North Carolina SB 718: Various Sales Tax Changes.

Bill Text

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
S 1
SENATE BILL 718

Short Title: Fair Procurement and Ownership Reform Act. (Public)
Sponsors: Senators Meyer and Murdock (Primary Sponsors).
Referred to: Rules and Operations of the Senate
March 26, 2025
*S718-v-1*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT REVISING RENEWABLE ENERGY PROCUREMENT AND OWNERSHIP LAWS. 2
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 3
SECTION 1. Chapter 62 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new Article 4
to read: 5
"Article 18. 6
"Fair Procurement and Ownership Reform Act. 7
"§ 62-360. Title and purpose. 8
This Act shall be known as the "All-Source Procurement and Renewable Energy Ownership 9
Reform Act" and is intended to: 10
(1) Expand renewable energy procurement to include all energy sources, such as 11
solar, wind, battery storage, hydropower, geothermal, and other low-carbon 12
resources. 13
(2) Remove mandated ownership percentages for public utilities in renewable 14
energy projects to promote competitive neutrality and fair market practices. 15
(3) Ensure equitable access to renewable energy options for all customer 16
categories, including residential, commercial, and government customers. 17
(4) Facilitate transparent and competitive procurement processes, focusing on 18
all-source energy options. 19
(5) Expand carbon emissions considerations to include methane, which is 20
composed of carbon. 21
"§ 62-361. Definitions. 22
As used in this Article, the following definitions apply: 23
(1) All-Source procurement. – A competitive process for procuring energy 24
resources from various generation technologies, including solar, wind, battery 25
storage, hydropower, geothermal, and other renewable technologies as 26
defined in G.S. 62-133.8. 27
(2) Commission. – The North Carolina Utilities Commission. 28
(3) Large commercial or industrial customer. – A retail customer of an electric 29
public utility whose annual peak demand exceeds five megawatts. 30
(4) Offering utility. – An electric public utility serving more than 150,000 North 31
Carolina retail jurisdictional customers as of January 1, 2021. 32
(5) Renewable Energy Facility. – A facility that generates energy from renewable 33
sources such as solar, wind, hydropower, and other renewable technologies. 34

General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 Senate Bill 718-First Edition
(6) Small commercial or industrial customer. – A retail customer of an electric 1
public utility whose annual peak demand is less than or equal to five 2
megawatts, excluding government customers. 3
"§ 62-362. All-Source procurement. 4
Electric public utilities serving over 150,000 North Carolina customers shall satisfy all the 5
following requirements: 6
(1) Conduct all-source competitive procurements to meet future energy needs, 7
including renewable energy and storage resources, with no 8
technology-specific ownership mandates. The all-source procurement process 9
shall be conducted at least once every two years as part of the Carbon Plan 10
and Integrated Resource Plan, or as directed by the Commission. 11
(2) Address identified system needs, including capacity, energy, and ancillary 12
services of all solicitations. 13
(3) Consider utility-owned resources alongside third-party proposals, with clear 14
documentation to ensure compliance with this Chapter and equitable 15
evaluation of all bids. 16
"§ 62-363. Evaluation and oversight. 17
(a) All bids, regardless of technology, shall be evaluated using standardized criteria 18
approved by the Commission. 19
(b) Independent evaluators, approved by the Commission, shall oversee the procurement 20
and solicitation process to ensure fairness and transparency. The independent evaluators shall 21
review bid submissions, scoring methodologies, and award decisions and provide a public report 22
summarizing the findings. 23
(c) Proposals shall be evaluated based on all of the following criteria: 24
(1) First and foremost, alignment with state renewable energy goals and emissions 25
reduction targets. 26
(2) Cost-effectiveness, including lifecycle costs. 27
(3) Contribution to reliability and resource adequacy. 28
(4) Technological feasibility and deployment timeline. 29
(d) A public weighted scoring system shall be developed to balance the factors in 30
subsection (c) of this section transparently. 31
"§ 62-364. Ownership Neutrality. 32
(a) Offering public utilities and their affiliates are prohibited from holding any mandated 33
ownership percentages for procured energy resources, including but not limited to the previously 34
required fifty-five percent (55%) utility ownership of solar and storage projects. 35
(b) Utility ownership mandates for electricity generation are eliminated entirely to 36
promote developer-driven and market-driven outcomes. 37
(c) Public utilities are prohibited from holding equity stakes in renewable projects 38
procured through competitive bidding. The focus is on expanding third-party ownership options, 39
allow