Bill Text: CA AB1295 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Public utilities: renewable energy: community renewables option.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2013-07-02 - In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. [AB1295 Detail]
Download: California-2013-AB1295-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1295 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 25, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 29, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 24, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 23, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 9, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 21, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Roger Hernández
FEBRUARY 22, 2013
An act to add and repeal Chapter 7.6 (commencing with Section
2831) of Part 2 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code, relating
to public utilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1295, as amended, Roger Hernández. Public utilities: renewable
energy: community renewables option.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
jurisdiction over public utilities, including electrical
corporations, as defined, while local publicly owned electric
utilities, as defined, are under the direction of their governing
boards. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and
charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and
charges be just and reasonable. Under existing law, the local
government renewable energy self-generation program authorizes a
local government, as defined, to receive a bill credit, as defined,
to be applied to a designated benefiting account for electricity
exported to the electrical grid by an eligible renewable generating
facility, as defined, and requires the commission to adopt a rate
tariff for the benefiting account.
The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program, referred to
as the RPS program, requires a retail seller of electricity, as
defined, and local publicly owned electric utilities to purchase
specified minimum quantities of electricity products from eligible
renewable energy resources, as defined, for specified compliance
periods, sufficient to ensure that the procurement of electricity
products from eligible renewable energy resources achieves 20% of
retail sales for the period January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2013,
inclusive, 25% of retail sales by December 31, 2016, and 33% of
retail sales by December 31, 2020, and in all subsequent years. The
RPS program, consistent with the goals of procuring the least-cost
and best-fit eligible renewable energy resources that meet project
viability principles, requires that all retail sellers procure a
balanced portfolio of electricity products from eligible renewable
energy resources, as specified.
This bill would require an electrical corporation to provide a
community renewables option , as specified, allowing a
subscribing customer's bill be adjusted to reflect the customer's
subscription in the output of a community renewables facility. The
bill would require the commission to authorize the tariff for
community renewables option by July 1, 2014. The bill would, on and
after January 1, 2016, require the commission to evaluate the demand
for the community renewables option. If the commission finds that the
community renewables option should be discontinued, the bill would
make the above provisions inoperative. The bill would authorize a
local publicly owned utility to offer a community renewables option.
This bill would repeal the provision of the community renewables
option on January 1, 2020.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 7.6 (commencing with Section 2831) is added to
Part 2 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code, to read:
CHAPTER 7.6. COMMUNITY RENEWABLES FACILITY
2831. As used in this article, the following terms mean the
following:
(a) "Community renewables facility" means an electric generation
facility that has elected to participate in the community renewables
option.
(b) "Community renewables option" means the right of an electric
generation facility to participate in a program that allows a
customer to subscribe to the output of an electric generation
facility.
(c) "Community renewables rate" means the charge to subscribing
customers for generation of electricity under the community
renewables option that includes all of the following:
(1) The contract price paid to procure renewable resources to
serve the community renewables subscription amount of the subscribing
customer.
(2) Customer departing load charges.
(3) Renewable integration charges, as determined by the
commission.
(4) Charges to recover the costs, if any, to procure sufficient
resources to adequately serve subscribing customers.
(5) Charges to cover the cost of program administration.
(d) "Contract price" means the payment that is due to the electric
generation facility in accordance with a power purchase contract
executed pursuant to an eligible procurement program described in a
cents per kilowatthours payment.
(c)
(e) "Electric generation facility" means an
electric generation a generating facility
located within the service territory of, and developed to sell
electricity to, an electrical corporation that meets all of the
following criteria:
(1) Has an effective capacity of not more than three
20 megawatts.
(2) Is interconnected and operates in parallel with the electrical
transmission and distribution grid.
(3) Is strategically located and interconnected to the electrical
transmission and distribution grid in a manner that optimizes the
deliverability of electricity generated at the facility to load
centers.
(4) Is an eligible renewable energy resource, as defined in
Section 399.12.
(5) Meets all the requirements established pursuant to Section
399.20 that are applicable to electric generation facilities.
(d) "Feed-in tariff payment" means the payment that is due to the
electric generation facility in accordance with the tariff or
standard contract established pursuant to Section 399.20 as described
in a monthly total payment.
(5) Begins commercial operation on or after January 1, 2012.
(f) "Eligible procurement program" means a competitively priced
renewable procurement mechanism.
(g) "Generation rate" means the generation component of the
customer's energy or capacity rate, or both, through which the
electrical corporation recovers energy procurement costs.
(e)
(h) "Subscribing customer" means a customer of an
electrical corporation who has subscribed to the output of a
community renewables facility.
(f)
(i) "Subscription amount" means the percentage
of kilowatthours delivered to an electrical corporation
from a community renewables facility to which a subscribing customer
has subscribed.
(g)
(j) "Unsubscribed output" means the percentage
of kilowatthours delivered to an electrical corporation
from a community renewables facility to which no subscribing customer
has subscribed.
2831.5. A community renewables facility is not an electrical
corporation, as defined in Section 218 218,
or an electric service provider, as defined in Section
218.3 218.3, solely by virtue of being a community
renewables facility .
2832. (a) An electrical corporation shall provide , via a
tariff advice filing or application approved by the commission,
a community renewables option that allows a subscribing customer's
bill to be adjusted to reflect the customer's subscription.
(b) The electrical corporation shall charge a community renewables
rate in place of the customer's otherwise applicable generation rate
for the customer's subscription amount. Other application
electricity charges shall remain without modification. The community
renewables rate shall ensure that nonsubscribing customers are
unaffected by the community renewables option.
