Bill Text: CA AB2145 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Electricity: community choice aggregation.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2014-08-19 - Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading. [AB2145 Detail]

Download: California-2013-AB2145-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 2145	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Bradford

                        FEBRUARY 20, 2014

   An act to amend Section 366.2 of the Public Utilities Code,
relating to electricity.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2145, as introduced, Bradford. Electricity: community choice
aggregation.
    Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has
regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical
corporations, as defined. Existing law authorizes a community choice
aggregator, as defined, to aggregate the electrical load of
interested electricity consumers within its boundaries and requires a
community choice aggregator to file an implementation plan with the
commission and requires that the plan include disclosures of certain
information and describe other matter. Existing law requires an
electrical corporation to cooperate fully with any community choice
aggregator that investigates, pursues, or implements community choice
aggregation programs, including providing appropriate billing and
electrical load data. Existing law requires an electrical
corporation, when requested by, and at the expense of, a community
choice aggregator, to install, maintain, and calibrate metering
devices at mutually agreeable locations within or adjacent to the
community choice aggregator's political boundaries. Existing law
requires a community choice aggregator to register with the
commission, which may require additional information to ensure
compliance with basic consumer protection rules and other procedural
matters.
   This bill would require that the implementation plan filed by a
community choice aggregator make full disclosure of certain
information and completely describe other matter. The bill would
authorize the commission to require that a community choice
aggregator, when registering with the commission, provide additional
information to ensure compliance with basic consumer protection and
other rules and other procedural matters. The bill would make other
technical, nonsubstantive revisions to the community choice
aggregator provisions.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 366.2 of the Public Utilities Code is amended
to read:
   366.2.  (a) (1) Customers shall be entitled to aggregate their
electric loads as members of their local community with community
choice aggregators.
   (2) Customers may aggregate their loads through a public process
with community choice aggregators, if each customer is given an
opportunity to opt out of his or her community's aggregation program.

   (3) If a customer opts out of a community choice aggregator's
program, or has no community choice aggregation program available,
that customer shall have the right to continue to be served by the
existing electrical corporation or its successor in interest.
   (4) The implementation of a community choice aggregation program
shall not result in a shifting of costs between the customers of the
community choice aggregator and the bundled service customers of an
electrical corporation.
   (5) A community choice aggregator shall be solely responsible for
all generation procurement activities on behalf of the community
choice aggregator's customers, except where other generation
procurement arrangements are expressly authorized by statute.
   (b) If a public agency seeks to serve as a community choice
aggregator, it shall offer the opportunity to purchase electricity to
all residential customers within its jurisdiction.
   (c) (1) Notwithstanding Section 366, a community choice aggregator
is hereby authorized to aggregate the electrical load of interested
electricity consumers within its boundaries to reduce transaction
costs to consumers, provide consumer  protections 
 protection  , and leverage the negotiation of contracts.
However, the community choice aggregator may not aggregate electrical
load if that load is served by a local publicly owned electric
utility. A community choice aggregator may group retail electricity
customers to solicit bids, broker, and contract for electricity and
energy services for those customers. The community choice aggregator
may enter into agreements for services to facilitate the sale and
purchase of electricity and other related services. Those service
agreements may be entered into by an entity authorized to be a
community choice aggregator, as defined in Section 331.1.
   (2) Under community choice aggregation, customer participation may
not require a positive written declaration, but each customer shall
be informed of his or her right to opt out of the community choice
aggregation program. If no negative declaration is made by a
customer, that customer shall be served through the community choice
aggregation program. If an existing customer moves the location of
his or her electric service within the jurisdiction of the community
choice aggregator, the customer shall retain the same subscriber
status as prior to the move, unless the customer affirmatively
changes his or her subscriber status. If the customer is moving from
outside to inside the jurisdiction of the community choice
aggregator, customer participation shall not require a positive
written declaration, but the customer shall be informed of his or her
right to elect not to receive service through the community choice
aggregator.
   (3) A community choice aggregator establishing electrical load
aggregation pursuant to this section shall develop an implementation
plan detailing the process and consequences of aggregation. The
implementation plan, and any subsequent changes to it, shall be
considered and adopted at a duly noticed public hearing. The
implementation plan shall contain all of the following:
   (A) An organizational structure of the program, its operations,
and its funding.
