(1) "Action plan period" means the five-year period beginning with the calendar year after the filing of a resource plan. 

(2) "Adequate" means, with respect to an electric system owned or controlled by a utility, the ability to supply the aggregate electrical demand and energy requirements of the utility's customers at all times, taking into account scheduled and reasonably expected unscheduled outages of system elements.

(3) "Affiliate" means, for purposes of this rule, a parent, subsidiary, division, or the like, regardless of designation, owning or controlling the utility, owned or controlled by the utility, under common ownership with the utility, or under common control with the utility.

(4)  "Assessment" means a documented process used by a utility to make informed judgments regarding elements of a resource plan and action plan based on the careful consideration of quantitative and qualitative information and the input of stakeholders, the public, and the advisory committee required in 69-3-1208, MCA.

(5) "Cost" means the actual or forecast costs incurred to own, operate, and manage existing and potential new resources sufficient to provide adequate and reliable services over the planning period including, but not limited to, costs for: 

(a) capital recovery;

(b) shareholder returns;

(c) debt;

(d) operations and maintenance;

(e) fuel and associated fuel delivery services or infrastructure;

(f) insurance;

(g) taxes, including tax credits;

(h) environmental remediation;

(i) permitting;

(j) land use and rights of way;

(k) decommissioning, abandonment, and securitization;

(l) contractual power purchases, however structured;

(m) incremental transmission and distribution, including losses and congestion;

(n) administration; and

(o) externalities.

(6) "Cost-effective" means that a project or resource is forecast:

(a) to be reliable and available within the time it is needed; and

(b) to meet or reduce the electric power demand of the intended consumers at an estimated incremental system cost no greater than that of the least-cost similarly reliable and available alternative project or resource, or any portion thereof.

(7)  "Environmentally responsible" means explicitly recognizing and incorporating into resource plans, resource planning processes, and resource procurement the policy of the State of Montana to encourage utilities to acquire resources in a manner that will help ensure a clean, healthful, safe, and economically productive environment.

(8) "Externalities" has the meaning in 69-3-1203(6), MCA.

(9)  "Long-term" means a time period at least as long as the planning period.

(10)  "Planning period" has the meaning in 69-3-1203(9), MCA.

(11) "Reliable" means a power system that is adequate and can withstand sudden disturbances, such as electrical short circuits or unanticipated loss of system elements.

(12)  "Resources" includes all of the following:

(a) "Demand-Side resources" means any material, device, technology, educational program, rate design, practice, or facility alteration designed to result in reduced peak demand, increased energy efficiency, energy conservation, or shifting or management of electricity demand and energy consumption and includes combined heat and power used to displace space heating, water heating, or another load.

(b) "Distribution-Side resources" means electrical generation or storage equipment located within a utility's distribution system, including real and personal property owned and controlled by utility customers and non-utility producers.

(c) "Power resources" means wholesale power transactions, including bilateral contracts, tolling agreements, and spot purchases, and plants and equipment, including storage equipment, owned, leased, or controlled, in whole or in part, by a utility.

(13)  "Service" means required and optional electricity and/or electricity-related products or services provided by a utility to retail customers including metering, billing, distribution, transmission, generation, and generation-related services. Services include, but are not limited to, traditional electricity supply and delivery service, renewable energy-sourced offerings, interconnection and integration of distribution side and customer generators, net metering, demand and/or bill management programs, information-based services such as energy audits, transmission ancillary services, street lighting services, and other services for which a utility has filed or would be required to file a tariff.

(14)  "Societal cost" means all costs to a utility plus externalities.

(15)  "Stakeholder" means a member of the public (individual, corporation, organization, group, etc.) who may have an interest in, or may be affected by, these rules.