Bill Text: CA AB1813 | 2025-2026 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Electricity: customer renewable energy subscription program.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2)
Status: (Enrolled) 2026-08-31 - Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 52. Noes 12.). [AB1813 Detail]
Download: California-2025-AB1813-Amended.html
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Amended
IN
Senate
August 27, 2026 |
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Amended
IN
Senate
June 18, 2026 |
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Amended
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Assembly
April 27, 2026 |
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Amended
IN
Assembly
March 19, 2026 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 1813
| Introduced by Assembly Member Ward (Coauthor: Assembly Member Irwin) |
February 10, 2026 |
An act to amend Section 769.3 of, and to amend and repeal Section 913.15 of, the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1813, as amended, Ward.
Electricity: customer renewable energy subscription program.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires the PUC, on or before March 31, 2024, to evaluate each customer renewable energy subscription program to determine if the program meets specified goals and to determine whether it would be beneficial to ratepayers to establish a new tariff or program for an electrical corporation, or modify an existing tariff or program administered by an electrical corporation, to establish a community renewable energy program, as provided. If the PUC determines that it would be beneficial to ratepayers to establish the community renewable energy program, existing law requires the PUC, on or before July 1, 2024, to establish the program and require each electrical corporation to participate in the program.
This bill would revise the requirements of the customer renewable energy subscription program, as provided, among other things, to promote participation by low-income customers at levels commensurate with the opportunity provided to certain customer-generators, to provide bill credits to subscribers based on the avoided costs of a community renewable energy generators, as defined, participating in the program if the community renewable energy generator is determined to be a load modifying load-modifying resource, to require all community renewable energy generators participating in the
program to have no more than 5 megawatts of generation capacity and no more than 5 megawatts of energy storage, and to limit the total program capacity to 4 gigawatts or end the enrollment of new community renewable energy generators in the program after 7 years, whichever occurs first. The bill would require the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission), on or before December 1, 2027, in a public process that includes opportunity for public comment, to evaluate the load modifying load-modifying potential of community renewable energy generators and
generators, as specified, and, if the evaluation finds that community renewable energy generators have load-modifying potential, to, on or before December 1, 2027, in a public process with opportunity for public comment, identify attributes that the Energy Commission would expect a community renewable energy generator to meet in order to be classified by the PUC as a load modifying load-modifying resource, as provided. The bill would require the PUC, 90 days following the completion of the evaluation by the Energy Commission, to establish a mechanism to determine whether community renewable energy generators are load modifying resources consistent with the attributes identified by the Energy Commission, as provided.
The bill would require the PUC, 90 within 180 days following the establishment of the mechanism, identification of attributes by the Energy Commission, to adopt or modify a customer renewable energy subscription program consistent with the revisions to the program made by the bill.
bill, and would require the PUC to establish in the program a mechanism to determine whether community renewable energy generators are load-modifying resources, as provided.
Existing law requires the PUC, within 24 months of establishing a community renewable energy program and annually thereafter for the duration of the program, to submit to the Legislature a report on the facilities deployed and customers subscribed, as provided.
This bill would instead require the PUC, within 24 months of the adoption or modification of a customer renewable energy subscription program and annually thereafter for the duration of the program, to submit to the Legislature a report on the community renewable energy generators participating in the program and customers subscribed. The bill would repeal this requirement on January 1, 2034.
Under existing law, a
violation of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime.
Because a violation of a PUC action implementing this bill’s requirements would be 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.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 769.3 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:769.3.
(a) For purposes of this section, all of the following definitions apply:(1) “Affordable housing unit” means a residential dwelling unit that is restricted by deed or other recorded document as affordable housing for persons and families of low or moderate income, as defined in Section 50093 of the Health and Safety Code.
(2) “Community choice aggregator” has the same meaning as defined in Section 331.1.
(3) “Community renewable energy generator” means a facility that uses an eligible renewable energy resource, as defined in Section 399.12, that is colocated with an
energy storage system that provides at least four hours of energy storage at the same capacity as the renewable energy resource.
(4) (A) “Customer renewable energy subscription program” means a program adopted or modified by the commission pursuant to this section for customers to subscribe to receive all or a portion of the benefits and capacity from community renewable energy generators.
(B) Except as provided in subparagraph (C), “customer renewable energy subscription program” does not include the modification of the net energy metering program specified in Sections 2827 and 2827.1 or the Multifamily Affordable Housing Solar Roofs Program established pursuant to Chapter 9.5 (commencing with Section 2870) of Part 2.
(C) “Customer renewable energy subscription program” includes the modification of an alternative designed for growth among residential customers in disadvantaged communities described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 2827.1.
(5) “Eligible customer-generator” has the same meaning as defined in Section 2827.
(6) “Load-serving entity” has the same meaning as defined in Section 380.
(7) “Local reliability area” means a local area identified by the Independent System Operator as transmission constrained and for which prescribed quantities of local resource capacity are needed to be procured by load-serving entities or the Independent System Operator.
(8) “Low-income customer” means any of the following:
(A) An individual or household who qualifies for one or more of the following programs:
(i) The California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) program described in Section 739.1.
(ii) The Family Electric Rate Assistance (FERA) program described in Section 739.12.
(iii) The CalFresh program established pursuant to Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 18900) of Part 6 of Division 9 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(iv) The federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
(Chapter 51 (commencing with Section 2011) of Title 7 of the United States Code).
(v) The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) (42 U.S.C. Sec. 8621).
(B) An individual or household who resides within an underserved community.
(C) An occupant or owner of an affordable housing unit.
(9) “Underserved community” includes each of the following:
(A) A “low-income community” as defined in Section 39713 of the Health and Safety Code.
