Bill Text: CA AB2256 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

California Assembly Bill 2256

Bill Title: Net energy metering.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-05-16 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB2256 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB2256-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly April 29, 2024

Amended IN Assembly April 01, 2024

Amended IN Assembly March 11, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2256

Introduced by Assembly Member Friedman
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Berman, Quirk-Silva, and Weber)

February 08, 2024

An act ~~to amend Section 2827.1 of, and~~ to add Section 2827.2 ~~to,~~ to the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2256, as amended, Friedman. Net energy metering.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires every electric utility, defined to include electrical corporations, local publicly owned electric utilities, and electrical cooperatives, to develop a standard contract or tariff for net energy metering, as defined, for generation by a renewable electrical generation facility, as defined, and to make this contract or tariff available to eligible customer-generators, as defined, upon request on a first-come-first-served basis until the time that the total rated generating capacity used by eligible customer-generators exceeds 5% of the electric utility’s aggregate customer peak demand.

Existing law requires the commission to have developed a 2nd standard contract or tariff for each large electrical corporation, as defined, to provide net energy metering to additional eligible customer-generators in the electrical corporation’s service territory and imposes no limitation on the number of new eligible customer-generators entitled to receive service pursuant to this 2nd standard contract or tariff. Existing law requires the commission, in developing the 2nd standard contract or tariff, to ensure that customer-sited renewable distributed generation continues to grow sustainably and to include specific alternatives designed for growth among residential customers in disadvantaged communities. Existing law authorizes the commission to revise the 2nd standard contract or tariff as appropriate. Pursuant to that authorization, the commission has instituted rulemakings and issued decisions relating to the 2nd standard contract or tariff.

This bill would require the commission, as appropriate, to revise the above-described standard contract or tariff to, among other things: ensure that customer-sited renewable distributed generation continues to grow at a pace identified by the state as needed to meet the state’s climate goals, rather than sustainably; ensure that the standard contract or tariff is based on an independent assessment of the cost of service analysis and the total benefits of the renewable electrical generation facility, including quantifiable nonenergy benefits, as defined; and, ensure that the total benefits of the standard contract or tariff to all customers and the electrical system are approximately equal to or greater than the total costs. The bill would prohibit that cost consideration from compromising the state’s climate goals or quantifiable nonenergy benefits, as specified. The bill would require every large electrical corporation to make the standard contract or tariff, as revised, available to all new eligible customer-generators upon that revision.
~~Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.~~
~~Because this bill would require a commission action to implement its requirements, the violation of which is a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.~~
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
~~This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.~~
This bill would require the commission to conduct an independent cost-of-service analysis evaluating the standard contract or tariff developed by the commission in a specified decision.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: ~~YES~~NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 2827.2 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:

2827.2.
(a) The commission shall conduct an independent cost-of-service analysis evaluating the standard contract or tariff developed by the commission in Decision 22–12–056 (December 15, 2022), Decision Revising Net Energy Metering Tariff and Subtariffs.
(b) This section does not require the commission to revise or update a standard contract or tariff made available to eligible customer-generators.

