Iowa Admin. Code r. 199-27.1

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 8, October 30, 2024
Rule 199-27.1 - General information

Iowa Code section 476.2(1) provides that the Iowa utilities commission has authority to establish all needful, just and reasonable rules, not inconsistent with law, to govern the exercise of its powers and duties; the practice and procedure before it; and to the form, content and filing of reports, documents and other papers provided for in Iowa Code chapter 476 or in the commission's rules.

(1)Application of rules. The rules apply to electric cooperatives and municipal electric utilities operating within the state of Iowa subject to Iowa Code sections 476.1A and 476.1B, and to the construction, operation and maintenance of electric transmission lines to the extent provided in Iowa Code chapter 478, and supersede all tariffs on file with the commission that are in conflict with these rules.
(2)Regulation of electric cooperatives. Iowa Code section 476.1A provides that electric cooperatives are not subject to the regulation of the commission, except for regulatory action pertaining to the following:
a. Assessment of fees for the support of the commission and the office of consumer advocate pursuant to Iowa Code section 476.10.
b. Safety standards and engineering standards.
c. Assigned service areas, as set forth in Iowa Code sections 476.22 through 476.25.
d. Public utility railroad crossings, as set forth in Iowa Code section 476.27.
e. Filing of alternative energy purchase program plans with the commission, and offering such programs to customers, pursuant to Iowa Code section 476.47.
f. Iowa Code sections 476.20(1) through 476.20(4), 476.21, 476.51, 476.56, 476.58, 476.62, and 476.66 and chapters 476A and 478, to the extent applicable.
(3)Regulation of municipal electric utilities. Iowa Code section 476.1B provides that municipal electric utilities are not subject to regulation by the commission under Iowa Code chapter 476, except for regulatory action pertaining to the following:
a. Assessment of fees for the support of the commission and the office of consumer advocate.
b. Safety standards.
c. Assigned areas of service as set forth in Iowa Code sections 476.22 through 476.26.
d. Public utility railroad crossings, as set forth in Iowa Code section 476.27.
e. An electric power agency as defined in Iowa Code chapter 28F and section 390.9 that includes as a member a city- or municipality-owned utility that builds transmission facilities after July 1, 2001, is subject to applicable transmission reliability rules or standards adopted by the commission for these facilities.
f. Filing alternate energy purchase program plans with the commission, and offering such programs to customers, pursuant to Iowa Code section 476.47.
g. Iowa Code sections 476.20(1) through 476.20(4), 476.51, 476.56, 476.58, 476.62, and 476.66, as applicable.
h. An electric utility subject to regulatory action pursuant to Iowa Code section 476.1A or 476.1B is subject to complaints and investigations as set forth in Iowa Code section 476.3, but only with regard to matters within the regulatory authority of the commission as set forth in Iowa Code sections 476.1A and 476.1B.
(4)Definitions. The following words and terms, when used in these rules, have the meanings indicated below:

"Capacity" means the instantaneous rate at which energy can be delivered, received, or transferred, measured in kilowatts.

"Complaint" means a statement or question by any person, whether a utility customer or not, alleging a wrong, grievance, injury, dissatisfaction, illegal action or procedure, dangerous condition or action, or obligation of an electric cooperative or municipal electric utility.

"Customer" means any person, firm, association, or corporation; any agency of the federal, state, or local government; or any legal entity responsible by law for payment for the electric service or heat from the electric cooperative or municipal electric utility.

"Delinquent" or "delinquency" means an account for which a service bill or service payment agreement bill has not been paid in full on or before the last day for timely payment.

"Distribution line" means any single or multiphase electric power line operating at nominal voltage in either of the following ranges: 2,000 to 26,000 volts between ungrounded conductors or 1,155 to 15,000 volts between grounded and ungrounded conductors, regardless of the functional service provided by the line.

"Electric plant" includes all real estate, fixtures, and property owned, controlled, operated, or managed in connection with or to facilitate production, generation, transmission, or distribution in providing electric service or heat by an electric utility.

"Electric service" means furnishing electricity to the public for compensation for use as heat, light, power, or energy.

"Energy" means electric energy measured in kilowatt hours.

