The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 30 : Public Service

Chapter 005 : State Policy; Plans; Jurisdiction and Regulatory Authority of Commission and Department

Subchapter 001 : GENERAL POWERS

• § 201. Definitions

  As used in this chapter:

  (1) “Company” or “companies” means and includes individuals, partnerships, associations, corporations, and municipalities owning or conducting any public service business or property used in connection therewith and covered by the provisions of this chapter. The term “company” or “companies” also includes electric cooperatives organized and operating under chapter 81 of this title, the Vermont Public Power Supply Authority to the extent not inconsistent with chapter 84 of this title, and the Vermont Hydroelectric Power Authority to the extent not inconsistent with chapter 90 of this title. In the context of actions requiring prior approval under section 107 of this title, the term “company” shall also mean any individual, partnership, association, corporation, group, syndicate, operating division, joint stock company, trust, other entity, or municipality that would be defined as a company pursuant to this section if such approval were to be granted.

  (2) “Electric vehicle supply equipment” means a device or system designed and used specifically to transfer electrical energy to a plug-in electric vehicle as defined in 23 V.S.A. § 4(85), either as charge transferred via a physical or wireless connection, by loading a fully charged battery, or by other means. “Electric vehicle supply equipment available to the public” shall:

  (A) be located at a publicly available parking space, which does not include a parking space that is part of or associated with a private residence or a parking space that is reserved for the exclusive use of an individual driver, vehicle, or group of drivers or vehicles including employees, tenants, visitors, residents of a common interest development, residents of an adjacent building, or customers of a business whose primary business is not electric vehicle charging;

  (B) disclose all charges for the use of the electric vehicle supply equipment at the point of sale; and

  (C) provide multiple payment options that allow access by the public, if a fee is required, and shall not require persons desiring to use such public electric vehicle supply equipment to pay a subscription fee or otherwise obtain a membership in any club, association, or organization as a condition of using such electric vehicle supply equipment, but may have different price schedules that are conditioned on a subscription or membership in a club, association, or organization.

  (3) “Energy” means not only the traditional scientific characteristic of “ability to do work” but also the substances or processes used to produce heat, light, or motion, including petroleum or other liquid fuels, natural or synthetic fuel gas, solid carbonaceous fuels, solar radiation, geothermal sources, nuclear sources, biomass, organic waste products, wind, or flowing water.

  (4) “Energy storage facility” means a stationary device or system that captures energy produced at one time, stores that energy for a period of time, and delivers or may deliver that energy as electricity to the grid for use at a future time.

  (5) “Energy storage aggregation” means a virtual resource formed by combining multiple stationary energy storage devices at different points of interconnection on the distribution system.

  (6) “Energy storage aggregator” means an entity other than a distribution utility that is operating an energy storage aggregation of 100 kW or greater aggregate nameplate capacity.

  (7) “Thermal energy exchange” means piped noncombustible fluids used for transferring heat into and out of buildings for the purpose of avoiding, eliminating, reducing any existing or new on-site greenhouse gas emissions of all types of heating and cooling processes, including comfort heating and cooling, domestic hot water, and refrigeration.

  (8) “Thermal energy exchange network” means all real estate, fixtures, and personal property operated, owned, used, or to be used for or in connection with or to facilitate distribution infrastructure project that supplies thermal energy to more than one household, dwelling unit, or network of buildings that are not commonly owned. This definition does not include a mutual benefit enterprise, cooperative or common interest community that is owned by the persons it serves and that provides thermal energy exchange services only to its members, a landlord providing thermal energy exchange services only to its tenants where the service is included in the lease agreement, or any entity that provides thermal energy exchange services only to itself. (Amended 1969, No. 257 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 1981, No. 236 (Adj. Sess.), § 3; 1985, No. 48, § 3; 1985, No. 224 (Adj. Sess.), § 6; 1989, No. 96, § 1, eff. June 14, 1989; 1991, No. 170 (Adj. Sess.), § 5, eff. May 15, 1992; 2003, No. 121 (Adj. Sess.), § 103, eff. June 8, 2004; 2019, No. 31, § 24; 2019, No. 59, § 30, eff. June 14, 2019; 2021, No. 54, § 5; 2023, No. 142 (Adj. Sess.), § 15, eff. May 30, 2024.)