Adds fusion to types of Class I renewable energies as defined for purposes of "Electric Discount and Energy Competition Act."

A4364

ASSEMBLY, No. 4364

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

INTRODUCED FEBRUARY 19, 2026

Sponsored by:

Assemblyman� ALEX SAUICKIE

District 12 (Burlington, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean)

SYNOPSIS

���� Adds fusion to types of Class I renewable energies as
defined for purposes of "Electric Discount and Energy Competition
Act."

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� As introduced.

��

An Act

concerning fusion energy and amending P.L.1999,
c.23.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

����� 1.
�Section 3 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-51) is amended to read as follows:

����� 3.�� As
used in P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-49 et al.):

����� "Assignee"
means a person to which an electric public utility or another assignee assigns,
sells, or transfers, other than as security, all or a portion of its right to
or interest in bondable transition property.� Except as specifically provided
in P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-49 et al.), an assignee shall not be subject to the
public utility requirements of Title 48 or any rules or regulations adopted
pursuant thereto.

����� "Base
load electric power generation facility" means an electric power
generation facility intended to be operated at a greater than 50 percent
capacity factor including, but not limited to, a combined cycle power facility
and a combined heat and power facility.

����� "Base
residual auction" means the auction conducted by PJM, as part of PJM's
reliability pricing model, three years prior to the start of the delivery year
to secure electrical capacity as necessary to satisfy the capacity requirements
for that delivery year.

����� "Basic
gas supply service" means gas supply service that is provided to any
customer that has not chosen an alternative gas supplier, whether or not the
customer has received offers as to competitive supply options, including, but
not limited to, any customer that cannot obtain such service for any reason,
including non-payment for services.� Basic gas supply service is not a
competitive service and shall be fully regulated by the board.

����� "Basic
generation service" or "BGS" means electric generation service
that is provided, to any customer that has not chosen an alternative electric
power supplier, whether or not the customer has received offers for competitive
supply options, including, but not limited to, any customer that cannot obtain
such service from an electric power supplier for any reason, including
non-payment for services.� Basic generation service is not a competitive
service and shall be fully regulated by the board.

����� "Basic
generation service provider" or "provider" means a provider of
basic generation service.

����� "Basic
generation service transition costs" means the amount by which the
payments by an electric public utility for the procurement of power for basic
generation service and related ancillary and administrative costs exceeds the
net revenues from the basic generation service charge established by the board
pursuant to section 9 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-57) during the transition
period, together with interest on the balance at the board-approved rate, that
is reflected in a deferred balance account approved by the board in an order
addressing the electric public utility's unbundled rates, stranded costs, and
restructuring filings pursuant to P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-49 et al.).� Basic
generation service transition costs shall include, but are not limited to,
costs of purchases from the spot market, bilateral contracts, contracts with
non-utility generators, parting contracts with the purchaser of the electric
public utility's divested generation assets, short-term advance purchases, and
financial instruments such as hedging, forward contracts, and options.� Basic
generation service transition costs shall also include the payments by an
electric public utility pursuant to a competitive procurement process for basic
generation service supply during the transition period, and costs of any such
process used to procure the basic generation service supply.

����� "Board"
means the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities or any successor agency.

����� "Bondable
stranded costs" means any stranded costs or basic generation service
transition costs of an electric public utility approved by the board for
recovery pursuant to the provisions of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-49 et al.),
together with, as approved by the board: (1) the cost of retiring existing debt
or equity capital of the electric public utility, including accrued interest,
premium and other fees, costs, and charges relating thereto, with the proceeds
of the financing of bondable transition property; (2) if requested by an
electric public utility in its application for a bondable stranded costs rate
order, federal, State, and local tax liabilities associated with stranded costs
recovery, basic generation service transition cost recovery, or the transfer or
financing of the property, or both, including taxes, whose recovery period is
modified by the effect of a stranded costs recovery order, a bondable stranded
costs rate order, or both; and (3) the costs incurred to issue, service, or
refinance transition bonds, including interest, acquisition, or redemption
premium, and other financing costs, whether paid upon issuance or over the life
of the transition bonds, including, but not limited to, credit enhancements,
service charges, overcollateralization, interest rate cap, swap or collar,
yield maintenance, maturity guarantee or other hedging agreements, equity
investments, operating costs, and other related fees, costs, and charges, or to
assign, sell, or otherwise transfer bondable transition property.

����� "Bondable
stranded costs rate order" means one or more irrevocable written orders
issued by the board pursuant to P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-49 et al.) which
determines the amount of bondable stranded costs and the initial amount of
transition bond charges authorized to be imposed to recover the bondable
stranded costs, including the costs to be financed from the proceeds of the
transition bonds, as well as on-going costs associated with servicing and
credit enhancing the transition bonds, and provides the electric public utility
specific authority to issue or cause to be issued, directly or indirectly,
transition bonds through a financing entity and related matters as provided in
P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-49 et al.), which order shall become effective immediately
upon the written consent of the related electric public utility to the order as
provided in P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-49 et al.).