"Engineering standards" means standards adopted by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE), Rural Utilities Service (RUS), or comparable engineering organization or engineering standards adopted by the commission.

"Major event" means when an event results in extensive physical damage to transmission or distribution facilities within an electric cooperative or municipal electric utility's operating area due to unusually severe and abnormal weather or event and:

1. Wind speed exceeds 90 mph for the affected area, or
2. One-half inch of ice is present and wind speed exceeds 40 mph for the affected area, or
3. 10 percent of the affected area total customer count is incurring a loss of service for a length of time to exceed five hours, or
4. 20,000 customers in a metropolitan area are incurring a loss of service for a length of time to exceed five hours, or
5. A regional transmission organization or independent system operator declares an energy emergency alert that the organization can no longer provide expected energy requirements or has lower than established reserves, implements procedures up to shedding load, declares a maximum generation warning, declares conservative operations, or calls a maximum generation alert event in compliance with North American Electric Reliability Corporation requirements.

"Meter" means, unless otherwise qualified, a device that measures and registers the integral of an electrical quantity with respect to time.

"Power" means electric power measured in kilowatts.

"Rates" means the same as defined in Iowa Code section 384.80 and includes all charges or fees imposed or collected for the provision of or incidental to utility service.

"Safety standard" means applicable regulations promulgated by the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Safety standards for electric utilities subject to Iowa Code section 476.1A also include outage notifications, safety standards contained in the National Electrical Safety Code, as published by IEEE, and electric safety standards approved by ANSI.

"Secondary line" means any single or multiphase electric power line operating at nominal voltage less than either 2,000 volts between ungrounded conductors or 1,155 volts between grounded and ungrounded conductors, regardless of the functional service provided by the line.

"Service limitation" means the establishment of a limit on the amount of power that may be consumed by a residential customer through the installation of a service limiter device on the customer's meter.

"Tariff" means the service classifications, rules, procedures, and policies filed with and approved by the commission.

"Timely payment" means a payment on a customer's account made on or before the date shown on a current bill for service, or on a form that records an agreement between the customer and a utility for a series of partial payments to settle a delinquent account, as the date which determines application of a late payment charge to the current bill or future collection efforts.

"Transmission line" means any single or multiphase electric power line operating at nominal voltages at or in excess of either 69,000 volts between ungrounded conductors or 40,000 volts between grounded and ungrounded conductors, regardless of the functional service provided by the line.

(5)Abbreviations. The following abbreviations are used in this chapter where appropriate:

ANSI-American National Standards Institute, www.ansi.org.

IEEE-Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, www.ieee.org.

NESC-National Electrical Safety Code.

NFPA-National Fire Protection Association, www.nfpa.org.

RUS-United States Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service, www.rd.usda.gov/about-rd/agencies/rural-utilities-service.

(6)Electric cooperative service rules tariffs. Electric cooperatives subject to the commission's jurisdiction under Iowa Code section 476.1A shall maintain tariffs in the commission's electronic filing system that are consistent with the rules in this chapter and that are approved by the commission.
a. Those portions of their tariff or tariff pages regarding matters over which the commission has jurisdiction are to be filed with strikethroughs for the language deleted and underlining of the language that is added.
b. Portions of electric cooperative tariffs that are nonjurisdictional are to be identified in the tariff.
c. An electric cooperative association may file a model tariff for commission approval that may be adopted by an electric cooperative with any revisions the electric cooperative proposes to the model tariff.
d. Any electric cooperative may concur with an approved model tariff on file with the commission. For any electric cooperative that chooses to concur, the commission shall acknowledge the electric cooperative's tariff as being in compliance.
e. Tariffs approved by the commission are to be made available to all customers.
(7)Municipal electric utilities service rules. Municipal utilities service rules or other legally enforceable provisions are to be consistent with the provisions in this chapter and must be available to all customers.

Iowa Admin. Code r. 199-27.1

Adopted by IAB August 25, 2021/Volume XLIV, Number 4, effective 9/29/2021
Amended by IAB January 12, 2022/Volume XLIV, Number 14, effective 2/16/2022
Amended by IAB August 7, 2024/Volume XLVII, Number 4, effective 9/11/2024