Bill Text: CA AB1362 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Amended
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Electricity: load-serving entities: rate and program information.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-10-02 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 395, Statutes of 2019. [AB1362 Detail]
Download: California-2019-AB1362-Amended.html
NOYES
Section 707 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:
Bill Title: Electricity: load-serving entities: rate and program information.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-10-02 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 395, Statutes of 2019. [AB1362 Detail]
Download: California-2019-AB1362-Amended.html
Amended
IN
Assembly
May 01, 2019 |
Amended
IN
Assembly
March 26, 2019 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill | No. 1362 |
Introduced by Assembly Member O’Donnell |
February 22, 2019 |
An act to amend Section 707 of of, and to add Section 365.3 to, the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1362, as amended, O’Donnell.
Community choice aggregation. Electricity: load-serving entities: rate and program information.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes a community choice aggregator to aggregate the electrical load of electricity consumers within its boundaries and within the service territory of an electrical corporation. 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, which includes electrical consumption data, as defined. Existing law requires the commission to institute a rulemaking proceeding by March 1, 2012, for the purpose of considering and adopting a code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures, to govern the conduct of an electrical corporation
relative to the consideration, formation, and implementation of community choice aggregation programs and to implement the code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures by January 1, 2013. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
This bill would require the commission to implement the code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures equally across all electrical corporations, electric service providers, and community choice aggregators. The bill would require the commission to ensure that local government entities have full access to accurate information on the short- and long-term costs, benefits, and risks associated with implementation of a community
choice aggregation program and would prohibit the code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures from inhibiting communications between a load-serving entity and a local government entity for those purposes.
program.
This bill would require the commission to establish a centralized clearinghouse of residential electric rate tariffs and programs of electrical corporations, electric service providers, and community choice aggregators to enable customers and local governments to compare rates, services, environmental attributes, and other offerings. The bill would require this information to be available and easily accessible on the commission’s and the electricity providers’ internet websites. The bill would require each of these electricity providers to make available to the commission all information about its residential electric rate tariffs and programs.
Because a violation of the reporting and posting
requirements described above would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. Because the bill would impose reporting and posting requirements upon community choice aggregators, which are entities of local government, 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 specified reasons.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program:Bill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 365.3 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:365.3.
(a) The commission shall establish a centralized clearinghouse of load-serving entities’ residential electric rate tariffs and programs to enable customers and local governments to compare rates, services, environmental attributes, and other offerings. This information shall be available and easily accessible on both the commission’s and the load-serving entities’ internet websites.(b) Pursuant to subdivision (a), each load-serving entity shall make available to the commission all information about its residential electric rate tariffs and programs.
(c) For purposes of this section, “load-serving entity” has the same meaning as in Section
380.
SECTION 1.SEC. 2.
Section 707 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:707.
(a) Not later than March 1, 2012, the commission shall institute a rulemaking proceeding for the purpose of considering and adopting a code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures, to govern the conduct of the electrical corporations relative to the consideration, formation, and implementation of community choice aggregation programs authorized in Section 366.2. The code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures, shall do all of the following:(1) Ensure that an electrical corporation does not market against a community choice aggregation program, except through an independent marketing division that is funded exclusively by the electrical corporation’s
shareholders and that is functionally and physically separate from the electrical corporation’s ratepayer-funded divisions.
(2) Limit the electrical corporation’s independent marketing division’s use of support services from the electrical corporation’s ratepayer-funded divisions, and ensure that the electrical corporation’s independent marketing division is allocated costs of any permissible support services from the electrical corporation’s ratepayer-funded divisions on a fully allocated embedded cost basis, providing detailed public reports of such use.
(3) Ensure that the electrical corporation’s independent marketing division does not have access to competitively sensitive information.
(4) (A) Incorporate rules that the commission finds to be necessary or convenient in order to facilitate the development of community choice aggregation programs, to foster fair competition, and to protect against cross-subsidization paid by ratepayers.
(B) It is the intent of the Legislature that the rules include, in whole or in part, the rules approved by the commission in Decision 97-12-088 and Decision 08-06-016.
(C) This paragraph does not limit the authority of the commission to adopt rules that it determines are necessary or convenient in addition to those adopted in Decision 97-12-088 and Decision 08-06-016 or to modify any rule adopted in those decisions.
(5) Provide for any other matter that the
commission determines to be necessary or advisable to protect a ratepayer’s right to be free from forced speech or to implement that portion of the federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 that establishes the federal standard that no electric utility may recover from any person other than the shareholders or other owners of the utility, any direct or indirect expenditure by the electric utility for promotional or political advertising (16 U.S.C. Sec. 2623(b)(5)).
(b)(1)The commission shall ensure that the code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures are implemented equally across all load-serving entities, as defined in Section 380.
(2)
(b) The commission shall ensure that local government entities have full access to accurate information on the short- and long-term costs, benefits, and risks associated with implementation of a community choice aggregation program.
(c) This section does not limit the authority of the commission to require that any marketing against a community choice aggregation plan shall be conducted by an affiliate of the electrical corporation, or to require that marketing against a community choice aggregator not be conducted by a marketing division of the electrical corporation, subject to affiliate transaction rules to be developed by the commission.
(d)The code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures shall not inhibit communications between a load-serving entity and a local government entity for purposes of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b).