A South Carolina bill (H 3659) to create a competitive supply program that would allow retail customers to procure renewable energy supplies from third party suppliers has been reported favorably by the Senate Judiciary committee.

As previously reported by EnergyChoiceMatters.com, the bill already passed the House

The bill, as reported out of the committee, provides that each electrical utility shall file a proposed voluntary renewable energy program for review and approval by the PSC. The commission shall conduct a proceeding to review the program and establish reasonable terms and conditions for the program.

The bill defines 'eligible customer' as a retail customer with a new or existing contract demand greater than or equal to one megawatt at a single-metered location or aggregated across multiple-metered locations. 'Participating customer' means an eligible customer that elects to have a portion or all of its electricity needs supplied by a voluntary renewable energy program.

Under the bill, the program shall, at a minimum, provide that:

(1) the participating customer shall have the right to select the renewable energy facility and negotiate with the renewable energy supplier on the price to be paid by the participating customer for the energy, capacity, and environmental attributes of the renewable energy facility and the term of such agreement so long as such terms are consistent with the voluntary renewable program service agreement as approved by the commission;

(2) the renewable energy contract and the participating customer agreement must be of equal duration;

(3) in addition to paying a retail bill calculated pursuant to the rates and tariffs that otherwise would apply to the participating customer, reduced by the amount of the generation credit, a participating customer shall reimburse the electrical utility on a monthly basis for the amount paid by the electrical utility to the renewable energy supplier pursuant to the participating customer agreement and renewable energy contract, plus an administrative fee approved by the commission; and

(4) eligible customers must be allowed to bundle their demand under a single participating customer agreement and renewable energy contract and must be eligible annually to procure an amount of capacity as approved by the commission.

Under the bill, the commission may approve a program that provides for options that include, but are not limited to, both variable and fixed generation credit options. The commission may limit the total portion of each electrical utility's voluntary renewable energy program that is eligible for the program at a level consistent with the public interest and shall provide standard terms and conditions for the participating customer agreement and the renewable energy contract, subject to commission review and approval.

A participating customer shall bear the burden of any reasonable costs associated with participating in a voluntary renewable energy program. An electrical utility may not charge any nonparticipating customers for any costs incurred pursuant to the provisions of this section.

A renewable energy facility may be located anywhere in the electrical utility's service territory within the utility's balancing authority.