When used in this article: (1) The term "ancillary agreement" means a bond, insurance policy, letter of credit, reserve account, surety bond, liquidity or credit support arrangement, or other financial arrangement entered into in connection with recovery bonds. (2) The term "assignee" means a legally recognized entity to which an electrical utility assigns, sells, or transfers, other than as a security, all or a portion of its interest in or right to storm recovery property. The term includes a corporation, limited liability company, general partnership or limited partnership, public authority, trust, financing entity, or any entity to which an assignee assigns, sells, or transfers, other than as security, all or a portion of its interest in or right to storm recovery property. (3) The term "bondholder" means a person who holds a storm recovery bond. (4) The term "code" means the Uniform Commercial Code, Title 36 of the South Carolina Code of Laws. (5) The term "commission" means the Public Service Commission of South Carolina. (6) The term "electrical utility" is as defined in Section 58-27-10(7). (7) The term "financing costs" includes all of the following: (a) interest and acquisition, defeasance, or redemption premiums payable on recovery bonds; (b) any payment required under an ancillary agreement and any amount required to fund or replenish a storm reserve account or other accounts established under the terms of any indenture, ancillary agreement, or other financing documents pertaining to recovery bonds; (c) any other cost related to issuing, supporting, repaying, refunding, and servicing storm recovery bonds, including servicing fees, accounting and auditing fees, trustee fees, legal fees, consulting fees, structuring adviser fees, administrative fees, placement and underwriting fees, independent director and manager fees, capitalized interest, rating agency fees, stock exchange listing and compliance fees, security registration fees, filing fees, information technology programming costs, and any other costs necessary to otherwise ensure the timely payment of recovery or other amounts or charges payable in connection with the bonds, including costs related to obtaining the financing order; (d) any taxes and license fees or other fees imposed on the revenues generated from the collection of a storm recovery charge or otherwise resulting from the collection of storm recovery charges, in any such case whether paid, payable, or accrued; (e) any state and local taxes, franchise, gross receipts, and other taxes or similar charges, including regulatory assessment fees, whether paid, payable, or accrued; (f) any costs incurred by (i) the commission or the Office of Regulatory Staff for any outside consultants, including counsel and advisors; and (ii) the qualified independent third party selected by the commission, to the extent retained in connection with the securitization of storm recovery costs. (8) The term "financing order" means an order that authorizes the issuance of storm recovery bonds; the imposition, collection, and periodic adjustments of a storm recovery charge; the creation of storm recovery property; and the sale, assignment, or transfer of storm recovery property to an assignee. (9) The term "financing party" means bondholders and trustees, collateral agents, any party under an ancillary agreement, or any other person acting for the benefit of bondholders. (10) The term "financing statement" is as defined in Section 36-9-102. (11) The term "pledgee" means a financing party to which an electrical utility or its successors or assignees mortgages, negotiates, pledges, or creates a security interest or lien on all or any portion of its interest in or right to storm recovery property. (12) The term "qualified independent third party" means a person or entity with relevant expertise in accounting, finance, or utility regulation, sufficient to make the professional judgments necessary to certify compliance as required by Section 58-27-1110(C)(6)(a). The qualified independent third party shall be designated and retained by the commission to participate in the pre-bond issuance review process established by the commission pursuant to Section 58-27-1110(C)(2)(h). The role and responsibilities of the qualified independent third party are further detailed in Section 58-27-1110(C)(6). The qualified independent third party's certification of compliance is intended to inform the commission's decisions alongside other evidence in the proceeding. (13) The term "storm" means, individually or collectively, a named tropical storm or hurricane, a tornado, ice storm or snowstorm, flood, an earthquake, or other significant weather or natural disaster. (14)(a) The term "storm recovery activity" means an activity or activities by an electrical utility, its affiliates, or its contractors directly and specifically in connection with the restoration of service and infrastructure associated with electric power outages affecting customers of an electrical utility as the result of a storm or storms, including activities related to mobilization, staging, and construction, reconstruction, replacement, or repair of electric generation, transmission, distribution, or general plant facilities. (b) No electrical utility is required to securitize nor is it prohibited from securitizing those capital improvements or infrastructure upgrades that have a quantifiable net benefit to consumers and that improve the resiliency of the transmission and distribution system. (15) The term "storm recovery bonds" means bonds, debentures, notes, certificates of participation, certificates of beneficial interest, certificates of ownership, or other evidences of indebtedness or ownership that are issued by an electrical utility or an assignee pursuant to a financing order, the proceeds of which are used directly