69-8-201. Public utility -- transition to customer choice -- waiver. (1) A public utility shall, except as provided in this section, adhere to the following deadlines:
     (a) Subject to subsection (3), all customers with individual loads greater than 1,000 kilowatts and for loads of the same customer with individual loads at a meter greater than 300 kilowatts that aggregate to 1,000 kilowatts or greater must have the opportunity to choose an electricity supplier.
     (b) Before July 1, 2007, all other public utility customers must have the opportunity to choose an electricity supplier.
     (2) The commission shall designate the public utility or one or more default suppliers to provide regulated default service for those customers described in subsections (1)(a) and (1)(b) of a public utility that are not being served by a competitive electricity supplier and those customers who elect to receive service from the default supplier. A customer who elects to receive service from the default supplier may only use the electricity for consumptive purposes and shall enter into a contract with the default supplier that prohibits the customer from remarketing the electricity. A distribution services provider has an ongoing regulated default supply obligation beyond the end of the transition period.
     (3) The commission shall establish procedures and terms under which customers may choose an electricity supplier other than the default supplier or may choose to be served by the default supplier. The choice must be available for the period beginning July 1, 2002. The procedures must provide for an orderly process of choice during the transition period and provide conditions for leaving and returning to the default supplier. The procedures must take into account electricity supply contracts for supplying customers during the transition period. The procedures must provide for the recovery of costs associated with those customers who choose an alternative electricity supplier and who wish to return to the default supplier.
     (4) Except as provided in 69-5-101, 69-5-102, 69-5-104 through 69-5-112, and 69-8-402, a public utility currently doing business in Montana as part of a single integrated multistate operation, no portion of which lies within the basin of the Columbia River, may defer compliance with this chapter until a time that the public utility can reasonably implement customer choice in the state of the public utility's primary service territory.
     (5) Upon a request from a public utility with fewer than 50 customers, the commission shall waive compliance with the requirements of 69-8-104, 69-8-202 through 69-8-204, 69-8-208 through 69-8-211, 69-8-402, and this section.

     History: En. Sec. 5, Ch. 505, L. 1997; amd. Sec. 30, Ch. 575, L. 1999; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 175, L. 2001; amd. Sec. 10, Ch. 577, L. 2001; amd. Sec. 3, Ch. 584, L. 2001.