Section 42.05.731 - Authority and duties of the commission(a) The commission may modify or waive a requirement in AS 42.05.725 - 42.05.735, in whole or in part, by order. An application for modification or waiver under this section must be in writing and must set out the pertinent facts in sufficient detail to support a finding by the commission that no legitimate public interest will be served by enforcing the requirement designated in the application.(b) The commission may adopt by regulation additional requirements pertaining to safety, power quality, and interconnection standards for community energy facilities if the commission considers the requirements to be necessary to protect public safety and system reliability.(c) The commission shall(1) establish protocols to facilitate communication between utilities and subscriber organizations to ensure utilities have the information necessary to timely calculate and provide bill credits to subscribers;(2) require a utility subject to AS 42.05.725 - 42.05.735 to modify existing interconnection standards, fees, and processes when necessary to facilitate cost-effective and nondiscriminatory interconnection of community energy facilities;(3) permit a utility to recover reasonable costs for the administration of a community energy program;(4) facilitate the creation, financing, and accessibility of community energy facilities, including those owned by nonutility third parties; and(5) require that the construction of a community energy facility be performed by employees of contractors and subcontractors who receive the current prevailing rate of wages specified in the latest determination of prevailing rate of wages for public construction projects issued by the Department of Labor and Workforce Development under AS 36.05.010.(d) Notwithstanding another provision of this chapter, the commission may not consider a subscriber organization or an individual subscriber to be an electric utility solely because of the subscriber's participation in a community energy facility.Added by SLA 2024, ch. 29,sec. 2, eff. 11/11/2024.