   (B) Ratesetting and other costs to participants.
   (C) Provisions for full  disclosure and due process in
setting rates and allocating costs among participants.
   (D) The methods for entering and terminating agreements with other
entities.
   (E) The rights and responsibilities of program participants,
including, but not limited to, consumer protection procedures, credit
issues, and shutoff procedures.
   (F) Termination of the program.
   (G) A description of the third parties that will be supplying
electricity under the program, including, but not limited to, 
complete  information about financial, technical, and
operational capabilities.
   (4) A community choice aggregator establishing electrical load
aggregation shall prepare a statement of intent with the
implementation plan. Any community choice load aggregation
established pursuant to this section shall provide for the following:

   (A) Universal access.
   (B) Reliability.
   (C) Equitable treatment of all classes of customers.
   (D) Any requirements established by state law or by the commission
concerning aggregated service, including  , but not limited to,
 those rules adopted by the commission pursuant to paragraph (3)
of subdivision (b) of Section 8341 for the application of the
greenhouse gases emission performance standard to community choice
aggregators.
   (5) In order to determine the cost-recovery mechanism to be
imposed on the community choice aggregator pursuant to subdivisions
(d), (e), and (f) that shall be paid by the customers of the
community choice aggregator to prevent shifting of costs, the
community choice aggregator shall file the implementation plan with
the commission, and any other information requested by the commission
that the commission determines is necessary to develop the
cost-recovery mechanism in subdivisions (d), (e), and (f).
   (6) The commission shall notify any electrical corporation serving
the customers proposed for aggregation that an implementation plan
initiating community choice aggregation has been filed, within 10
days of the filing.
   (7) Within 90 days after the community choice aggregator
establishing load aggregation files its implementation plan, the
commission shall certify that it has received the implementation
plan, including any additional information necessary to determine a
cost-recovery mechanism. After certification of receipt of the
implementation plan and any additional information requested, the
commission shall then provide the community choice aggregator with
its findings regarding any cost recovery that must be paid by
customers of the community choice aggregator to prevent a shifting of
costs as provided for in subdivisions (d), (e), and (f).
   (8) No entity proposing community choice aggregation shall act to
furnish electricity to electricity consumers within its boundaries
until the commission determines the cost recovery that must be paid
by the customers of that proposed community choice aggregation
program, as provided for in subdivisions (d), (e), and (f). The
commission shall designate the earliest possible effective date for
implementation of a community choice aggregation program, taking into
consideration the impact on any annual procurement plan of the
electrical corporation that has been approved by the commission.
   (9)  All   An  electrical 
corporations   corporation  shall cooperate fully
with any community choice aggregators that investigate, pursue, or
implement community choice aggregation programs. Cooperation shall
include providing the entities with appropriate billing and
electrical load data, including, but not limited to, electrical
consumption data as defined in Section 8380 and other data detailing
electricity needs and patterns of usage, as determined by the
commission, and in accordance with procedures established by the
commission. The commission shall exercise its authority pursuant to
Chapter 11 (commencing with Section 2100) to enforce the requirements
of this paragraph when it finds that the requirements of this
paragraph have been violated. Electrical corporations shall continue
to provide all metering, billing, collection, and customer service to
retail customers that participate in community choice aggregation
programs. Bills sent by the electrical corporation to retail
customers shall identify the community choice aggregator as providing
the electrical energy component of the bill. The commission shall
determine the terms and conditions under which the electrical
corporation provides services to community choice aggregators and
retail customers.
   (10) If the commission finds that an electrical corporation has
violated this section, the commission shall consider the impact of
the violation upon community choice aggregators.
   (11) The commission shall proactively expedite the complaint
process for disputes regarding an electrical corporation's violation
of its obligations pursuant to this section in order to provide for
timely resolution of complaints made by community choice aggregation
programs, so that all complaints are resolved in no more than 180
days following the filing of a complaint by a community choice
aggregation program concerning the actions of the incumbent
electrical corporation. This deadline may only be extended under
either of the following circumstances:
   (A) Upon agreement of all of the parties to the complaint.