����� "Bondable
transition property" means the property consisting of the irrevocable
right to charge, collect, and receive, and be paid from collections of,
transition bond charges in the amount necessary to provide for the full
recovery of bondable stranded costs which are determined to be recoverable in a
bondable stranded costs rate order, all rights of the related electric public
utility under the bondable stranded costs rate order including, without
limitation, all rights to obtain periodic adjustments of the related transition
bond charges pursuant to subsection b. of section 15 of P.L.1999, c.23
(C.48:3-64), and all revenues, collections, payments, money, and proceeds
arising under, or with respect to, all of the foregoing.

����� "British
thermal unit" or "Btu" means the amount of heat required to
increase the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit.

����� "Broker"
means a duly licensed electric power supplier that assumes the contractual and
legal responsibility for the sale of electric generation service, transmission,
or other services to end-use retail customers, but does not take title to any
of the power sold, or a duly licensed gas supplier that assumes the contractual
and legal obligation to provide gas supply service to end-use retail customers,
but does not take title to the gas.

����� "Brownfield"
means any former or current commercial or industrial site that is currently
vacant or underutilized and on which there has been, or there is suspected to
have been, a discharge of a contaminant.

����� "Buydown"
means an arrangement or arrangements involving the buyer and seller in a given
power purchase contract and, in some cases third parties, for consideration to
be given by the buyer in order to effectuate a reduction in the pricing, or the
restructuring of other terms to reduce the overall cost of the power contract,
for the remaining succeeding period of the purchased power arrangement or
arrangements.

����� "Buyout"
means an arrangement or arrangements involving the buyer and seller in a given
power purchase contract and, in some cases third parties, for consideration to
be given by the buyer in order to effectuate a termination of such power purchase
contract.

����� "Class
I renewable energy" means electric energy produced from solar
technologies, photovoltaic technologies, wind energy, fuel cells, geothermal
technologies,
fusion,
wave or tidal action, small scale hydropower
facilities with a capacity of three megawatts or less and put into service
after the effective date of P.L.2012, c.24, methane gas from landfills, methane
gas from a biomass facility provided that the biomass is cultivated and
harvested in a sustainable manner, or methane gas from a composting or
anaerobic or aerobic digestion facility that converts food waste or other
organic waste to energy.

����� "Class
II renewable energy" means electric energy produced at a hydropower
facility with a capacity of greater than three megawatts, but less than 30
megawatts, or a resource recovery facility, provided that the facility is
located where retail competition is permitted and provided further that the
Commissioner of Environmental Protection has determined that the facility meets
the highest environmental standards and minimizes any impacts to the
environment and local communities.� Class II renewable energy shall not include
electric energy produced at a hydropower facility with a capacity of greater
than 30 megawatts on or after the effective date of P.L.2015, c.51.

����� "Co-generation"
means the sequential production of electricity and steam or other forms of
useful energy used for industrial or commercial heating and cooling purposes.

����� "Combined
cycle power facility" means a generation facility that combines two or
more thermodynamic cycles, by producing electric power via the combustion of
fuel and then routing the resulting waste heat by-product to a conventional
boiler or to a heat recovery steam generator for use by a steam turbine to
produce electric power, thereby increasing the overall efficiency of the
generating facility.

����� "Combined
heat and power facility" or "co-generation facility" means a
generation facility which produces electric energy and steam or other forms of
useful energy such as heat, which are used for industrial or commercial heating
or cooling purposes.� A combined heat and power facility or co-generation
facility shall not be considered a public utility.

����� "Competitive
service" means any service offered by an electric public utility or a gas
public utility that the board determines to be competitive pursuant to section
8 or section 10 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-56 or C.48:3-58) or that is not regulated
by the board.

����� "Commercial
and industrial energy pricing class customer" or "CIEP class
customer" means that group of non-residential customers with high peak
demand, as determined by periodic board order, which either is eligible or
which would be eligible, as determined by periodic board order, to receive
funds from the Retail Margin Fund established pursuant to section 9 of
P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-57) and for which basic generation service is
hourly-priced.

����� "Comprehensive
resource analysis" means an analysis including, but not limited to, an
assessment of existing market barriers to the implementation of energy
efficiency and renewable technologies that are not or cannot be delivered to
customers through a competitive marketplace.

����� "Community
solar facility" means a solar electric power generation facility
participating in the Community Solar Energy Pilot Program or the Community
Solar Energy Program developed by the board pursuant to section 5 of P.L.2018,
c.17 (C.48:3-87.11).

