                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

PURCHASE OF ELECTRIC POWER AND ENERGY; DURATION OF CONTRACTS; SOURCE OF PAYMENTS
(§ 15.2-1133)

A. For purposes of this section:
			&#8220;Other party&#8221; means any other entity, including but not limited
to (i) another municipality or public institution of higher education or any
political subdivision, public authority, agency, or instrumentality of the
Commonwealth, another state, or the United States of America or (ii) a
partnership, limited liability company, not-for-profit corporation, electric
cooperative, or investor-owned utility, whether created, incorporated, or
otherwise organized and existing under the laws of the Commonwealth or another
state or the United States of America.
			&#8220;Project&#8221; means any system or facilities for the generation,
transmission, transformation, or supply of electrical power and energy by any
means whatsoever, including but not limited to fuel, fuel transportation, and
fuel supply resources and other related facilities, any one or more electric
generating units situated at a particular site, in the continental United States
of America, or any interest in the foregoing, whether an undivided interest as a
tenant in common or otherwise, or any right to output, capacity or services
thereof.

B. Any municipal corporation in the Commonwealth that on January 1, 2006, owned
and operated an electric utility system may contract with any other party to buy
power and energy required for its present or future requirements. Such contracts
may provide that the source of such power and energy is limited to a specified
project or may include provision for replacement power and energy. Any such
contract may provide that the municipal corporation so contracting shall be
obligated to make payments required by the contract whether or not a project is
completed, operable, or operating and notwithstanding the suspension,
interruption, interference, reduction, or curtailment of the output of a project
or the power and energy contracted for, and that such payments under the
contract shall not be subject to any reduction, whether by offset or otherwise,
and shall not be conditioned upon the performance or nonperformance by any other
party. Such contracts, with respect to any project, may also provide, in the
event of default by any municipal corporation or other party that is a party to
any such contract for such project in the performance of its obligations
thereunder, for any municipal corporation or other party to any such contract
for such project to succeed to the rights and interests and assume the
obligations of the defaulting party, pro rata or otherwise, as may be agreed
upon in such contracts. Such contracts may provide that the other party is not
obligated to provide power and energy in the event that the project specified to
be the source of power and energy to be purchased and sold under such contracts
is inoperable or in the case of the suspension, interference, reduction or
curtailment of the output of such project or in events of force majeure.
			Notwithstanding the provisions of any other law or charter provision to the
contrary, any such contract, with respect to the sale or purchase of capacity,
output, power, or energy from a project, may extend for a period not exceeding
50 years from the date a project is estimated to be placed in normal continuous
operation; and the execution and effectiveness thereof shall not be subject to
any authorizations or approvals by the Commonwealth or any agency, commission,
instrumentality, or political subdivision thereof except as specifically
required by law.
			Any such contract shall provide that payments by a municipal corporation
under any such contract be made solely from and may be secured by a pledge of
and lien upon the revenues derived by such municipal corporation from the
ownership and operation of the electric system of such municipal corporation,
and such payments shall constitute an operating expense of such electric system.
No obligation under such contract shall constitute a legal or equitable pledge,
charge, lien, or encumbrance upon any property of the municipal corporation or
upon any of its income, receipts, or revenues, except the revenues of its
electric system, and neither the faith and credit nor the taxing power of the
municipal corporation are, or may be, pledged for the payment of any obligation
under any such contract. A municipal corporation shall be obligated to fix,
charge, and collect rents, rates, fees, and charges for electric power and
energy and other services, facilities, and commodities sold, furnished, or
supplied through its electric system sufficient to provide revenues adequate to
meet its obligations under any such contract and to pay any and all other
amounts payable from or constituting a charge and lien upon such revenues,
including amounts sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on bonds of
such municipal corporation heretofore or hereafter issued for purposes related
to its electric system. Any pledge made by a municipal corporation pursuant to
this paragraph shall be governed by the laws of the Commonwealth.

HISTORY: 2007, cc. 612, 670.