   (B) The commission makes a written determination that the deadline
cannot be met, including findings for the reason for this
determination, and issues an order extending the deadline. A single
order pursuant to this subparagraph shall not extend the deadline for
more than 60 days.
   (12) (A) An entity authorized to be a community choice aggregator,
as defined in Section 331.1, that elects to implement a community
choice aggregation program within its jurisdiction pursuant to this
chapter, shall do so by ordinance. A city, county, or city and county
may request, by affirmative resolution of its governing council or
board, that another entity authorized to be a community choice
aggregator act as the community choice aggregator on its behalf. If a
city, county, or city and county, by resolution, requests another
authorized entity be the community choice aggregator for the city,
county, or city and county, that authorized entity shall be
responsible for adopting the ordinance to implement the community
choice aggregation program on behalf of the city, county, or city and
county.
   (B) Two or more entities authorized to be a community choice
aggregator, as defined in Section 331.1, may participate as a group
in a community choice aggregation program pursuant to this chapter,
through a joint powers agency established pursuant to Chapter 5
(commencing with Section 6500) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the
Government Code, if each entity adopts an ordinance pursuant to
subparagraph (A). Pursuant to Section 6508.1 of the Government Code,
members of a joint powers agency that is a community choice
aggregator may specify in their joint powers agreement that, unless
otherwise agreed by the members of the agency, the debts,
liabilities, and obligations of the agency shall not be the debts,
liabilities, and obligations, either jointly or severally, of the
members of the agency. The commission shall not, as a condition of
registration or otherwise, require an agency's members to voluntarily
assume the debts, liabilities, and obligations of the agency to the
electrical corporation unless the commission finds that the agreement
by the agency's members is the only reasonable means by which the
agency may establish its creditworthiness under the electrical
corporation's tariff to pay charges to the electrical corporation
under the tariff.
   (13) Following adoption of aggregation through the ordinance
described in paragraph (12), the program shall allow any retail
customer to opt out and to continue to be served as a bundled service
customer by the existing electrical corporation, or its successor in
interest. Delivery services shall be provided at the same rates,
terms, and conditions, as approved by the commission, for community
choice aggregation customers and customers that have entered into a
direct transaction where applicable, as determined by the commission.
Once enrolled in the aggregated entity, any ratepayer that chooses
to opt out within 60 days or two billing cycles of the date of
enrollment may do so without penalty and shall be entitled to receive
default service pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a).
Customers that return to the electrical corporation for procurement
services shall be subject to the same terms and conditions as are
applicable to other returning direct access customers from the same
class, as determined by the commission, as authorized by the
commission pursuant to this code or any other provision of law,
except that those customers shall be subject to no more than a
12-month stay requirement with the electrical corporation. Any
reentry fees to be imposed after the opt-out period specified in this
paragraph, shall be approved by the commission and shall reflect the
cost of reentry. The commission shall exclude any amounts previously
determined and paid pursuant to subdivisions (d), (e), and (f) from
the cost of reentry.
   (14) Nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing any
city or any community choice retail load aggregator to restrict the
ability of retail electricity customers to obtain or receive service
from any authorized electric service provider in a manner consistent
with law.
   (15) (A) The community choice aggregator shall fully inform
participating customers at least twice within two calendar months, or
60 days, in advance of the date of commencing automatic enrollment.
Notifications may occur concurrently with billing cycles. Following
enrollment, the aggregated entity shall fully inform participating
customers for not less than two consecutive billing cycles.
Notification may include, but is not limited to, direct mailings to
customers, or inserts in water, sewer, or other utility bills. Any
notification shall  fully  inform customers of both of the
following:
   (i) That they are to be automatically enrolled and that the
customer has the right to opt out of the community choice aggregator
without penalty.
   (ii)  The   All  terms and conditions of
the services offered.
   (B) The community choice aggregator may request the commission to
approve and order the electrical corporation to provide the
notification required in subparagraph (A). If the commission orders
the electrical corporation to send one or more of the notifications
required pursuant to subparagraph (A) in the electrical corporation's
normally scheduled monthly billing process, the electrical
corporation shall be entitled to recover from the community choice
aggregator all reasonable incremental costs it incurs related to the
notification or notifications. The electrical corporation shall fully
cooperate with the community choice aggregator in determining the
feasibility and costs associated with using the electrical
corporation's normally scheduled monthly billing process to provide
one or more of the notifications required pursuant to subparagraph
(A).
