A BILL to amend and reenact §§ 56-576 and 60.2-607 of the Code of Virginia and to amend the Code of Virginia by adding sections numbered 56-590.1 and 56-509.2, relating to electric utility worker protections; Virginia Electric Utility Restructuring Act.
§ 56-576. Definitions.
As used in this chapter:
"Affiliate" means any person that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with an electric utility.
"Aggregator" means a person licensed by the Commission that purchases or arranges for the purchase of electric energy as an agent or intermediary for sale to, or on behalf of, two or more retail customers.
"Commission" means the State Corporation Commission.
"Continued health care coverage" means continued health care coverage at the benefit and contribution levels in effect during employment with the utility for twenty-four months or until permanent replacement coverage is obtained through reemployment, whichever comes first.
"Cooperative" means a utility formed under or subject to Chapter 9 (§ 56-209 et seq.) 9.1 (§ 56-231.15 et seq.) of this title.
"Covered entity" means a provider in the Commonwealth of an electric service not subject to competition but shall not include default service providers.
"Covered transaction" means an acquisition, merger, or consolidation of, or other transaction involving stock, securities, voting interests or assets by which one or more persons obtains control of a covered entity.
"Customer choice" means the opportunity for a retail customer in the Commonwealth to purchase electric energy from any supplier licensed and seeking to sell electric energy to that customer.
"Displaced worker" means a person formerly employed as a non-supervisory employee of an electric utility operating within the Commonwealth to whom such electric utility is required to offer a transitional plan pursuant to subsection A of § 56-590.2.
"Distribute," "distributing" or "distribution of" electric energy means the transfer of electric energy through a retail distribution system to a retail customer.
"Distributor" means a person owning, controlling, or operating a retail distribution system to provide electric energy directly to retail customers.
"Electric utility" means any person that generates, transmits, or distributes electric energy for use by retail customers in the Commonwealth, including any investor-owned electric utility, cooperative electric utility, or electric utility owned or operated by a municipality.
"Extended unemployment benefits" means the provision of unemployment compensation benefits at the weekly payment amounts set forth in § 60.2-602, that, notwithstanding the limits on duration of weekly unemployment compensation benefits established in Chapter 6 (§ 60.2-600 et seq.) of Title 60.2, shall continue for a period ending two years after the commencement of the job reeducation and retraining program provided to the unemployed electric utility worker.
"Generate," "generating," or "generation of" electric energy means the production of electric energy.
"Generator" means a person owning, controlling, or operating a facility that produces electric energy for sale.
"Incumbent electric utility" means each electric utility in the Commonwealth that, prior to July 1, 1999, supplied electric energy to retail customers located in an exclusive service territory established by the Commission.
"Independent system operator" means a person that may receive or has received, by transfer pursuant to this chapter, any ownership or control of, or any responsibility to operate, all or part of the transmission systems in the Commonwealth.
"Job reeducation and retraining" means the provision of full tuition for two years at any state-supported institution of higher education or state vocational or technical school, or other reasonable retraining service of equal value, at the discretion of a displaced worker.
"Market power" means the ability to impose on customers a significant and nontransitory price increase on a product or service in a market above the price level which would prevail in a competitive market.
"Municipality" means a city, county, town, authority or other political subdivision of the Commonwealth.
"Outplacement services" means (i) the services, provided to displaced workers, that identify available employment opportunities and necessary qualifications and (ii) any necessary additional job reeducation and retraining provided to displaced workers.
"Period of transition to customer choice" means the period beginning on January 1, 2002, and ending on January 1, 2004, unless otherwise extended by the Commission pursuant to this chapter, during which the Commission and all electric utilities authorized to do business in the Commonwealth shall implement customer choice for retail customers in the Commonwealth.
"Person" means any individual, corporation, partnership, association, company, business, trust, joint venture, or other private legal entity, and the Commonwealth or any municipality.
"Retail customer" means any person that purchases retail electric energy for its own consumption at one or more metering points or nonmetered points of delivery located in the Commonwealth.
"Retail electric energy" means electric energy sold for ultimate consumption to a retail customer.
"Severance benefit" means the pay provided to any displaced worker, which shall not be less than two weeks' base pay for each full year of the displaced worker's full-time employment.
"Supplier" means any generator, distributor, aggregator, broker, marketer, or other person who offers to sell or sells electric energy to retail customers and is licensed by the Commission to do so, but it does not mean a generator that produces electric energy exclusively for its own consumption or the consumption of an affiliate.
"Supply" or "supplying" electric energy means the sale of or the offer to sell electric energy to a retail customer.
"Transmission of," "transmit," or "transmitting" electric energy means the transfer of electric energy through the Commonwealth's interconnected transmission grid from a generator to either a distributor or a retail customer.
