Terms Used In Montana Code > Title 90 > Chapter 4 > Part 11 - Local Government and State Agency Energy Performance Contracts

• Baseline: Projection of the receipts, outlays, and other budget amounts that would ensue in the future without any change in existing policy. Baseline projections are used to gauge the extent to which proposed legislation, if enacted into law, would alter current spending and revenue levels.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• cost-effectiveness: means that the sum of guaranteed cost savings and unguaranteed energy cost savings attributable to utility unit price escalation is equal to or greater than:

  (a)the energy performance contract financing repayment obligation, if any, each year of a finance term;

  (b)the total project cost of the cost-saving measures implemented divided by 20; or

  (c)the total project cost of the cost-saving measures implemented divided by the cost-weighted average useful life of the cost-saving measures. See Montana Code 90-4-1102

• Cost-saving measure: means a facility improvement, repair, or alteration or equipment, fixtures, or furnishings added to or used in a facility and designed to reduce energy or water consumption or operation and maintenance costs. See Montana Code 90-4-1102
• Department: means the department of environmental quality provided for in 2-15-3501. See Montana Code 90-4-1102
• Energy performance contract: means a cost-effective contract between a governmental entity and a qualified energy service provider for implementation of one or more cost-saving measures and guaranteed cost savings. See Montana Code 90-4-1102
• Finance term: means the length of time for repayment of funds borrowed for an energy performance contract. See Montana Code 90-4-1102
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Governmental entity: means :

  (a)a department, board, commission, institution, or branch of state government;

  (b)a county, consolidated city-county government, city, town, or school district;

  (c)a special district, as defined in 2-2-102;

  (d)the university system or a unit of the university system; or

  (e)a community college district. See Montana Code 90-4-1102

• Guarantee period: means the period of time from the effective date of the contract until guaranteed cost savings are achieved in accordance with 90-4-1114(5). See Montana Code 90-4-1102
• Guaranteed cost savings: means a guaranteed annual measurable monetary reduction in utility and operating and maintenance costs for each year of a guarantee period resulting from cost-saving measures. See Montana Code 90-4-1102
• Investment-grade energy audit: means a study of energy or water usage of a public building performed by a qualified energy service provider utilizing a professional engineer licensed in the state of Montana. See Montana Code 90-4-1102
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Measurement and verification: means the methodology, measurements, inspections, and mathematical calculations to determine utility consumption before and after an energy performance contract is implemented. See Montana Code 90-4-1102
• 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.
• Operation and maintenance cost savings: means a measurable decrease in operation and maintenance costs as a direct result of cost-saving measures calculated using baseline operation and maintenance costs. See Montana Code 90-4-1102
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, firm, association, cooperative, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, or any other similar entity. See Montana Code 90-4-1102
• Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Montana Code 1-1-202
• Qualified energy service provider: means a person included on the department's list of qualified energy service providers. See Montana Code 90-4-1102
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• 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
• Total project cost: means the total cost of the project, including costs of the investment-grade energy audit, energy performance contract, measurement and verification, and financing. See Montana Code 90-4-1102
• Usage: means a reasonable and lawful public custom concerning transactions of the same nature as those which are to be affected thereby, existing at the place where the obligation is to be performed, and either known to the parties or so well established, general, and uniform that the parties must be presumed to have acted with reference thereto. See Montana Code 1-1-206
• Utility cost savings: means expenses for utilities that are eliminated or avoided on a long-term basis as a result of equipment installed or modified or services performed by a qualified energy service provider. See Montana Code 90-4-1102