Relating to energyARTICLE 1 CITATION, FINDINGS AND DEFINITIONS"Energy Reliability and Affordability Act of 2001"; stating legislative findings relating to energy as a basic necessity and essential for the safety, health and welfare of the citizens and economy of the state; defining certain terms ARTICLE 2 RELIABILITY ASSESSMENT Requiring the public utilities commission to annually require electric distribution utilities to report on operating and planning reserves, available transmission capacity, outages of major generation units and feeders of distribution and transmission facilities, the adequacy of stock and equipment and certain other information necessary to assess the current and future reliability of electric service in the state, requiring annual PUC reports to the legislature; granting the PUC the authority to ensure distribution utility adequate investment in plants and other facilities used in the production, transmission or distribution of electricity and preventative maintenance sufficient to guarantee reliable electric service ARTICLE 3 PUBLIC BENEFITS FUNDEstablishing the public benefits fund to fund energy efficiency and low income bill payment and conservation assistance; requiring distribution utilities to collect a nonbypassable surcharge from end use customers based on certain volumetric charges on sales of electricity and natural gas; requiring the PUC to annually require the utilities to remit to the department of revenue amounts collected under the surcharge for sales occurring in the previous year, interest on the amount accumulated to accrue to the fund; providing for PUC allocation of fund proceeds to energy efficiency and low income programs; establishing an energy efficiency program, requiring the commissioner of commerce to select contractors through a competitive bidding process, specifying contractor eligibility, duties and reporting requirements and the required contract term; establishing an energy efficiency advisory board, specifying membership requirements and requiring the board to develop criteria for selection of a contractor; specifying department of commerce and PUC duties relating to the energy efficiency program and certain requirements for projects conducted under the program; requiring the department of economic security to establish a universal service program to provide bill payment and energy assistance to low income customers; stating the goal program and specifying customer eligibility requirements and certain duties of the department, requiring development and implementation of a comprehensive outreach plan to increase awareness of and participation in the universal service program and a statewide uniform computer system to track participant levels, payments, consumption and other data required for program reporting and coordination of the program with the federal energy and weatherization assistance programs and with distribution utility programs providing low income customer assistance; requiring biennial PUC reports to the legislature, specifying certain report content requirements ARTICLE 4 RENEWABLES PORTFOLIO STANDARDEstablishing a renewables portfolio standard and requiring annual increases; providing for renewable energy credits to be certified by the commissioner of commerce, requiring consultation with the office of the attorney general in imposing penalties on retail electricity suppliers, utility distribution companies and self generators for noncompliance with renewable energy credit requirements; requiring the department of commerce to implement a system of cost containment and requiring and providing for the sale of proxy credits under certain conditions, requiring use of the proxy credits to purchase renewable energy credits in the market; authorizing department facilitation of the trading of renewable energy credits with other states under certain conditions; requiring department implementation rules, policy evaluation and annual reports; providing for civil actions for enforcement purposes ARTICLE 5 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONRequiring owners or operators of electric generating facilities to apply to the pollution control agency by a certain date for a permit to emit air contaminants, prohibiting operation of the facilities without a permit after a certain date; requiring publication of notices of intent to obtain a permit and opportunities for public hearings and comment; specifying certain permit requirements and providing for review and renewal of the permits, compliance rules and enforcement by the PCA; requiring the PCA to by a certain date establish a schedule of emission limits and a system for accurate monitoring, requiring periodic facility reports on the results of the monitoring system; requiring the modernization of facilities and providing certain conversion incentives; requiring the PCA to establish rules governing the disposal of mercury and other hazardous wastes captured or recovered through the use of an emission control method, coal cleaning or another process associated with the consumption of fossil fuels for the generation of electricity, specifying certain rule requirements ARTICLE 6 CONSUMER PROTECTIONStating the policy of the state relating to providing electric and natural gas service to residential customers; providing for applications for and denial of new service and for customer moves within the service territory; specifying certain billing requirements; providing for third party notice and payment; requiring utilities to offer budget billing plans and payment agreements for the payment of arrears or undercharges, specifying certain payment agreement requirements and authorizing utilities to offer the agreements to customers unable to fully pay current bills; regulating the disconnection of service, specifying certain notice requirements and providing for certain special protections relating to age, medically necessary equipment and extreme weather periods; specifying customer responsibility for the payment of bills; requiring annual distribution utility reports to the public utilities commission, specifying certain report content requirements; granting the PUC certain dispute resolution authority ARTICLE 7 WORKER PROTECTIONS Providing for certain worker protections upon the sale or transfer of facilitiesARTICLE 8 SERVICE QUALITY STANDARDS GENERALLYRequiring the public utilities commission to establish service quality standards to ensure the adequate provision of utility service, specifying certain standards content requirements and authorizing PUC imposition of penalties for failure to comply with the standards ARTICLE 9 ELECTRIC SERVICE RELIABILITY STANDARDSRequiring certain electric utilities to keep a record of interruption data and calculate certain average interruption frequency or duration indexes for the previous year; requiring and providing for annual reports by the utilities to the public utilities commission (PUC) summarizing various measures of reliability, specifying certain report content requirements, requiring an initial historical reliability performance report; specifying certain utility interruption notice and customer complaint investigation requirements ARTICLE 10 DISTRIBUTED RESOURCESModifying the qualifying facility requirement under certain provisions regulating cogeneration and small power production; providing terms and conditions governing the interconnection and parallel operation of on site distributed generation for cost savings and reliability purposes; requiring and providing for electric utility filing of tariffs, schedules and agreements for interconnection and parallel operation; regulating the disconnection and reconnection of distributed generation units; prohibiting incremental demand charges; authorizing and providing for utility preinterconnection studies for network and nonnetwork interconnection of distributed generation, regulating customer fees; authorizing and providing for public utilities commission approval of equipment precertification; specifying certain time limits for processing applications for interconnection; requiring electric utilities to maintain records relating to applications for interconnection and parallel operation and to annually report on interconnections to the PUC, specifying certain report content requirements ARTICLE 11 CONFORMING AMENDMENTSMaking conforming amendments to certain statutory provisions relating to intervention in public utilities commission proceedings, reasonable and competitive electric utility rates, energy conservation improvements, the certificate of need for large energy facilities, certain duties of the commissioner of public service and the state energy policy and conservation report ARTICLE 12 TECHNICAL PROVISIONSRepealing a certain provision regulating energy conservation improvements and certain rules relating to the cold weather disconnection restriction and reconnection, disconnection notices and customer rights, determination of the inability to pay and the disconnection of unoccupied units(ra)