����� "Connected
to the distribution system" means, for a solar electric power generation
facility, that the facility is: (1) connected to a net metering customer's side
of a meter, regardless of the voltage at which that customer connects to the
electric grid; (2) an on-site generation facility; (3) qualified for net
metering aggregation as provided pursuant to paragraph (4) of subsection e. of
section 38 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-87); (4) owned or operated by an electric
public utility and approved by the board pursuant to section 13 of P.L.2007,
c.340 (C.48:3-98.1); (5) directly connected to the electric grid at 69
kilovolts or less, regardless of how an electric public utility classifies that
portion of its electric grid, and is designated as "connected to the
distribution system" by the board pursuant to subsections q. through s. of
section 38 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-87); or (6) is certified by the board, in
consultation with the Department of Environmental Protection, as being located
on a brownfield, on an area of historic fill, or on a properly closed sanitary
landfill facility.� Any solar electric power generation facility, other than
that of a net metering customer on the customer's side of the meter, connected
above 69 kilovolts shall not be considered connected to the distribution
system.

����� "Contaminated
site or landfill" means: (1) any currently contaminated portion of a
property on which industrial or commercial operations were conducted and a
discharge occurred, and its associated disturbed areas, where
"discharge" means the same as the term is defined in section 23 of
P.L.1993, c.139 (C.58:10B-1); or (2) a properly closed sanitary landfill
facility and its associated disturbed areas.

����� "Customer"
means any person that is an end user and is connected to any part of the
transmission and distribution system within an electric public utility's
service territory or a gas public utility's service territory within this
State.

����� "Customer
account service" means metering, billing, or such other administrative
activity associated with maintaining a customer account.

����� "Delivery
year" or "DY" means the 12-month period from June 1st through
May 31st, numbered according to the calendar year in which it ends.

����� "Demand
side management" means the management of customer demand for energy
service through the implementation of cost-effective energy efficiency
technologies, including, but not limited to, installed conservation, load
management, and energy efficiency measures on and in the residential,
commercial, industrial, institutional, and governmental premises and facilities
in this State.

����� "Electric
generation service" means the provision of retail electric energy and
capacity which is generated off-site from the location at which the consumption
of such electric energy and capacity is metered for retail billing purposes,
including agreements and arrangements related thereto.

����� "Electric
power generator" means an entity that proposes to construct, own, lease,
or operate, or currently owns, leases, or operates, an electric power
production facility that will sell or does sell at least 90 percent of its
output, either directly or through a marketer, to a customer or customers
located at sites that are not on or contiguous to the site on which the
facility will be located or is located.� The designation of an entity as an
electric power generator for the purposes of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-49 et al.)
shall not, in and of itself, affect the entity's status as an exempt wholesale
generator under the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, 15 U.S.C. s.79
et seq., or its successor act.

����� "Electric
power supplier" means a person or entity that is duly licensed pursuant to
the provisions of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-49 et al.) to offer and to assume the
contractual and legal responsibility to provide electric generation service to
retail customers, and includes load serving entities, marketers, and brokers
that offer or provide electric generation service to retail customers.� The
term excludes an electric public utility that provides electric generation
service only as a basic generation service pursuant to section 9 of P.L.1999,
c.23 (C.48:3-57).

����� "Electric
public utility" means a public utility, as that term is defined in
R.S.48:2-13, that transmits and distributes electricity to end users within
this State.

����� "Electric
related service" means a service that is directly related to the
consumption of electricity by an end user, including, but not limited to, the
installation of demand side management measures at the end user's premises, the
maintenance, repair, or replacement of appliances, lighting, motors, or other
energy-consuming devices at the end user's premises, and the provision of
energy consumption measurement and billing services.

����� "Electronic
signature" means an electronic sound, symbol, or process, attached to, or
logically associated with, a contract or other record, and executed or adopted
by a person with the intent to sign the record.

����� "Eligible
generator" means a developer of a base load or mid-merit electric power
generation facility including, but not limited to, an on-site generation
facility that qualifies as a capacity resource under PJM criteria and that
commences construction after the effective date of P.L.2011, c.9 (C.48:3-98.2
et al.).

����� "Energy
agent" means a person that is duly registered pursuant to the provisions
of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-49 et al.), that arranges the sale of retail
electricity or electric related services, or retail gas supply or gas related
services, between government aggregators or private aggregators and electric
power suppliers or gas suppliers, but does not take title to the electric or
gas sold.

����� "Energy
consumer" means a business or residential consumer of electric generation
service or gas supply service located within the territorial jurisdiction of a
government aggregator.

����� "Energy
efficiency portfolio standard" means a requirement to procure a specified
amount of energy efficiency or demand side management resources as a means of
managing and reducing energy usage and demand by customers.

����� "Energy
year" or "EY" means the 12-month period from June 1st through
May 31st, numbered according to the calendar year in which it ends.