(b)
(c) In approving the tariff
community renewables option , the commission shall ensure all
of the following:
(1) Customers that do not participate in the community renewables
option are indifferent to whether other customers participate in the
community renewables option, and no costs are shifted from
subscribing customers to nonsubscribing customers.
(2) An electric generation facility that executes a power purchase
contract with an electrical corporation may, in its sole discretion,
make an election to become a community renewables facility.
(2)
(3) An electric generation facility that has
executed a standard contract with an electrical corporation and has
begun deliveries pursuant to the contract begun
commercial operation before the community renewables option is
implemented may, in its for a limited
time to be determined by the commission, in the electric generation
facility's sole discretion, elect make
an election to become a community renewables facility.
(3)
(4) (A) The community renewables facility is solely
responsible for any and all arrangements, agreements, or disputes
with its subscribing customers concerning the community
renewables option their subscription or subscriptions
to the output of the community renewables facility . The
community renewables facility shall communicate, in writing, to the
electrical corporation, in a timely manner, to be specified in the
electrical corporation's tariff and contract, but not less than once
per year, information necessary for the electrical corporation to
administer the community renewables option that includes, but is not
limited to, all of the following:
(i) The name of each subscribing customer.
(ii) The service address and service account number of each
subscribing customer to which a bill adjustment should be applied.
(iii) Each subscribing customer's subscription amount.
(iv) The unsubscribed output, if any, for which payment should be
made directly to the community renewables facility.
(B) The electrical corporation shall not be a party to an
arrangement or agreement between the community renewables facility
and the subscribing customer.
(C) A customer's subscription to the output of a community
renewables facility pursuant to this section is a not a direct
transaction pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 331.
(5) (A) The community renewables facility shall be required to
establish, in its contract with the electrical corporation under an
eligible procurement program, the portion of the facility's output
that will be subscribed to by subscribing customers under the
community renewables option.
(B) The electrical corporation shall have the right to recover
from the community renewables facility any procurement costs that are
above the procurement costs that would otherwise be incurred by the
electrical corporation in meeting its renewables portfolio standard
procurement requirements pursuant to Section 399.15 due to a
community renewables facility's failure to maintain subscriptions for
the portion of the facility output as contractually agreed to in
subparagraph (A).
(4)
(6) The electrical corporation shall pay the community
renewables facility for any unsubscribed output , as determined
in establishing the subscribed output pursuant to subparagraph (A) of
paragraph (5), by multiplying the unsubscribed output by
the feed-in tariff payment the contract price
.
(5)
(7) (A) Customer subscriptions shall not be credited
towards the electrical corporation's procurement requirements
pursuant to Section 399.15 but shall continue to count
toward or the electrical corporation's
proportionate share of the statewide cap specified in
Section 399.20 an eligible procurement program's
statewide cap .
(B) Incremental procurement under this section shall be limited to
the electricity necessary to serve the community renewables
subscription amounts of subscribing customers. This section does not
require an electrical corporation to procure or pay for unsubscribed
output in excess of an eligible procurement program's statewide cap.
(B)
(C) In calculating its procurement requirements
pursuant to Section 399.15, an electrical corporation may exclude
from the total retail sales the kilowatthours subscribed to by
participating customers pursuant to this section.
(6)
(8) Any unsubscribed output from a community renewables
generator facility shall continue to
be credited towards the electrical corporation's procurement
requirements pursuant to Section 399.15 and shall count toward the
electrical corporation's proportionate share of the eligible
procurement program's statewide cap specified in
Section 399.20 cap .
(c)
(d) No later than July 1, 2014, the commission shall
authorize the tariff for the community renewables option consistent
with this section, including setting a reasonable cap on total
megawatts that can be subscribed to under a community renewables
program pursuant to this section. section, not
to exceed 600 megawatts statewide and to be coordinated with any
other customer renewable option or green rate programs. The
commission shall ensure that the megawatts offered under this cap are
both of the following:
(1) Allocated among electrical corporations in proportion to their
contribution to statewide peak electricity demand.
(2) Distributed evenly over the life of the community renewables
program.
(d) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (5) of subdivision (c) of
Section 2831, the commission may allow the renewable programs adopted
by the commission in commission decisions 10-12-048 and 09-06-049 to
include a community renewables option if the community renewables
option meets the requirements of subdivision (c). All purchases
pursuant to this subdivision shall count toward the electrical
corporation's proportional share of the program's cap.
(e) An electrical corporation shall recover from the community
renewables facility any costs of implementing the community
renewables option reasonably attributable to the community facility.
Any implementation costs not reasonably attributable to the community
renewables facility shall be recovered from the
participating ratepayers, as determined by the commission.
(f) If a customer participates in direct transactions pursuant to
paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 365 or Section 365.1, the
electrical corporation that provides distribution service for the
customer is not obligated to allow that customer to participate in a
community renewables option.
(g) (1) On and after January 1, 2016, the commission shall
evaluate the demand for the community renewables option and consider
whether to continue offering a community renewables option.
(2) If the commission determines that the community renewables
option should terminate, the commission shall issue an order to that
effect and deliver a copy of the order to the Secretary of State. The
section shall become inoperative on the effective date of the order.
(h) An electrical corporation may voluntarily offer a renewable
energy tariff to its retail customers notwithstanding any limitation
in paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 399.15. Nothing in
Section 399.15 shall prohibit an electrical corporation from
voluntarily offering a renewable energy tariff.
2832.5. A local publicly owned electric utility required to
comply with Section 399.32 may offer a community renewables option
for an electric generation facility as defined in Section 399.32.
2833. This chapter shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2020, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2020, deletes or extends
that date.