   (C) Each notification shall also include a mechanism by which a
ratepayer may opt out of community choice aggregated service. The opt
out may take the form of a self-addressed return postcard indicating
the customer's election to remain with, or return to, electrical
energy service provided by the electrical corporation, or another
straightforward means by which the customer may elect to derive
electrical energy service through the electrical corporation
providing service in the area.
   (16) A community choice aggregator shall have an operating service
agreement with the electrical corporation prior to furnishing
electric service to consumers within its jurisdiction. The service
agreement shall include performance standards that govern the
business and operational relationship between the community choice
aggregator and the electrical corporation. The commission shall
ensure that any service agreement between the community choice
aggregator and the electrical corporation includes equitable
responsibilities and remedies for all parties. The parties may
negotiate specific terms of the service agreement, provided that the
service agreement is consistent with this chapter.
   (17) The community choice aggregator shall register with the
commission, which may require additional information to ensure
compliance with basic consumer protection  and other  rules
and other procedural matters.
   (18) Once the community choice aggregator's contract is signed,
the community choice aggregator shall notify the applicable
electrical corporation that community choice service will commence
within 30 days.
   (19) Once notified of a community choice aggregator program, the
electrical corporation shall transfer all applicable accounts to the
new supplier within a 30-day period from the date of the close of the
electrical corporation's normally scheduled monthly metering and
billing process.
   (20) An electrical corporation shall recover from the community
choice aggregator any costs reasonably attributable to the community
choice aggregator, as determined by the commission, of implementing
this section, including, but not limited to, all business and
information system changes, except for transaction-based costs as
described in this paragraph. Any costs not reasonably attributable to
a community choice aggregator shall be recovered from ratepayers, as
determined by the commission. All reasonable transaction-based costs
of notices, billing, metering, collections, and customer
communications or other services provided to an aggregator or its
customers shall be recovered from the aggregator or its customers on
terms and at rates to be approved by the commission.
   (21) At the request and expense of any community choice
aggregator,  an  electrical  corporations 
 corporation  shall install, maintain, and calibrate
metering devices at mutually agreeable locations within or adjacent
to the community choice aggregator's political boundaries. The
electrical corporation shall read the metering devices and provide
the data collected to the community choice aggregator at the
aggregator's expense. To the extent that the community choice
aggregator requests a metering location that would require alteration
or modification of a circuit, the electrical corporation shall only
be required to alter or modify a circuit if  such 
 that  alteration or modification does not compromise the
safety, reliability, or operational flexibility of the electrical
corporation's facilities. All costs incurred to modify circuits
pursuant to this paragraph, shall be borne by the community choice
aggregator.
   (d) (1) It is the intent of the Legislature that each retail
end-use customer that has purchased power from an electrical
corporation on or after February 1, 2001, should bear a fair share of
the Department of Water Resources' electricity purchase costs, as
well as electricity purchase contract obligations incurred as of the
effective date of the act adding this section, that are recoverable
from electrical corporation customers in commission-approved rates.
It is further the intent of the Legislature to prevent any shifting
of recoverable costs between customers.
   (2) The Legislature finds and declares that this subdivision is
consistent with the requirements of Division 27 (commencing with
Section 80000) of the Water Code and Section 360.5 of this code, and
is therefore declaratory of existing law.
   (e) A retail end-use customer that purchases electricity from a
community choice aggregator pursuant to this section shall pay both
of the following:
   (1) A charge equivalent to the charges that would otherwise be
imposed on the customer by the commission to recover bond-related
costs pursuant to any agreement between the commission and the
Department of Water Resources pursuant to Section 80110 of the Water
Code, which charge shall be payable until any obligations of the
Department of Water Resources pursuant to Division 27 (commencing
with Section 80000) of the Water Code are fully paid or otherwise
discharged.
   (2) Any additional costs of the Department of Water Resources,
equal to the customer's proportionate share of the Department of
Water Resources' estimated net unavoidable electricity purchase
contract costs as determined by the commission, for the period
commencing with the customer's purchases of electricity from the
community choice aggregator, through the expiration of all then
existing electricity purchase contracts entered into by the
Department of Water Resources.