����� "Existing
business relationship" means a relationship formed by a voluntary two-way
communication between an electric power supplier, gas supplier, broker, energy
agent, marketer, private aggregator, sales representative, or telemarketer and
a customer, regardless of an exchange of consideration, on the basis of an
inquiry, application, purchase, or transaction initiated by the customer
regarding products or services offered by the electric power supplier, gas
supplier, broker, energy agent, marketer, private aggregator, sales
representative, or telemarketer; however, a consumer's use of electric
generation service or gas supply service through the consumer's electric public
utility or gas public utility shall not constitute or establish an existing
business relationship for the purpose of P.L.2013, c.263.

����� "Farmland"
means land actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural use that is
valued, assessed, and taxed pursuant to the "Farmland Assessment Act of
1964," P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.1 et seq.).

����� "Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission" or "FERC" means the federal agency
established pursuant to 42 U.S.C. s.7171 et seq. to regulate the interstate
transmission of electricity, natural gas, and oil.

����� "Final
remediation document" shall have the same meaning as provided in section 3
of P.L.1976, c.141 (C.58:10-23.11b).

����� "Financing
entity" means an electric public utility, a special purpose entity, or any
other assignee of bondable transition property, which issues transition bonds.�
Except as specifically provided in P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-49 et al.), a financing
entity which is not itself an electric public utility shall not be subject to
the public utility requirements of Title 48 of the Revised Statutes or any
rules or regulations adopted pursuant thereto.

����� "Gas
public utility" means a public utility, as that term is defined in
R.S.48:2-13, that distributes gas to end users within this State.

����� "Gas
related service" means a service that is directly related to the
consumption of gas by an end user, including, but not limited to, the
installation of demand side management measures at the end user's premises, the
maintenance, repair or replacement of appliances or other energy-consuming
devices at the end user's premises, and the provision of energy consumption
measurement and billing services.

����� "Gas
supplier" means a person that is duly licensed pursuant to the provisions
of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-49 et al.) to offer and assume the contractual and
legal obligation to provide gas supply service to retail customers, and
includes, but is not limited to, marketers and brokers. A non-public utility
affiliate of a public utility holding company may be a gas supplier, but a gas
public utility or any subsidiary of a gas utility is not a gas supplier.� In
the event that a gas public utility is not part of a holding company legal
structure, a related competitive business segment of that gas public utility
may be a gas supplier, provided that related competitive business segment is
structurally separated from the gas public utility, and provided that the interactions
between the gas public utility and the related competitive business segment are
subject to the affiliate relations standards adopted by the board pursuant to
subsection k. of section 10 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-58).

����� "Gas
supply service" means the provision to customers of the retail commodity
of gas, but does not include any regulated distribution service.

����� "Government
aggregator" means any government entity subject to the requirements of the
"Local Public Contracts Law," P.L.1971, c.198 (C.40A:11-1 et seq.),
the "Public School Contracts Law," N.J.S.18A:18A-1 et seq., or the "County
College Contracts Law," P.L.1982, c.189 (C.18A:64A-25.1 et seq.), that
enters into a written contract with a licensed electric power supplier or a
licensed gas supplier for: (1) the provision of electric generation service,
electric related service, gas supply service, or gas related service for its
own use or the use of other government aggregators; or (2) if a municipal or
county government, the provision of electric generation service or gas supply
service on behalf of business or residential customers within its territorial jurisdiction.

����� "Government
energy aggregation program" means a program and procedure pursuant to
which a government aggregator enters into a written contract for the provision
of electric generation service or gas supply service on behalf of business or
residential customers within its territorial jurisdiction.

����� "Governmental
entity" means any federal, state, municipal, local, or other governmental
department, commission, board, agency, court, authority, or instrumentality
having competent jurisdiction.

����� "Green
Acres program" means the program for the acquisition of lands for
recreation and conservation purposes pursuant to P.L.1961, c.45 (C.13:8A-1 et
seq.), P.L.1971, c.419 (C.13:8A-19 et seq.), P.L.1975, c.155 (C.13:8A-35 et
seq.), any Green Acres bond act, P.L.1999, c.152 (C.13:8C-1 et seq.), and
P.L.2016, c.12 (C.13:8C-43 et seq.).

����� "Greenhouse
gas emissions portfolio standard" means a requirement that addresses or
limits the amount of carbon dioxide emissions indirectly resulting from the use
of electricity as applied to any electric power suppliers and basic generation
service providers of electricity.

����� "Grid
supply solar facility" means a solar electric power generation facility
that sells electricity at wholesale and is connected to the State's electric
distribution or transmission systems.� "Grid supply solar facility"
does not include: (1) a net metered solar facility; (2) an on-site generation
facility; (3) a facility participating in net metering aggregation pursuant to
section 38 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-87); (4) a facility participating in
remote net metering; or (5) a community solar facility.

