40A:66-3 Definitions relative to municipal shared services energy authority.

3. As used in P.L.2015, c.129 (C.40A:66-1 et al.):

"Bonds" means any bonds, interim certificates, notes, debentures, or other obligations issued by the municipal shared services energy authority pursuant to P.L.2015, c.129 (C.40A:66-1 et al.).

"Collateral" means cash, letters of credit, or other security of a party to a wholesale power supply contract acceptable to the counterparty, which shall be valued in accordance with the terms of the applicable wholesale power supply contract and which shall be otherwise consistent with electric industry standards in the marketplace, and which shall secure the obligations of the municipal shared services energy authority and its counterparty under a wholesale power supply contract.

"Cost" means, in addition to the usual connotations thereof, the cost of acquisition or construction of all or any part of an electric supply project located within the corporate limits and franchise areas of the members and of all or any property, rights, easements, privileges, agreements, and franchises deemed by the authority to be necessary or useful and convenient therefor, or in connection therewith, including interest or discount on bonds, cost of issuance of bonds, engineering and inspection costs, legal expenses, cost of financial, professional, and other estimates and advice, organization, administrative, operating, and other expenses of the municipal shared services energy authority prior to and during acquisition or construction, and all other expenses as may be necessary or incident to the financing, acquisition, construction, and completion of an electric supply project or part thereof, and the placing of a project in operation, and the provision or reserves for working capital, operating, maintenance, replacement expenses, payment or security of principal of, or interest on, bonds during or after acquisition or construction as the authority may determine, and reimbursements to the authority or any county, municipality, or other person of any monies theretofore expended for the purposes of the authority or to any county or municipality of any monies theretofore expended for or in connection with electric utility systems and facilities.

"Electric supply project" or "project" means: a. any plant, works, system, facility, and real and personal property of any nature whatsoever, together with all parts thereof and appurtenances thereto, located within the corporate limits and franchise areas of the members, that are used or useful in the generation, production, transmission, distribution, purchase, sale, exchange, or interchange of electric power and energy, in whole or in part; b. the acquisition or transportation of fuel of any kind for the generation or production of electric power and energy within the corporate limits and franchise areas of the members; c. the storage or reprocessing of that fuel within the corporate limits and franchise areas of the members for the generation or production of electric power and energy within the corporate limits and franchise areas of the members or d. any conservation measures, for the benefit of the members, including the utilization of renewable capacity and energy, or any interest therein or right to capacity thereof that occurs within the corporate limits and franchise areas of the members.

"Energy" means: a. the output of an electric supply project measured in megawatt hours or kilowatt hours; or b. that portion of a wholesale power supply contract measured in megawatt hours or kilowatt hours.

"Inter-municipal agreement" means an agreement as provided in section 5 of P.L.2015, c.129 (C.40A:66-5), adopted by the members creating the municipal shared services energy authority and defining the rights and responsibilities of the authority and its members, as may be amended as provided herein, to, among other things, add a rural electric cooperative that exists in the State on the effective date of P.L.2015, c.129 (C.40A:66-1 et al.), as a member.

"Local Finance Board" means the Local Finance Board in the Division of Local Government Services in the Department of Community Affairs.

"Member" means a municipality or a rural electric cooperative that, on the effective date of P.L.2015, c.129 (C.40A:66-1 et al.), provides electric service to customers within the State and that enters into an initial or amended inter-municipal agreement of a municipal shared services energy authority.

"Member municipality" means a municipality that, on the effective date of P.L.2015, c.129 (C.40A:66-1 et al.), operates a retail electric distribution system pursuant to R.S.40:62-12 et seq., that joins with other member municipalities to create or join the municipal shared services energy authority pursuant to section 4 of P.L.2015, c.129 (C.40A:66-4).

"Municipal shared services energy authority" or "authority" means the authority created pursuant to section 4 of P.L.2015, c.129 (C.40A:66-4).

"Power supply contract" means: a. a contractual arrangement between the authority and another person for the purchase of wholesale electric power and energy and component goods and services related thereto by the authority for its members; b. a contractual arrangement between the authority and its members for the wholesale sale of electric power and energy produced by the authority's generation facilities; or c. a contractual arrangement between the authority and any other person for the wholesale sale of excess electric power and energy purchased or produced by the authority that is not needed to serve the load within the corporate limits and franchise areas of the members. A power supply contract shall not include a contract for the sale of excess power by the authority to any other municipality.

"Public agency" means any municipality or other municipal corporation, political subdivision, government unit, or public corporation created under the laws of this State, another state, or under federal law, any state, the United States, and any person, board, or other body declared by State or federal law to be a department, agency or instrumentality thereof.

"Rural electric cooperative" means a non-profit cooperative in existence on the effective date of P.L.2015, c.129 (C.40A:66-1 et al.), that serves customers within the State and that is exclusively owned and controlled by the customers it serves, and which is exempt from the jurisdiction of the Board of Public Utilities pursuant to section 1 of P.L.1983, c.78 (C.48:2-13.1).

L.2015, c.129, s.3.