"Transmission system" means those facilities and equipment that are required to provide for the transmission of electric energy.
§ 56-590.1. Electric system service reliability and performance standards; personnel staffing standards; electric utility worker certification.
A. The Commission and the Department of Labor and Industry shall develop electric system service reliability and performance standards for generation, transmission, and distribution services. The standards shall address issues of facilities construction, maintenance, and equipment, as well as outage time and consumer satisfaction. The standards shall be developed by the Commission and the Department of Labor and Industry jointly with electric utilities and recognized employee representatives. The standards shall be developed by examining and consolidating existing guidelines on construction and maintenance of electric utility generation, transmission and distribution facilities such as those established by the National Electric Safety Code and other industry consensus standards.
B. The Commission and the Department of Labor and Industry shall develop model personnel staffing standards that address electric utility employee training, competency, and /or certification. The model standards shall be developed by the Commission and the Department of Labor and Industry jointly with electric utilities and recognized employee representatives. The model standards shall be developed by using criteria set forth by the National Skills Standards Board.
C. The Commission and the Department of Labor and Industry shall develop standards of personnel staffing sufficient to protect the health, safety and welfare of the public and of electric utility employees.
D. All electric utility work which is permanent in nature shall be performed by electric utility employees or vendor employees who (i) have successfully completed applicable certified training programs, (ii) have demonstrated competency in identified skill sets for the tasks being performed, and (iii) hold a license issued by the Commission or the Department of Labor and Industry evidencing their compliance with clauses (i) and (ii).
§ 56-590.2. Continued employment of certain employees upon sale or transfer of electric utility facilities; collective bargaining agreements; transition plans; extended unemployment benefits; workforce reduction plans.
A. Whenever there is a sale or other transfer of ownership of one or more divisions or business units, generating stations, or generating units of an electric utility operating within the Commonwealth to another person, such acquiring person shall hire a sufficient number of non-supervisory employees to operate and maintain the station, division, or unit by initially making offers of employment to the existing non-supervisory employees of the station division or unit. The wage rates, fringe benefits and terms and conditions of employment shall be at least equivalent to those that are in effect at the time of such sale or transfer. Such wage rates, fringe benefits and terms and conditions of employment shall continue for at least thirty months from the time of such sale or transfer. If the employees of the selling entity are represented by a collective bargaining agent, that bargaining agent shall be recognized by the acquiring person and the acquiring person shall bargain in good faith with that agent. The selling entity shall make recognition of the collective bargaining agent a term and condition of the sale. The terms of the collective bargaining agreement in place at the time of the sale shall be honored. If the acquiring person has a need for fewer employees, the selling entity shall offer those employees who are not offered jobs a transition plan pursuant to subsection C.
B. If an electric utility operating within the Commonwealth transfers ownership of one or more divisions, business units, generating stations, or generating units to a subsidiary of such utility, the subsidiary shall continue to employ the utility's employees who were employed by the utility at such divisions, business units, generating stations, or generating units at the time of the transfer under the same terms, conditions and agreements as those employees enjoyed at the time of the transfer. If ownership of the subsidiary is subsequently sold or transferred to a third party, the provisions of subsection A shall apply.
C. Any electric utility operating within the Commonwealth that sells or otherwise transfers ownership of one or more divisions, business units, generating stations, or generating units to another person shall offer a transition plan to any employee of the utility immediately prior to the sale or transfer who is not offered a job as provided in subsection A. A transition plan shall include continued health care coverage, early retirement benefit payments, job reeducation and retraining, outplacement services, and a severance benefit.
D. The Commonwealth shall provide extended unemployment benefits to any employee of an electric utility company who is terminated through no fault of his or her own as a result of electricity deregulation and is otherwise eligible for such benefits.
E. Prior to reducing the number of non-supervisory employees it employs as a consequence of the Act, an electric utility shall present to its employees and employee representatives a workforce reduction plan outlining the means by which the electric utility intends to mitigate the impact of such workforce reduction on its employees.
§ 60.2-607. Maximum total benefit amounts.
A. The maximum total amount of benefits payable to any individual during any benefit year shall be determined from the "Benefit Table" shown in § 60.2-602 but shall not exceed twenty-six times such individual's weekly benefit amount, except when benefits are paid pursuant to the provisions of § 60.2-610 or § 60.2-611. Such determination shall be based only upon wages paid for insured work during such individual's base period. The Commission shall maintain a separate account for each individual who is paid wages for insured work. After the expiration of each calendar quarter the Commission shall credit each individual's account with the wages paid to him for insured work in such calendar quarter.
B. The provisions of this chapter limiting the benefits payable to any individual during any benefit year shall not apply with respect to the payment of extended unemployment benefits to displaced electric utility workers as provided in subsection D of § 56-590.2.
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