§ 837b. — Contract terms and conditions for use of electric energy outside Pacific Northwest.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 16USC837b]
TITLE 16--CONSERVATION
CHAPTER 12F--PACIFIC NORTHWEST CONSUMER POWER PREFERENCE; RECIPROCAL
PRIORITY IN OTHER REGIONS
Sec. 837b. Contract terms and conditions for use of electric
energy outside Pacific Northwest
(a) Surplus energy; discontinuance of deliveries to maintain ability to
meet requirements of Pacific Northwest customers; purchaser's
responsibility for hardships; deliveries by non-Federal utility
for use on contiguous distribution system not deemed deliveries
for use outside Pacific Northwest
Any contract for the sale or exchange of surplus energy for use
outside the Pacific Northwest, or as replacement, directly or
indirectly, within the Pacific Northwest for hydroelectric energy
delivered for use outside that region by a non-Federal utility, shall
provide that the Secretary, after giving the purchaser notice not in
excess of sixty days, will not deliver electric energy under such
contract whenever it can reasonably be foreseen that such delivery would
impair his ability to meet, either at or after the time of such
delivery, the energy requirements of any Pacific Northwest customer. The
purchaser shall obligate himself not to take delivery of or use any such
energy to supply any load under such conditions that discontinuance of
deliveries from the Pacific Northwest in sixty days would cause undue
hardship to the purchaser or in his territory, and, further, the
purchaser shall acknowledge full responsibility if any such hardship
occurs. Deliveries by a non-Federal utility from its generating plants
in the Pacific Northwest for use on its own distribution system in an
area outside but contiguous to the Pacific Northwest (not including any
extension of its outside service area by merger or acquisition after
August 31, 1964) shall not be deemed deliveries by such utility for use
outside the Pacific Northwest.
(b) Conservable electric energy; provisional basis for delivery; return
of energy to meet requirements of Pacific Northwest customers;
time and extent of return of energy
Electric energy generated at Federal hydroelectric plants in the
Pacific Northwest which can be conserved, for which there is no
immediate demand in the Pacific Northwest at any established rate, but
for which the Secretary determines there may be a demand in meeting the
future requirements of the Pacific Northwest, may be delivered for use
outside that region only on a provisional basis under contracts
providing that if the Secretary determines at a subsequent time that, by
virtue of prior deliveries under such contract, the Secretary is or will
be unable to meet the energy requirements of any Pacific Northwest
customer, the purchaser will return the full amount of energy delivered
to him, or such portion or portions thereof as may be required, at such
time or times as may be specified by the Secretary, except that the
Secretary shall not require return during the purchaser's daily peak
periods. The Secretary shall require the return of the energy
provisionally delivered hereunder, to such extent and at such times, as
may be necessary to meet demands at any established rate for use within
the Pacific Northwest.
(c) Surplus peaking capacity; termination clause; advance or return of
energy; time of return of energy; sale under subsection (a)
conditions
Any contract for the disposition of surplus peaking capacity shall
provide that (1) the Secretary may terminate the contract upon notice
not in excess of sixty months, and (2) the purchaser shall advance or
return the energy necessary to supply the peaking capacity, except that
the Secretary shall not require such advance or return during the
purchaser's daily peak periods. The Secretary may contract for the sale
of such energy to the purchaser, in lieu of its return, under the
conditions prescribed in subsection (a) of this section.
(d) Determination of energy requirements of Pacific Northwest non-
Federal utility customer; exclusion of conservable energy; sale
of surplus energy to the utility
The Secretary, in making any determination of the energy
requirements of any Pacific Northwest customer which is a non-Federal
utility having hydroelectric generating facilities, shall exclude any
amounts of hydroelectric energy generated in the Pacific Northwest and
disposed of outside the Pacific Northwest by the utility which, through
reasonable measures, could have been conserved or otherwise kept
available for the utility's own needs in the Pacific Northwest. The
Secretary may sell the utility as a replacement therefor only what would
otherwise be surplus energy.
(Pub. L. 88-552, Sec. 3, Aug. 31, 1964, 78 Stat. 756.)
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in sections 832m, 837c, 837d, 839f of
this title.