����� "Historic
fill" means generally large volumes of non-indigenous material, no matter
what date they were emplaced on the site, used to raise the topographic
elevation of a site, which were contaminated prior to emplacement and are in no
way connected with the operations at the location of emplacement and which
include, but are not limited to, construction debris, dredge spoils,
incinerator residue, demolition debris, fly ash, and non-hazardous solid
waste.� "Historic fill" shall not include any material which is
substantially chromate chemical production waste or any other chemical
production waste or waste from processing of metal or mineral ores, residues,
slags, or tailings.

����� "Incremental
auction" means an auction conducted by PJM, as part of PJM's reliability
pricing model, prior to the start of the delivery year to secure electric
capacity as necessary to satisfy the capacity requirements for that delivery
year, that is not otherwise provided for in the base residual auction.

����� "Leakage"
means an increase in greenhouse gas emissions related to generation sources
located outside of the State that are not subject to a state, interstate, or
regional greenhouse gas emissions cap or standard that applies to generation
sources located within the State.

����� "Locational
deliverability area" or "LDA" means one or more of the zones
within the PJM region which are used to evaluate area transmission constraints
and reliability issues including electric public utility company zones,
sub-zones, and combinations of zones.

����� "Long-term
capacity agreement pilot program" or "LCAPP" means a pilot
program established by the board that includes participation by eligible
generators, to seek offers for financially-settled standard offer capacity
agreements with eligible generators pursuant to the provisions of P.L.2011, c.9
(C.48:3-98.2 et al.).

����� "Market
transition charge" means a charge imposed pursuant to section 13 of
P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-61) by an electric public utility, at a level determined
by the board, on the electric public utility customers for a limited duration
transition period to recover stranded costs created as a result of the
introduction of electric power supply competition pursuant to the provisions of
P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-49 et al.).

����� "Marketer"
means a duly licensed electric power supplier that takes title to electric
energy and capacity, transmission, and other services from electric power
generators and other wholesale suppliers and then assumes the contractual and
legal obligation to provide electric generation service, and may include
transmission and other services, to an end-use retail customer or customers, or
a duly licensed gas supplier that takes title to gas and then assumes the
contractual and legal obligation to provide gas supply service to an end-use
customer or customers.

����� "Mid-merit
electric power generation facility" means a generation facility that
operates at a capacity factor between baseload generation facilities and peaker
generation facilities.

����� "Net
metered solar facility" means a solar electric power generation facility
participating in the net metering program developed by the board pursuant to
subsection e. of section 38 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-87) or in a substantially
similar program operated by a utility owned or operated by a local government
unit.

����� "Net
metering aggregation" means a procedure for calculating the combination of
the annual energy usage for all facilities owned by a single customer where
such customer is a State entity, school district, county, county agency, county
authority, municipality, municipal agency, or municipal authority, and which
are served by a solar electric power generating facility as provided pursuant
to paragraph (4) of subsection e. of section 38 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-87).

����� "Net
proceeds" means proceeds less transaction and other related costs as
determined by the board.

����� "Net
revenues" means revenues less related expenses, including applicable
taxes, as determined by the board.

����� "Offshore
wind energy" means electric energy produced by a qualified offshore wind
project.

����� "Offshore
wind renewable energy certificate" or "OREC" means a
certificate, issued by the board or its designee, representing the
environmental attributes of one megawatt hour of electric generation from a
qualified offshore wind project.

����� "Off-site
end use thermal energy services customer" means an end use customer that
purchases thermal energy services from an on-site generation facility, combined
heat and power facility, or co-generation facility, and that is located on
property that is separated from the property on which the on-site generation
facility, combined heat and power facility, or co-generation facility is
located by more than one easement, public thoroughfare, or transportation or
utility-owned right-of-way.

����� "On-site
generation facility" means a generation facility, including, but not
limited to, a generation facility that produces Class I or Class II renewable
energy, and equipment and services appurtenant to electric sales by such
facility to the end use customer located on the property or on property
contiguous to the property on which the end user is located.� An on-site
generation facility shall not be considered a public utility.� The property of
the end use customer and the property on which the on-site generation facility
is located shall be considered contiguous if they are geographically located
next to each other, but may be otherwise separated by an easement, public
thoroughfare, transportation or utility-owned right-of-way, or if the end use
customer is purchasing thermal energy services produced by the on-site
generation facility, for use for heating or cooling, or both, regardless of
whether the customer is located on property that is separated from the property
on which the on-site generation facility is located by more than one easement,
public thoroughfare, or transportation or utility-owned right-of-way.

����� "Open
access offshore wind transmission facility" means an open access
transmission facility, located either in the Atlantic Ocean or offshore, used
to facilitate the collection of offshore wind energy or its delivery to the
electronic transmission system in this State.

����� "Person"
means an individual, partnership, corporation, association, trust, limited
liability company, governmental entity, or other legal entity.

