331.2 reads as rewritten:
"§ 160A‑331.2.  Agreements of electric suppliers.
(a)	The General Assembly finds and determines that, in order to avoid the unnecessary duplication of electric facilities and to facilitate the settlement of disputes between cities that are primary suppliers and other electric suppliers, it is desirable for the State to authorize electric suppliers to enter into agreements pursuant to which the parties to the agreements allocate to each other the right to provide electric service to premises each would not have the right to serve under this Article but for the agreement, provided that no agreement between a city that is a primary supplier and another electric supplier shall be enforceable by or against an electric supplier that is subject to the territorial assignment jurisdiction of the North Carolina Utilities Commission until the agreement has been approved by the Commission. The Commission shall approve an agreement entered into pursuant to this section unless it finds that such agreement is not in the public interest. Such agreements may allocate the right to serve premises by reference to specific premises, geographical boundaries, or amounts of unspecified load to be served, but no agreement shall affect in any way the rights of other electric suppliers who are not parties to the relevant agreement. The provisions of this section apply to agreements relating to electric service inside and outside the corporate limits of a city.
(b)	During the period beginning June 1, 2005, and ending May 31, 2007, electric membership corporations and cities that own and maintain their own electric distribution lines shall undertake good faith negotiations concerning the provision of future electric services within areas outside of the corporate limits of those cities as of June 1, 2005, and the development of agreements relating to the provision of electric services, the location of lines, and the areas within which electric services may be provided by these electric suppliers. To the extent negotiations under this subsection produce any agreements between the affected electric suppliers, these agreements shall be submitted to the North Carolina Utilities Commission for approval under this section.  To the extent negotiations under this subsection do not produce an agreement establishing service areas that has been submitted to the Commission by May 31, 2007, and thereafter approved, then either the electric membership corporation or the city that owns and maintains its own electric distribution lines shall be entitled to petition the Commission to exercise the authority conferred under subsection (c) of this section to issue an order which establishes service territories as between the electric membership corporation and city involved.
(c)	An electric membership corporation, or a city that owns and maintains its own electric distribution lines, may petition the North Carolina Utilities Commission under this subsection at any time with respect to the provision of electric service within any area not previously within the scope of a service area arising under or protected by a service area agreement filed with and approved by the Commission under this section. Upon the filing of  a petition and the payment of a filing fee of five hundred dollars ($500.00) by either an electric membership corporation or a city, the  Commission shall have and exercise the authority to reassign some or all of the affected portion of  the previously assigned territory of the involved electric membership corporation as territory to be served solely by the involved electric membership corporation, territory to be served solely by the involved city, or territory to be designated as unassigned territory and subject to customer choice as between the involved electric membership corporation and the involved city. In making any such assignments or reassignments, the Commission shall consider and apply the standards contained in G.S. 62‑110.2(c)(1) and shall also consider the geography of the affected area, the existing infrastructure to provide service in or near that area, the investments previously made to provide service within or near that area, the utilization of existing facilities already installed in or near the affected area, the desires of consumers within the affected area, the engineering and technical effects on the systems of the competing suppliers of providing service in or near the affected area, and the potential adverse impact of loss of service territory by the involved electric membership corporation. Any assignments or reassignments made by order of the Commission under this subsection shall be and remain fully subject to the provisions of G.S. 62‑110.2(c) and (d), as supplemented by the factors enumerated in this subsection. Assignments or reassignments made by the Commission under this subsection shall be deemed to be a service area agreement approved pursuant to subsection (a) of this section, and the service areas established by that order shall survive annexation of all or any part of the affected territories assigned or reassigned in that order."
SECTION 2.  This act is effective when it becomes law.