Notice of PURPA EISA Public Hearing

NOTICE TO MEMBERS OF BLUE RIDGE ELECTRIC: The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007) requires qualifying utilities to consider adopting four new standards promulgated by Title I of the Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA). Blue Ridge Electric (BRE) is a qualifying utility under the provisions of EISA 2007 and PURPA. Therefore, members are hereby advised that the board of directors of BRE will consider all written and oral submissions made by any member of BRE or others on Tuesday, March 3, 2009 during a public meeting at the corporate offices located at 1216 Blowing Rock Blvd., NE, Lenoir, NC for the purpose of compliance with EISA 2007 by having a hearing and making a decision on whether to adopt the four proposed standards. The meeting will take place from 4:00 p.m. till 7:00p.m. in the corporate training room.

DELIBERATION AND CONCLUSIONS: Any member or other person may submit written testimony or offer relevant materials for consideration by the board of directors. Emails and other materials may be sent to bcrutchfield@blueridgeemc.com. Members may also make written submissions to be delivered via US Postal Service or hand delivered at the Blue Ridge Electric office prior to or on the day of the public hearing on March 3, 2009. Materials submitted by anyone may be made available for review by others upon request to the cooperative.

The board of directors will discuss the materials and oral testimony at their Board meeting on July 23, 2009 and may request additional testimony or material be submitted and will then render a decision as required by EISA 2007 as soon as practicable. The decision will be available on the cooperatives website after it is adopted.

New PURPA Standards to be Considered
(1) Integrated Resource Planning. Each electric utility shall (A) integrate energy efficiency resources into utility plans; and (B) adopt policies establishing cost-effective energy efficiency as a priority resource.

(2) Rate Design modifications to Promote Energy Efficiency Investments. (A) IN GENERAL - the rates allowed to be charged by any electric utility shall (I) align utility incentives with the delivery of cost-effective energy efficiency; and (II) promote energy efficiency investments. (B) POLICY OPTIONS - In complying with subparagraph (A), each utility shall consider (I) removing the throughput incentive and other regulatory and management disincentives to energy efficiency; (II) providing utility incentives for the successful management of energy efficiency programs; (III) including the impact on adoption of energy efficiency as one of the goals of retail rate design, recognizing that energy efficiency must be balanced with other objectives; (IV) adopting rate designs that encourage energy efficiency for each customer class; (V) allowing timely recovery of energy efficiency related costs; and (VI) offering home energy audits, offering demand response programs, publicizing the financial and environmental benefits associated with making home energy efficiency improvements, and educating homeowners about all existing Federal and State incentives, including the availability of low-cost loans, that make energy efficiency improvements more affordable.

(3) Consideration of Smart Grid Investments. (A) IN GENERAL. - Each state shall consider requiring that, prior to undertaking investments in non advanced grid technologies, an electric utility of the State demonstrate to the State that the electric utility considered an investment in a qualified smart grid system based on appropriate factors, including - (I) total costs, (II) cost-effectiveness, (III) improved reliability, (IV) security, (V) system performance, and (VI) societal benefit. (B) RATE RECOVERY. - Each State shall consider authorizing each electric utility of the State to recover from ratepayers any capital, operating expenditures, or other costs of the electric utility relating to the deployment of a qualified smart grid system, including a reasonable rate of return on the capital expenditures of the electric utility for the deployment of the qualified smart grid system. (C) OBSOLETE EQUIPMENT. - Each State shall consider [when] authorizing any electric utility or other party of the State to deploy a qualified smart grid system to recover in a timely manner the remaining book-value costs of any equipment rendered obsolete by the deployment of the qualified smart grid system, based on the remaining depreciable life of the obsolete equipment.

(4) Smart Grid Information. (A) INFORMATION. - All electricity purchasers shall be provided direct access, in written or electronic machine-readable form as appropriate, and to the extent practicable, to the following information from their electricity provider: (I) PRICES. - time-based electricity prices in the wholesale electricity market, and time-based electricity prices or rates that are available to the purchasers; (II) USAGE. - Purchasers shall be provided with the number of electricity units, expressed in kWh, purchased by them; (III) INTERVALS AND PROJECTIONS. - Updates of information on prices and usage shall be offered on not less than a daily basis, shall include hourly price and use information, where available, and shall include a day-ahead projection of such price information to the extent available; and (IV) SOURCES. - Purchasers and other interested persons shall be provided annually with written information on the sources of the power provided by the utility, to the extent it can be determined, by type of generation, including greenhouse gas emissions associated with each type of generation, for intervals during which such information is available on a cost-effective basis. (B) ACCESS. - Purchasers shall be able to access their own information at any time through the Internet and on other means of communication elected by that utility for Smart Grid applications. Other interested persons shall be able to access information not specific to any purchaser through the Internet. Information specific to any purchaser shall be provided solely to that purchaser.

Please note that BRE purchases its full power requirements from Duke Energy Carolinas under a long-term full-requirements contract. For this reason, BRE would not be able on its own to affect certain of the PURPA standards, and its ability to effect aspects of other standards may be limited as well. In addition, the third standard is directed to action by regulatory commissions when reviewing filings by investor owned utilities, and it may not be applicable to electric cooperatives. Commenters are urged to take such limitations into account when presenting their views.