(a) In General.—To conserve oil and natural gas and better utilize coal, the head of a federal agency may sell, or enter into a contract to sell, to any non-federal person electric energy generated by coal-fired electric generating facilities of that agency in Alaska without regard to any provision of law that precludes the sale when the electric energy to be sold is available from other local sources, if the head of the federal agency determines that—

(1) the electric energy to be sold is generated by an existing coal-fired generating facility;

(2) the electric energy to be sold is surplus to the federal agency’s needs and is in excess of the electric energy specifically generated for consumption by, or necessary to serve the requirements of, another federal agency;

(3) the cost to the ultimate consumers of the electric energy to be sold is less than the cost that, in the absence of the sale, would be incurred by those consumers for the purchase of an equivalent amount of energy; and

(4) the sale will reduce the total consumption of oil or natural gas by the non-federal person purchasing the electric energy below the level of consumption that would occur in the absence of the sale.

(b) Pricing Policies.—Federally generated electric energy sold by the head of a federal agency under subsection (a) shall be priced to recover the fuel and variable operation and maintenance costs of the facility generating the energy that are attributable to that sale, plus an amount equal to one-half the difference between—

(1) the costs of producing the electric energy by coal generation; and

(2) the costs of producing electric energy by the oil or gas generation being displaced.