Terms Used In Montana Code > Title 69 > Chapter 3 > Part 16 - Montana Energy Impact Assistance Act

• Ancillary agreement: means any bond, insurance policy, letter of credit, reserve account, surety bond, interest rate lock or swap arrangement, liquidity or credit support arrangement, or other financial arrangement entered into in connection with Montana energy impact assistance bonds that is designed to promote the credit quality and marketability of Montana energy impact assistance bonds or to mitigate the risk of an increase in interest rates. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Assignee: means any person to which an interest in Montana energy impact assistance property is sold, assigned, transferred, or conveyed, other than as security, and any successor to or subsequent assignee of a person. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
• Bondholder: means any holder or owner of Montana energy impact assistance bonds. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• commission: means the public service commission provided for in 2-15-2602. See Montana Code 69-1-101
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
• Customer: means a person who takes electric service from an electric utility for consumption of electricity in Montana. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Electric infrastructure or facility: means :

  (a)any portion of an electrical generating facility owned by an electric utility used to serve customers in Montana; or

  (b)any infrastructure or facility involved in the transmission or delivery of electricity to Montana customers; or

  (c)associated cleanup or remediation of an electrical generating facility. See Montana Code 69-3-1603

• Electric utility: means any electric utility regulated by the commission pursuant to Title 69, chapter 3, including the electric utility's successors or assignees. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Financing costs: means , if approved by the commission in a financing order, costs to issue, service, repay, or refinance Montana energy impact assistance bonds, whether incurred or paid on issuance of the Montana energy impact assistance bonds or over the life of the bonds. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Financing order: means an order issued by the commission in accordance with 69-3-1606 that grants, in whole or in part, an application filed pursuant to 69-3-1605 authorizing the issuance of Montana energy impact assistance bonds in one or more series, the imposition, charging, and collection of Montana energy impact assistance charges, and the creation of Montana energy impact assistance property. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Financing party: means holders of Montana energy impact assistance bonds and trustees, collateral agents, any party under an ancillary agreement, or any other person acting for the benefit of Montana energy impact assistance bondholders. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}
• Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• Montana energy impact assistance bonds: means low-cost corporate securities, including but not limited to senior secured bonds, debentures, notes, certificates of participation, certificates of beneficial interest, certificates of ownership, or other evidences of indebtedness or ownership that have a scheduled maturity of no longer than 30 years and a final legal maturity date that is not later than 32 years from the issue date, that are rated AA or Aa2 or better by a major independent credit rating agency at the time of issuance, and that are issued by an electric utility or an assignee pursuant to a financing order. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Montana energy impact assistance charges: means charges in amounts determined appropriate by the commission and authorized by the commission in a financing order in order to provide a source of revenue solely to repay, finance, or refinance Montana energy impact assistance costs and financing costs that are imposed on and are a part of all customer bills and are collected in full by the electric utility that the financing order applies to, its successors or assignees, or a collection agent through a nonbypassable charge that is separate and apart from the electric utility's base rates. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Montana energy impact assistance costs: means :

  (i)at the option of and upon petition by an electric utility, and as approved by the commission pursuant to 69-3-1606, the pretax costs that the electric utility has incurred or will incur that are caused by, associated with, or remain as a result of the retirement or replacement of electric generating infrastructure or facilities located in Montana; and

  (ii)pretax costs that an electric utility has previously incurred related to the closure or replacement of electric infrastructure or facilities occurring before July 1, 2019. See Montana Code 69-3-1603

• Montana energy impact assistance property: means :

  (a)all rights and interests of an electric utility or successor or assignee of an electric utility under a financing order for the right to impose, bill, collect, and receive Montana energy impact assistance charges as it is authorized to do solely under the financing order and to obtain periodic adjustments to the Montana energy impact assistance charges as provided in the financing order; and

  (b)all revenue, collections, claims, rights to payments, payments, money, or proceeds arising from the rights and interests specified in subsection (14)(a), regardless of whether the revenue, collections, claims, rights to payment, payments, money, or proceeds are imposed, billed, received, collected, or maintained together with or commingled with other revenue, collections, rights to payment, payments, money, or proceeds. See Montana Code 69-3-1603

• Montana energy impact assistance revenue: means revenue, receipts, collections, payments, money, claims, or other proceeds arising from Montana energy impact assistance property. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Nonbypassable: means that the payment of a Montana energy impact assistance charge required to repay bonds and related costs may not be avoided by any retail customer located within an electric utility service area. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Pretax costs: means costs approved by the commission, including but not limited to:

  (a)unrecovered capitalized costs of retired or replaced electric infrastructure or facilities;

  (b)costs of decommissioning and restoring the site of the electric infrastructure or facility;

  (c)other applicable capital and operating costs, accrued carrying charges, deferred expenses, reductions for applicable insurance and salvage proceeds; and

  (d)the costs of retiring any existing indebtedness, fees, costs, and expenses to modify existing debt agreements or for waivers or consents related to existing debt agreements. See Montana Code 69-3-1603

• Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Montana Code 1-1-202
• Property: means real and personal property. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• Public debt: Cumulative amounts borrowed by the Treasury Department or the Federal Financing Bank from the public or from another fund or account. The public debt does not include agency debt (amounts borrowed by other agencies of the Federal Government). The total public debt is subject to a statutory limit.
• Recourse: An arrangement in which a bank retains, in form or in substance, any credit risk directly or indirectly associated with an asset it has sold (in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles) that exceeds a pro rata share of the bank's claim on the asset. If a bank has no claim on an asset it has sold, then the retention of any credit risk is recourse. ^{Source: FDIC}
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Successor: means , with respect to any legal entity, another legal entity that succeeds by operation of law to the rights and obligations of the first legal entity pursuant to any bankruptcy, reorganization, restructuring, other insolvency proceeding, merger, acquisition, consolidation, or sale or transfer of assets, whether any of these occur due to restructuring of the electric power industry or otherwise. See Montana Code 69-3-1603
• Third persons: means all persons who are not parties to the obligation or transaction concerning which the phrase is used. See Montana Code 1-1-206
• Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Writing: includes printing. See Montana Code 1-1-203