SECTION 1.Section 2827.1 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:
2827.1.
(a)For purposes of this section, “eligible customer-generator,” “large electrical corporation,” and “renewable electrical generation facility” have the same meanings as defined in Section 2827.
(b)Notwithstanding any other law, the commission shall develop a standard contract or tariff, which may include net energy metering, for eligible customer-generators with a renewable electrical generation facility that is a customer of a large electrical corporation no later than December 31, 2015. The commission may develop the standard contract or tariff before December 31, 2015, and may require a large electrical corporation that has reached the net energy metering program limit of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (4) of subdivision (c) of Section 2827 to offer the standard contract or tariff to eligible customer-generators. A large electrical corporation shall offer the standard contract or tariff to an eligible customer-generator beginning July 1, 2017, or before that date if ordered to do so by the commission because it has reached the net energy metering program limit of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (4) of subdivision (c) of Section 2827. The commission may revise the standard contract or tariff as appropriate to achieve the objectives of this section. In developing the standard contract or tariff, the commission shall do all of the following:
(1)Ensure that the standard contract or tariff made available to eligible customer-generators ensures that customer-sited renewable distributed generation continues to grow sustainably and include specific alternatives designed for growth among residential customers in disadvantaged communities.
~~(2)Establish terms of service and billing rules for eligible customer-generators.~~
~~(3)Ensure that the standard contract or tariff made available to eligible customer-generators is based on the costs and benefits of the renewable electrical generation facility.~~
~~(4)Ensure that the total benefits of the standard contract or tariff to all customers and the electrical system are approximately equal to the total costs.~~
(5)Allow projects greater than one megawatt that do not have significant impact on the distribution grid to be built to the size of the onsite load if the projects with a capacity of more than one megawatt are subject to reasonable interconnection charges established pursuant to the commission’s Electric Rule 21 and applicable state and federal requirements.
(6)Establish a transition period during which eligible customer-generators taking service under a net energy metering tariff or contract before July 1, 2017, or until the electrical corporation reaches its net energy metering program limit pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (4) of subdivision (c) of Section 2827, whichever is earlier, shall be eligible to continue service under the previously applicable net energy metering tariff for a length of time to be determined by the commission by March 31, 2014. Any rules adopted by the commission shall consider a reasonable expected payback period based on the year the customer initially took service under the tariff or contract authorized by Section 2827.
(7)The commission shall determine which rates and tariffs are applicable to customer-generators only during a rulemaking proceeding. Any fixed charges for residential customer-generators that differ from the fixed charges allowed pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 739.9 shall be authorized only in a rulemaking proceeding involving every large electrical corporation. The commission shall ensure customer-generators are provided electric service at rates that are just and reasonable.
(c)(1)Beginning July 1, 2017, or when ordered to do so by the commission because the large electrical corporation has reached its capacity limitation of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (4) of subdivision (c) of Section 2827, all new eligible customer-generators shall be subject to the standard contract or tariff developed by the commission and any rules, terms, and rates developed pursuant to subdivision (b). There shall be no limitation on the amount of generating capacity or number of new eligible customer-generators entitled to receive service pursuant to the standard contract or tariff after July 1, 2017. An eligible customer-generator that has received service under a net energy metering standard contract or tariff pursuant to Section 2827 that is no longer eligible to receive service shall be eligible to receive service pursuant to the standard contract or tariff developed by the commission pursuant to this section.
(2)Notwithstanding paragraph (1), upon the commission revising the standard contract or tariff pursuant to Section 2827.2, all new eligible customer-generators shall be subject to the revised contract or tariff.
SEC. 2.Section 2827.2 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:
2827.2.
~~(a)For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:~~
~~(1)“Eligible customer-generator,” “large electrical corporation,” and “renewable electrical generation facility” have the same meanings as defined in Section 2827.~~
(2)“Nonenergy benefit” means any benefit of energy resources and programs to program participants, nonparticipating customers, and society beyond a large electrical corporation’s marginal costs of providing electrical service to customers, including, but not limited to, lower energy costs for participants, improved public health, local air quality benefits, water quality and quantity improvements, increased resiliency, protection, or preservation of open-space resources and wildlife habitats, and local economic development.
(b)Notwithstanding any other law, the commission shall, as appropriate, revise the standard contract or tariff developed pursuant to Section 2827.1 for an eligible customer-generator with a renewable electrical generation facility that also is a customer of a large electrical corporation to achieve the objectives of this section. In revising the standard contract or tariff, the commission shall do all of the following:
(1)Ensure that the standard contract or tariff made available to eligible customer-generators ensures that customer-sited renewable distributed generation continues to grow sustainably at a pace identified by the state as needed to meet the state’s climate goals and include specific alternatives designed for growth among residential customers in disadvantaged communities.
~~(2)Establish terms of service and billing rules for eligible customer-generators.~~
(3)Ensure that the standard contract or tariff made available to eligible customer-generators is based on an independent assessment of the cost of service analysis and the total benefits of the renewable electrical generation facility, including quantifiable nonenergy benefits.
~~(4)(A)Ensure that the total benefits of the standard contract or tariff to all customers and the electrical system are approximately equal to or greater than the total costs.~~
~~(B)The commission’s achievement of the objective described in subparagraph (A) shall not compromise the achievement of the objectives described in paragraphs (1) and (3).~~
~~(C)This paragraph does not require nonparticipating ratepayer indifference.~~
(5)Allow a project with a capacity of more than one megawatt that does not have a significant impact on the distribution grid to be built to the size of the onsite load if the project is subject to a reasonable interconnection charge established pursuant to the commission’s Electric Rule 21 and applicable state and federal requirements.
(6)Determine which rates and tariffs are applicable to customer-generators only during a rulemaking proceeding. Any fixed charges for residential customer-generators that differ from the fixed charges allowed pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 739.9 shall be authorized only in a rulemaking proceeding involving every large electrical corporation. The commission shall ensure customer-generators are provided electrical service at rates that are just and reasonable.
~~(c)Each large electrical corporation shall make the standard contract or tariff, as revised pursuant to subdivision (b), available to all new eligible customer-generators upon that revision.~~
SEC. 3.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.