����� "PJM
Interconnection, L.L.C." or "PJM" means the privately-held,
limited liability corporation that serves as a FERC-approved Regional
Transmission Organization, or its successor, that manages the regional,
high-voltage electricity grid serving all or parts of 13 states including New
Jersey and the District of Columbia, operates the regional competitive
wholesale electric market, manages the regional transmission planning process,
and establishes systems and rules to ensure that the regional and in-State energy
markets operate fairly and efficiently.

����� "Preliminary
assessment" shall have the same meaning as provided in section 3 of
P.L.1976, c.141 (C.58:10-23.11b).

����� "Preserved
farmland" means land on which a development easement was conveyed to, or
retained by, the State Agriculture Development Committee, a county agriculture
development board, or a qualifying tax exempt nonprofit organization pursuant
to the provisions of section 24 of P.L.1983, c.32 (C.4:1C-31), section 5 of
P.L.1988, c.4 (C.4:1C-31.1), section 1 of P.L.1989, c.28 (C.4:1C-38), section 1
of P.L.1999, c.180 (C.4:1C-43.1), sections 37 through 40 of P.L.1999, c.152
(C.13:8C-37 through C.13:8C-40), or any other State law enacted for farmland
preservation purposes.

����� "Private
aggregator" means a non-government aggregator that is a duly-organized
business or non-profit organization authorized to do business in this State
that enters into a contract with a duly licensed electric power supplier for
the purchase of electric energy and capacity, or with a duly licensed gas
supplier for the purchase of gas supply service, on behalf of multiple end-use
customers by combining the loads of those customers.

����� "Properly
closed sanitary landfill facility" means a sanitary landfill facility, or
a portion of a sanitary landfill facility, for which performance is complete
with respect to all activities associated with the design, installation,
purchase, or construction of all measures, structures, or equipment required by
the Department of Environmental Protection, pursuant to law, in order to
prevent, minimize, or monitor pollution or health hazards resulting from a
sanitary landfill facility subsequent to the termination of operations at any
portion thereof, including, but not necessarily limited to, the placement of
earthen or vegetative cover, and the installation of methane gas vents or
monitors and leachate monitoring wells or collection systems at the site of any
sanitary landfill facility.

����� "Public
utility holding company" means: (1) any company that, directly or
indirectly, owns, controls, or holds with power to vote, 10 percent or more of
the outstanding voting securities of an electric public utility or a gas public
utility or of a company which is a public utility holding company by virtue of
this definition, unless the Securities and Exchange Commission, or its
successor, by order declares such company not to be a public utility holding
company under the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, 15 U.S.C. s.79 et
seq., or its successor; or (2) any person that the Securities and Exchange
Commission, or its successor, determines, after notice and opportunity for
hearing, directly or indirectly, to exercise, either alone or pursuant to an
arrangement or understanding with one or more other persons, such a controlling
influence over the management or policies of an electric public utility or a
gas public utility or public utility holding company as to make it necessary or
appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of investors or
consumers that such person be subject to the obligations, duties, and
liabilities imposed in the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, 15
U.S.C. s.79 et seq., or its successor act.

����� "Qualified
offshore wind project" means a wind turbine electricity generation
facility in the Atlantic Ocean and connected to the electric transmission
system in this State, and includes the associated transmission-related
interconnection facilities and equipment, and approved by the board pursuant to
section 3 of P.L.2010, c.57 (C.48:3-87.1).

����� "Registration
program" means an administrative process developed by the board pursuant
to subsection u. of section 38 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-87) that requires all
owners of solar electric power generation facilities connected to the distribution
system that intend to generate SRECs, to file with the board documents
detailing the size, location, interconnection plan, land use, and other project
information as required by the board.

����� "Regulatory
asset" means an asset recorded on the books of an electric public utility
or gas public utility pursuant to the Statement of Financial Accounting
Standards, No. 71, entitled "Accounting for the Effects of Certain Types
of Regulation," or any successor standard and as deemed recoverable by the
board.

����� "Related
competitive business segment of an electric public utility or gas public
utility" means any business venture of an electric public utility or gas
public utility including, but not limited to, functionally separate business
units, joint ventures, and partnerships, that offers to provide or provides
competitive services.

����� "Related
competitive business segment of a public utility holding company" means
any business venture of a public utility holding company, including, but not
limited to, functionally separate business units, joint ventures, and
partnerships and subsidiaries, that offers to provide or provides competitive
services, but does not include any related competitive business segments of an
electric public utility or gas public utility.

����� "Reliability
pricing model" or "RPM" means PJM's capacity-market model, and
its successors, that secures capacity on behalf of electric load serving
entities to satisfy load obligations not satisfied through the output of
electric generation facilities owned by those entities, or otherwise secured by
those entities through bilateral contracts.

����� "Renewable
energy certificate" or "REC" means a certificate representing
the environmental benefits or attributes of one megawatt-hour of generation
from a generating facility that produces Class I or Class II renewable energy,
but shall not include a solar renewable energy certificate or an offshore wind
renewable energy certificate.

