An Act concerning retail electric service; establishing the retail wheeling task force to study competition in such service; relating to authorization of such competition by the state corporation commission.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas: Section 1. (a) There is hereby established the retail wheeling task force. The task force shall consist of 23 members, as follows:

(1) Two members of the house of representatives appointed by the speaker of the house of representatives and one member of the house of representatives appointed by the minority leader of the house of repre- sentatives;

(2) two members of the senate appointed by the president of the senate and one member of the senate appointed by the minority leader of the senate;

(3) a member of the staff of the state corporation commission des- ignated by the chairperson of the commission;

(4) a representative of the citizens' utility ratepayer board designated by the chairperson of the board;

(5) a representative of the department of commerce designated by the secretary of commerce;

(6) an environmental technology expert who is an authority on re- newable energy, designated by the legislative coordinating council;

(7) a large commercial or industrial electric customer, designated by the legislative coordinating council;

(8) one representative of each of the following, designated by the governing body of the association: Kansas electric cooperatives, inc., and Kansas municipal utilities, inc.;

(9) one representative of each of the following, designated by the chief administrative officer of the company: Kansas City Power and Light, Kansas City Board of Public Utilities, Kansas Electric Power Cooperative, Empire District Electric Company, Midwest Energy, Sunflower Electric Power Corporation, Western Resources and West Plains Energy;

(10) a small commercial or industrial electric customer, designated by the legislative coordinating council; and

(11) a residential electric customer, designated by the legislative co- ordinating council.

(b) Not more than two members of the legislature appointed to mem- bership on the task force shall be residents of the same congressional district. No members designated pursuant to subparts (7), (10) and (11) of subsection (a) shall be residents of the same congressional district. The legislative coordinating council shall designate two of the legislative mem- bers of the task force to serve, respectively, as chairperson and vice- chairperson of the task force.

(c) The task force shall meet at least four times a year on call of the chairperson of the task force.

(d) The staff of the office of the revisor of statutes, the legislative research department and the division of legislative administrative services shall provide such assistance as may be requested by the task force and authorized by the legislative coordinating council. The legislative division of post audit shall provide such assistance as may be requested by the task force and authorized by the legislative post audit committee. The state corporation commission and each other state agency shall provide assistance to the task force as may be requested by the task force.

(e) Task force members enumerated in subparts (1), (2), (6), (7), (10) and (11) of subsection (a) shall receive amounts provided by subsection (e) of K.S.A. 75-3223 and amendments thereto for each day of actual attendance at any meeting of the task force or any subcommittee meeting approved by the task force. Such amounts paid to members shall be paid from appropriations to the legislative coordinating council pursuant to vouchers prepared by the director of legislative administrative services and approved by the chairperson or vice-chairperson of the legislative coordinating council.

(f) The task force shall study issues related to competition in the furnishing of retail electric service in this state, including but not limited to:

(1) Actions of the federal energy regulatory commission;

(2) the obligation of electric utilities to serve customers;

(3) the economic impact on each class of electric utility customer;

(4) the social impact on Kansas citizens;

(5) the impact on state general fund revenues and local franchise and tax revenues;

(6) the status of electrical generating facilities in a competitive envi- ronment;

(7) savings that may be achieved by electric utility mergers and down- sizing;

(8) recovery of stranded costs;

(9) unbundling of generation, transmission and distribution services;

(10) leveling the financing of capital investment;

(11) retail wheeling, including loop losses;

(12) brokerage;

(13) incentives for renewable energy investment;

(14) the feasibility of establishment of retail customer service areas, consisting of all classes of customers, for which retail suppliers would compete to serve;

(15) stranded benefits such as the cold weather rule and charitable contributions by retail suppliers;

(16) nonprice issues such as customer service, storm damage repair, energy conservation and billing;

(17) the impact on municipal electric utilities and rural electric co- operatives; and

(18) the impact on existing statutes.

(g) The task force shall submit a preliminary report to the house and senate committees on energy and natural resources on or before January 15, 1997, and a final report of its findings and recommendations to the house and senate committees on energy and natural resources on or be- fore January 11, 1998.

Sec. 2. Before July 1, 1999, the state corporation commission shall continue to regulate retail electric suppliers in accordance with the pro- visions of K.S.A. 66-1,170 through 66-1,176, and amendments thereto, and shall not authorize competition in the furnishing of retail electric service in this state. The commission may open one or more generic dockets to study the issue of competition in the furnishing of retail electric service.

Sec. 3. The provisions of sections 1 and 2 shall expire on July 1, 1999.

Sec. 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its publication in the Kansas register.

Approved April 10, 1996.

Published in the Kansas Register: April 18, 1996..