Introduction

Incorporated on October 5th, 1938, SouthEastern Illinois Electric Cooperative, Inc. (SEIEC) is a non-profit corporation organized and existing pursuant to the Illinois Nonprofit Corporation Act.  SEIEC was formed by its members to provide retail distribution energy services. SEIEC is entirely controlled by its members and governed by a locally elected Board of Trustees.  SEIEC is a distribution cooperative that provides energy services to over 23,000 residential, agricultural, commercial and industrial accounts in ten counties located in Southeastern Illinois.  SEIEC's physical plant includes 34 distribution substations and approximately 3,500 miles of distribution line located in the Illinois counties of Franklin, Gallatin, Jefferson, Hamilton, Hardin, Johnson, Massac, Pope, White and Williamson.  SEIEC is the largest of 24 distribution cooperatives in Illinois based upon annual kwh delivered with expected sales over 800 million kwh in the year 2007.

SouthEastern Illinois Electric Cooperative, Inc. (SEIEC) signed a full-requirements power supply contract with Southern Illinois Power Cooperative, Inc. (SIPC), on December 8, 1959, and Supplement No. 3 of said contract was executed on May 31, 2000, both of which occurred prior to the enactment of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, extends the term of this full-requirements power supply contract until the year 2033.  Therefore, SIPC is responsible for supplying the generation and transmission requirements of SEIEC. 

                                                                   Background

In July 2005, the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate passed the Energy Policy Act (EPAct)of 2005.  The President signed the statute into law on August 8, 2005.  The Energy Policy Act of 2005 adds five new federal standards to the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) section 111(d) for state commissions and utilities to consider.  The five new federal standards are as follows:

         (11)    Net Metering

         (12)    Fuel Diversity

         (13)    Fossil Fuel Generation Efficiency

         (14)    Smart Metering

         (15)    Interconnection

The stated purpose of the PURPA Title I standards are to encourage:

          (1)     Conservation of energy supplied by electric utilities

          (2)     Optimal efficiency of electric utility facilities and resources

          (3)     Equitable rates for electric consumers

PURPA Title I standards apply to non-regulated electric utilities with total annual retail sales greater than 500 million kilowatt-hours.  A non-regulated utility, as defined by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, is an electric utility that is not subject to the ratemaking authority of the state commission.  Since SEIEC meets this definition of a non-regulated utility and delivered approximately 801 million kilowatt-hours in the baseline year of 2005, SEIEC must comply with the Energy Policy Act, PURPA Title I requirements.

SEIEC's primary responsibility is to consider and make a specific determination on whether implementation of the federal standards is appropriate to carry out the Title I purposes.  SEIEC may implement any standard or decline to implement any standard.  If any standard is declined, SEIEC is required to state in writing the reason for declining the standard and make that statement available to the public.