����� "Resource
clearing price" or "RCP" means the clearing price established
for the applicable locational deliverability area by the base residual auction
or incremental auction, as determined by the optimization algorithm for each
auction, conducted by PJM as part of PJM's reliability pricing model.

����� "Resource
recovery facility" means a solid waste facility constructed and operated
for the incineration of solid waste for energy production and the recovery of
metals and other materials for reuse, which the Department of Environmental
Protection has determined to be in compliance with current environmental
standards, including, but not limited to, all applicable requirements of the
federal "Clean Air Act" (42 U.S.C. s.7401 et seq.).

����� "Restructuring
related costs" means reasonably incurred costs directly related to the
restructuring of the electric power industry, including the closure, sale,
functional separation, and divestiture of generation and other competitive
utility assets by a public utility, or the provision of competitive services as
those costs are determined by the board, and which are not stranded costs as
defined in P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-49 et al.) but may include, but not be
limited to, investments in management information systems, and which shall
include expenses related to employees affected by restructuring which result in
efficiencies and which result in benefits to ratepayers, such as training or
retraining at the level equivalent to one year's training at a vocational or
technical school or county community college, the provision of severance pay of
two weeks of base pay for each year of full-time employment, and a maximum of
24 months' continued health care coverage.� Except as to expenses related to
employees affected by restructuring, "restructuring related costs"
shall not include going forward costs.

����� "Retail
choice" means the ability of retail customers to shop for electric
generation or gas supply service from electric power or gas suppliers, or opt
to receive basic generation service or basic gas service, and the ability of an
electric power or gas supplier to offer electric generation service or gas
supply service to retail customers, consistent with the provisions of P.L.1999,
c.23 (C.48:3-49 et al.).

����� "Retail
margin" means an amount, reflecting differences in prices that electric
power suppliers and electric public utilities may charge in providing electric
generation service and basic generation service, respectively, to retail
customers, excluding residential customers, which the board may authorize to be
charged to categories of basic generation service customers of electric public
utilities in this State, other than residential customers, under the board's
continuing regulation of basic generation service pursuant to sections 3 and 9
of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-51 and 48:3-57), for the purpose of promoting a
competitive retail market for the supply of electricity.

����� "Sales
representative" means a person employed by, acting on behalf of, or as an
independent contractor for, an electric power supplier, gas supplier, broker,
energy agent, marketer, or private aggregator who, by any means, solicits a
potential residential customer for the provision of electric generation service
or gas supply service.

����� "Sanitary
landfill facility" shall have the same meaning as provided in section 3 of
P.L.1970, c.39 (C.13:1E-3).

����� "School
district" means a local or regional school district established pursuant
to chapter 8 or chapter 13 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes, a county
special services school district established pursuant to article 8 of chapter
46 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes, a county vocational school district
established pursuant to article 3 of chapter 54 of Title 18A of the New Jersey
Statutes, and a district under full State intervention pursuant to P.L.1987,
c.399 (C.18A:7A-34 et al.).

����� "Shopping
credit" means an amount deducted from the bill of an electric public
utility customer to reflect the fact that the customer has switched to an
electric power supplier and no longer takes basic generation service from the
electric public utility.

����� "Site
investigation" shall have the same meaning as provided in section 3 of
P.L.1976, c.141 (C.58:10-23.11b).

����� "Small
scale hydropower facility" means a facility located within this State that
is connected to the distribution system, and that meets the requirements of,
and has been certified by, a nationally recognized low-impact hydropower
organization that has established low-impact hydropower certification criteria
applicable to: (1) river flows; (2) water quality; (3) fish passage and
protection; (4) watershed protection; (5) threatened and endangered species
protection; (6) cultural resource protection; (7) recreation; and (8)
facilities recommended for removal.

����� "Social
program" means a program implemented with board approval to provide
assistance to a group of disadvantaged customers, to provide protection to
consumers, or to accomplish a particular societal goal, and includes, but is
not limited to, the winter moratorium program, utility practices concerning
"bad debt" customers, low income assistance, deferred payment plans,
weatherization programs, and late payment and deposit policies, but does not
include any demand side management program or any environmental requirements or
controls.

����� "Societal
benefits charge" means a charge imposed by an electric public utility, at
a level determined by the board, pursuant to, and in accordance with, section
12 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-60).

����� "Solar
alternative compliance payment" or "SACP" means a payment of a
certain dollar amount per megawatt hour (MWh) which an electric power supplier
or provider may submit to the board in order to comply with the solar electric
generation requirements under section 38 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-87).

����� "Solar
renewable energy certificate" or "SREC" means a certificate
issued by the board or its designee, representing one megawatt hour (MWh) of
solar energy that is generated by a facility connected to the distribution
system in this State and has value based upon, and driven by, the energy
market.