or indirectly to recover, finance, or refinance commission-approved storm recovery costs and financing costs, and that are secured by or payable from storm recovery property. If certificates of participation or ownership are issued, references in this article to principal, interest, or premium shall be construed to refer to comparable amounts under those certificates. (16) The term "storm recovery charge" means the amounts authorized by the commission to repay, finance, or refinance storm recovery costs and financing costs and that are nonbypassable charges (i) imposed on and part of all retail customer bills, (ii) collected by an electrical utility or its successors or assignees, or a collection agent, in full, separate and apart from the electrical utility's base rates, and (iii) paid by all existing or future retail customers receiving transmission or distribution service, or both, from the electrical utility or its successors or assignees under commission-approved rate schedules or under special contracts, even if a customer elects to purchase electricity from an alternative electricity supplier following a fundamental change in regulation of electrical utilities in this State. (17) The term "storm recovery costs" means: (a) all incremental costs, including capital costs, appropriate for recovery from existing and future retail customers receiving transmission or distribution service from an electrical utility that an electrical utility has incurred or expects to incur as a result of the applicable storm that are caused by, associated with, or remain as a result of undertaking storm recovery activity; (b) storm recovery costs shall be net of applicable insurance proceeds, tax benefits, income tax savings, and any other amounts intended to reimburse the electrical utility for storm recovery activities such as government grants, or aid of any kind and where determined appropriate by the commission, and may include adjustments for capital replacement and operating costs previously considered in determining normal amounts in the electrical utility's most recent general rate proceeding. Storm recovery costs may include, to the extent determined appropriate by the commission, the cost to replenish and fund any storm reserves, the costs of retiring any existing indebtedness relating to storm recovery activities, and carrying costs; (c) with respect to storm recovery costs that the electrical utility expects to incur, any difference between costs expected to be incurred and actual, reasonable, and prudent costs incurred, including carrying costs and financing costs associated with any difference between costs expected to be incurred and actual, reasonable, and prudent costs incurred, or any other rate-making adjustments appropriate to fairly and reasonably assign or allocate storm cost recovery to customers over time, shall be addressed in a future general rate proceeding, regardless of whether the electrical utility elects to seek review and approval of principal costs prior to or after filing a petition for a financing order and issuing storm recovery bonds pursuant to Section 58-27-1110(B), as may be facilitated by other orders of the commission issued at the time or prior to such proceeding; provided, however, any review of financing costs shall be limited to reconciling any estimated financing costs with actual financing costs incurred and that the commission's adoption of a financing order and approval of the issuance of storm recovery bonds may not be revoked or otherwise modified. Any overrecovered costs, including carrying costs and financing costs, shall be ordered by the commission to be returned to the electrical utility's customers in the next possible proceeding, over a period established by the commission. (d) due to the significant and unprecedented damage caused by the 2024 hurricane referred to as Hurricane Helene to public and private property in South Carolina, including widespread destruction of utility infrastructure and the extraordinary expenses incurred by electrical utilities to repair, restore, and rebuild that infrastructure, the electrical utility is authorized to include as storm recovery costs, for Hurricane Helene only, its cost of capital from the date of the storm through the issuance of storm recovery bonds. This cost of capital shall be determined by the actual interest rate paid by the utility to borrow funds necessary to cover the restoration and recovery efforts after Hurricane Helene through the issuance of storm recovery bonds, provided that the interest rate percentage does not exceed the utility's total weighted average cost of capital percentage as established in its most recent general rate proceeding, adjusted for income tax savings associated with the interest rate component. This subsection shall not be construed to limit, modify, or otherwise affect the electrical utility's ability to seek recovery of carrying costs in future securitizations under this article, except as specifically provided herein for Hurricane Helene. (18) The term "storm recovery property" means: (a) All rights and interests of an electrical utility or successor or assignee of the electrical utility under a financing order, including the right to impose, bill, charge, collect, and receive storm recovery charges authorized under the financing order and to obtain periodic adjustments to such charges as provided in the financing order. (b) All revenues, collections, claims, rights to payments, payments, money, or proceeds arising from the rights and interests specified in the financing order, regardless of whether such revenues, collections, claims, rights to payment, payments, money, or proceeds are imposed, billed, received, collected, or maintained together with or commingled with other revenues, collections, rights to payment, payments, money, or proceeds.