Terms Used In Montana Code > Title 69 > Chapter 8 > Part 1 - General Provisions

• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Assignee: means any entity, including a corporation, partnership, board, trust, or financing vehicle, to which a utility assigns, sells, or transfers, other than as security, all or a portion of the utility's interest in or right to transition property. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Board: means the board of investments created by 2-15-1808. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Carbon offset provider: means a qualified third-party entity that arranges for projects or actions that either reduce carbon dioxide emissions or increase the absorption of carbon dioxide. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• commission: means the public service commission provided for in 2-15-2602. See Montana Code 69-1-101
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Cooperative utility: means :

  (a)a utility qualifying as an electric cooperative pursuant to Title 35, chapter 18; or

  (b)an existing municipal electric utility as of May 2, 1997. See Montana Code 69-8-103

• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Customer-generator: means a user of a net metering system. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Distribution facilities: means those facilities by and through which electricity is received from transmission facilities and distributed to a retail customer and that are controlled or operated by a utility. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Electricity supply costs: means the actual costs incurred in providing electricity supply service through power purchase agreements, demand-side management, and energy efficiency programs, including but not limited to:

  (a)capacity costs;

  (b)energy costs;

  (c)fuel costs;

  (d)ancillary service costs;

  (e)transmission costs, including congestion and losses;

  (f)planning and administrative costs; and

  (g)any other costs directly related to the purchase of electricity and the management and provision of power purchase agreements. See Montana Code 69-8-103

• Electricity supply service: means the provision of electricity supply and related services through power purchase agreements, the acquisition and operation of electrical generation facilities, demand-side management, and energy efficiency programs. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Financing order: means an order of the commission adopted in accordance with 69-8-503 that authorizes the imposition and collection of fixed transition amounts and the issuance of transition bonds. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Fixed transition amounts: means those nonbypassable rates or charges, including but not limited to:

  (i)distribution;

  (ii)connection;

  (iii)disconnection; and

  (iv)termination rates and charges that are authorized by the commission in a financing order to permit recovery of transition costs and the costs of recovering, reimbursing, financing, or refinancing the transition costs and of acquiring transition property through a plan approved by the commission in the financing order, including the costs of issuing, servicing, and retiring transition bonds. See Montana Code 69-8-103

• Large customer: means , for universal system benefits programs purposes, a customer with an individual load greater than a monthly average of 1,000 kilowatt demand in the previous calendar year for that individual load. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Net metering: means measuring the difference between the electricity distributed to and the electricity generated by a customer-generator that is fed back to the distribution system during the applicable billing period. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Nonbypassable rates or charges: means rates or charges that are approved by the commission and imposed on a customer to pay the customer's share of transition costs or universal system benefits programs costs even if the customer has physically bypassed either the utility's transmission or distribution facilities. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Property: means real and personal property. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• Public utility: has the meaning of a public utility regulated by the commission pursuant to Title 69, chapter 3, on May 2, 1997, including the public utility's successors or assignees. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Retail customer: means a customer that purchases electricity for residential, commercial, or industrial end-use purposes and does not resell electricity to others. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Transition bonds: means any bond, debenture, note, interim certificate, collateral, trust certificate, or other evidence of indebtedness or ownership issued by the board or other transition bonds issuer that is secured by or payable from fixed transition amounts or transition property. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Transition cost recovery period: means the period beginning on July 1, 1998, and ending when a utility customer does not have any liability for payment of transition costs. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Transition costs: means :

  (a)a public utility's net verifiable generation-related and electricity supply costs, including costs of capital, that become unrecoverable as a result of the implementation of federal law requiring retail open access or customer choice or of this chapter;

  (b)those costs that include but are not limited to:

  (i)regulatory assets and deferred charges that exist because of current regulatory practices and can be accounted for up to the effective date of the commission's final order regarding a public utility's transition plan and conservation investments made prior to universal system benefits charge implementation;

  (ii)nonutility and utility power purchase contracts executed before May 2, 1997, including qualifying facility contracts;

  (iii)existing generation investments and supply commitments or other obligations incurred before May 2, 1997, and costs arising from these investments and commitments;

  (iv)the costs associated with renegotiation or buyout of the existing nonutility and utility power purchase contracts, including qualifying facilities and all costs, expenses, and reasonable fees related to issuing transition bonds; and

  (v)the costs of refinancing and retiring of debt or equity capital of the public utility and associated federal and state tax liabilities or other utility costs for which the use of transition bonds would benefit customers. See Montana Code 69-8-103

• Transition property: means the property right created by a financing order, including without limitation the right, title, and interest of a utility, assignee, or other issuer of transition bonds to all revenue, collections, claims, payments, money, or proceeds of or arising from or constituting fixed transition amounts that are the subject of a financing order, including those nonbypassable rates and other charges and fixed transition amounts that are authorized by the commission in the financing order to recover transition costs and the costs of recovering, reimbursing, financing, or refinancing the transition costs and acquiring transition property, including the costs of issuing, servicing, and retiring transition bonds. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Transmission facilities: means those facilities that are used to provide transmission services as determined by the federal energy regulatory commission and the commission and that are controlled or operated by a utility. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Universal system benefits charge: means a nonbypassable rate or charge to be imposed on a customer to pay the customer's share of universal system benefits programs costs. See Montana Code 69-8-103
• Universal system benefits programs: means public purpose programs for:

  (a)cost-effective local energy conservation;

  (b)low-income customer weatherization;

  (c)renewable resource projects and applications, including those that capture unique social and energy system benefits or that provide transmission and distribution system benefits;

  (d)research and development programs related to energy conservation and renewables;

  (e)market transformation designed to encourage competitive markets for public purpose programs; and

  (f)low-income energy assistance. See Montana Code 69-8-103

• Utility: means any public utility or cooperative utility. See Montana Code 69-8-103