   (f) A retail end-use customer purchasing electricity from a
community choice aggregator pursuant to this section shall reimburse
the electrical corporation that previously served the customer for
all of the following:
   (1) The electrical corporation's unrecovered past undercollections
for electricity purchases, including any financing costs,
attributable to that customer, that the commission lawfully
determines may be recovered in rates.
   (2) Any additional costs of the electrical corporation recoverable
in commission-approved rates, equal to the share of the electrical
corporation's estimated net unavoidable electricity purchase contract
costs attributable to the customer, as determined by the commission,
for the period commencing with the customer's purchases of
electricity from the community choice aggregator, through the
expiration of all then existing electricity purchase contracts
entered into by the electrical corporation.
   (g) Estimated net unavoidable electricity costs paid by the
customers of a community choice aggregator shall be reduced by the
value of any benefits that remain with bundled service customers,
unless the customers of the community choice aggregator are allocated
a fair and equitable share of those benefits.
   (h) (1) Any charges imposed pursuant to subdivision (e) shall be
the property of the Department of Water Resources. Any charges
imposed pursuant to subdivision (f) shall be the property of the
electrical corporation. The commission shall establish mechanisms,
including agreements with, or orders with respect to, electrical
corporations necessary to ensure that charges payable pursuant to
this section shall be promptly remitted to the party entitled to
payment.
   (2) Charges imposed pursuant to subdivisions (d), (e), and (f)
shall be nonbypassable.
   (i) The commission shall authorize community choice aggregation
only if the commission imposes a cost-recovery mechanism pursuant to
subdivisions (d), (e), (f), and (h). Except as provided by this
subdivision, this section shall not alter the suspension by the
commission of direct purchases of electricity from alternate
providers other than by community choice aggregators, pursuant to
Section 365.1.
   (j) (1) The commission shall not authorize community choice
aggregation until it implements a cost-recovery mechanism, consistent
with subdivisions (d), (e), and (f), that is applicable to customers
that elected to purchase electricity from an alternate provider
between February 1, 2001, and January 1, 2003.
   (2) The commission shall not authorize community choice
aggregation until it has adopted rules for implementing community
choice aggregation.
   (k) (1) Except for nonbypassable charges imposed by the commission
pursuant to subdivisions (d), (e), (f), and (h), and programs
authorized by the commission to provide broader statewide or regional
benefits to all customers, electric service customers of a community
choice aggregator shall not be required to pay nonbypassable charges
for goods, services, or programs that do not benefit either, or
where applicable, both, the customer and the community choice
aggregator serving the customer.
   (2) The commission, Energy Commission, electrical corporation, or
third-party administrator shall administer any program funded through
a nonbypassable charge on a nondiscriminatory basis so that the
electric service customers of a community choice aggregator may
participate in the program on an equal basis with the customers of an
electrical corporation.
   (3) Nothing in this subdivision is intended to modify, or prohibit
the use of, charges funding programs for the benefit of low-income
customers.
   (l) (1) An electrical corporation shall not terminate the services
of a community choice aggregator unless authorized by a vote of the
full commission. The commission shall ensure that prior to
authorizing a termination of service, that the community choice
aggregator has been provided adequate notice and a reasonable
opportunity to be heard regarding any electrical corporation
contentions in support of termination. If the contentions made by the
electrical corporation in favor of termination include factual
claims, the community choice aggregator shall be afforded an
opportunity to address those claims in an evidentiary hearing.
   (2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), if the Independent System
Operator has transferred the community choice aggregator's scheduling
coordination responsibilities to the incumbent electrical
corporation, an administrative law judge or assigned commissioner,
after providing the aggregator with notice and an opportunity to
respond, may suspend the aggregator's service to customers pending a
full vote of the commission.
   (m) Any meeting of an entity authorized to be a community choice
aggregator, as defined in Section 331.1, for the purpose of
developing, implementing, or administering a program of community
choice aggregation shall be conducted in the manner prescribed by the
Ralph M. Brown Act (Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 54950) of
Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5 of the Government Code).