AK SB7

Requires the Regulatory Commission of Alaska to provide a report to the legislature by July 1, 2016, evaluating whether an independent entity should manage electrical transmission facilities in the Railbelt area.

The report must assess whether an independent transmission entity would provide effective and efficient electrical transmission, including economical distribution, reliable service, and nondiscriminatory access to transmission services.

Specifies that the independent entity would need to be organizationally separate from the commission, directed by a board of stakeholders, and have operational authority and exclusive responsibility for maintaining reliability of Railbelt transmission facilities.

The independent entity would have authority to adopt reliability standards, plan transmission improvements, manage generation interconnections, administer universal tariffs, manage transmission congestion, and operate as a single control area to maximize generation efficiency.

The commission shall assume that rate recovery is ensured, existing generation agreements are honored, rates are fair and reasonable for all ratepayers, and existing transmission systems receive full cost recovery including depreciation, interest, operations, and maintenance expenses.