����� "Solar
renewable energy certificate II" or "SREC-II" means a
transferable certificate, issued by the board or its designee pursuant to
P.L.2021, c.169 (C.48:3-114 et al.), which is capable of counting towards the
renewable energy portfolio standards of an electric power supplier or basic
generation service provider in the State pursuant to section 38 of P.L.1999,
c.23 (C.48:3-87).

����� "SREC-II
program" means the program established pursuant to section 2 of P.L.2021,
c.169 (C.48:3-115) to distribute SREC-IIs.

����� "SREC-II
value per megawatt-hour" means the value, in dollars-per-megawatt-hour,
assigned by the board to each solar electric power generation facility eligible
to receive SREC-IIs, which is paid to the facility and which represents the
environmental attributes of the facility.

����� "Standard
offer capacity agreement" or "SOCA" means a financially-settled
transaction agreement, approved by board order, that provides for eligible
generators to receive payments from the electric public utilities for a defined
amount of electric capacity for a term to be determined by the board but not to
exceed 15 years, and for such payments to be a fully non-bypassable charge,
with such an order, once issued, being irrevocable.

����� "Standard
offer capacity price" or "SOCP" means the capacity price that is
fixed for the term of the SOCA and which is the price to be received by
eligible generators under a board-approved SOCA.

����� "State
entity" means a department, agency, or office of State government, a State
university or college, or an authority created by the State.

����� "Stranded
cost" means the amount by which the net cost of an electric public
utility's electric generating assets or electric power purchase commitments, as
determined by the board consistent with the provisions of P.L.1999, c.23
(C.48:3-49 et al.), exceeds the market value of those assets or contractual
commitments in a competitive supply marketplace and the costs of buydowns or
buyouts of power purchase contracts.

����� "Stranded
costs recovery order" means each order issued by the board in accordance
with subsection c. of section 13 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-61) which sets forth
the amount of stranded costs, if any, the board has determined an electric
public utility is eligible to recover and collect in accordance with the
standards set forth in section 13 of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-61) and the
recovery mechanisms therefor.

����� "Telemarketer"
shall have the same meaning as set forth in section 2 of P.L.2003, c.76
(C.56:8-120).

����� "Telemarketing
sales call" means a telephone call made by a telemarketer to a potential
residential customer as part of a plan, program, or campaign to encourage the
customer to change the customer's electric power supplier or gas supplier.� A telephone
call made to an existing customer of an electric power supplier, gas supplier,
broker, energy agent, marketer, private aggregator, or sales representative,
for the sole purpose of collecting on accounts or following up on contractual
obligations, shall not be deemed a telemarketing sales call.� A telephone call
made in response to an express written request of a customer shall not be
deemed a telemarketing sales call.

����� "Thermal
efficiency" means the useful electric energy output of a facility, plus
the useful thermal energy output of the facility, expressed as a percentage of
the total energy input to the facility.

����� "Transition
bond charge" means a charge, expressed as an amount per kilowatt hour,
that is authorized by and imposed on electric public utility ratepayers
pursuant to a bondable stranded costs rate order, as modified at any time
pursuant to the provisions of P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-49 et al.).

����� "Transition
bonds" means bonds, notes, certificates of participation, beneficial
interest, or other evidences of indebtedness or ownership issued pursuant to an
indenture, contract, or other agreement of an electric public utility or a
financing entity, the proceeds of which are used, directly or indirectly, to
recover, finance or refinance bondable stranded costs and which are, directly
or indirectly, secured by or payable from bondable transition property.
References in P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-49 et al.) to principal, interest, and
acquisition or redemption premium with respect to transition bonds which are
issued in the form of certificates of participation or beneficial interest or
other evidences of ownership shall refer to the comparable payments on such
securities.

����� "Transition
period" means the period from August 1, 1999 through July 31, 2003.

����� "Transmission
and distribution system" means, with respect to an electric public
utility, any facility or equipment that is used for the transmission,
distribution, or delivery of electricity to the customers of the electric
public utility including, but not limited to, the land, structures, meters,
lines, switches, and all other appurtenances thereof and thereto, owned or
controlled by the electric public utility within this State.

����� "Universal
service" means any service approved by the board with the purpose of
assisting low-income residential customers in obtaining or retaining electric
generation or delivery service.

����� "Unsolicited
advertisement" means any advertising claims of the commercial availability
or quality of services provided by an electric power supplier, gas supplier,
broker, energy agent, marketer, private aggregator, sales representative, or telemarketer
which is transmitted to a potential customer without that customer's prior
express invitation or permission.

(cf:
P.L.2021, c.169, s.9)

���� 2.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.

STATEMENT

����� This bill revises the provisions of the �Electric
Discount and Energy Competition Act,� P.L.1999, c.23 (C.48:3-51 et al.) to
include fusion within the definition of Class I renewable energy.