(B) A community
within an area identified as among the 25 percent most disadvantaged areas in the state according to the California Environmental Protection Agency and based on the most recent California Communities Environmental Health Screening Tool, also known as CalEnviroScreen, that is used to identify disadvantaged communities pursuant to Section 39711 of the Health and Safety Code.
(C) A community located on lands belonging to a California Native American tribe, as defined in Section 21073 of the Public Resources Code.
(b) (1) Ninety (A) Within 180 days following the establishment of a mechanism pursuant to subdivision (f),
identification of attributes by the Energy Commission pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (e), the commission shall, in a new or existing proceeding, adopt or modify a customer renewable energy subscription program, consistent with the requirement requirements of subdivision (c).
(B) As part of adopting or modifying a customer renewable energy subscription program, the commission shall establish a mechanism to determine whether community renewable energy generators are load-modifying resources consistent with the attributes identified by the Energy Commission pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (e).
This mechanism shall do both of the following:
(i) Include a set of attributes to be met, consistent with the attributes identified by the Energy Commission pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (e), in order to classify community renewable energy generators as load-modifying resources.
(ii) Be limited in scope solely to the attributes identified by the Energy Commission pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (e).
(2) Each community choice aggregator and electric service provider, within 180 days of the adoption or modification of the customer renewable energy subscription program, shall notify the commission regarding whether it will participate in the customer renewable energy subscription program. A community choice aggregator or
electric service provider may begin participating in, or end its participation in, the customer renewable energy subscription program at any time by notifying the commission.
(c) The customer renewable energy subscription program shall do all of the following:
(1) Efficiently serve distinct customer groups.
(2) Minimize duplicative offerings.
(3) Promote participation by low-income customers at levels commensurate with the opportunity provided to all eligible customer-generators under paragraph (1) of subdivision (c) of Section 2827.
(4) Meet the requirements of Section 10-115 of the California Building
Standards Code (Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations) and offer an alternative compliance pathway for regulated entities under that section of the California Building Standards Code. For purposes of this paragraph, the commission shall consult with the Energy Commission, and the Energy Commission shall issue a written confirmation if the customer renewable energy subscription program represents a valid alternative compliance pathway.
(5) Ensure at least 51 percent of the customer renewable energy subscription program’s capacity serves low-income customers.
(6) Minimize impacts to nonparticipating customers by prohibiting the customer renewable energy subscription program’s costs from being paid by nonparticipating customers in excess of the avoided costs of distributed
energy resources, if the community renewable energy generator is determined to be a load
modifying load-modifying resource pursuant to subdivision (f).
(b). Financial incentives in excess of the avoided costs for distributed energy resources may be provided by nonratepayer funds.
(7) (A) Except as provided in subparagraph (B), require that all of the following requirements apply to the construction of a community renewable energy generator participating in the customer renewable energy subscription program:
(i) All construction workers employed in the construction of a community renewable energy generator shall be paid at least the general prevailing rate of per diem wages for the type of work and geographic area, as determined by the Director of Industrial Relations pursuant to Sections 1773 and 1773.9 of the Labor Code, except that apprentices registered in programs
approved by the Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards may be paid at least the applicable apprentice prevailing rate.
(ii) The owner of the community renewable energy generator shall ensure that the prevailing wage requirement is included in all contracts for the performance of the work.
(iii) All contractors and subcontractors shall maintain payroll records pursuant to Section 1776 of the Labor Code and make those records available for inspection and copying as provided in that section.
(iv) The requirement on contractors and subcontractors to pay prevailing wages pursuant to this section may be enforced by the Labor Commissioner through the issuance of a civil wage and penalty assessment pursuant to
Section 1741 of the Labor Code, which may be reviewed pursuant to Section 1742 of the Labor Code, within 18 months after the completion of the community renewable energy generator by an underpaid worker through an administrative complaint or civil action, or by a joint labor-management committee through a civil action under Section 1771.2 of the Labor Code. If a civil wage and penalty assessment is issued, the contractor, subcontractor, and surety on a bond issued to secure the payment of wages covered by the assessment shall be liable for liquidated damages pursuant to Section 1742.1 of the Labor Code.
(B) Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 1720) of Part 7 of Division 2 of the Labor Code and subparagraph (A) shall not apply to the construction of a community renewable energy generator pursuant to the customer renewable energy
subscription program if all contractors and subcontractors performing work on the community renewable energy generator are subject to a project labor agreement that requires the payment of prevailing wages and provides for enforcement of that obligation through an arbitration procedure. For purposes of this subparagraph, “project labor agreement” has the same meaning as defined in Section 2500 of the Public Contract Code.
(8) Provide bill credits to subscribers based on the avoided costs of the community renewable energy generators participating in the customer renewable energy subscription, as determined by the commission’s methods for calculating the full set of benefits of eligible customer-generator distributed energy resources, if the community renewable energy generator is determined to be a load modifying
load-modifying resource pursuant to subdivision (f).
(b). The commission may use actual wholesale market prices for the energy supply portion of an avoided cost calculation or credit value.
(9) Prioritize the maximum use of state and federal incentives and accelerate implementation of the customer renewable energy subscription program to ensure that time- or quantity-limited federal incentives can be obtained for the benefit of subscribers. As part of this prioritization, the commission shall ensure that a community renewable energy generator participating in the customer renewable energy subscription program is eligible for an enhanced federal investment tax credit available as a qualified low-income economic benefit project pursuant to subsection (e) of Section 48 of Title 26 of the United States Code.
(10) Require that all community renewable energy generators participating in the customer renewable energy subscription program be sited within the same local reliability area as its subscribers.
(11) Ensure that an evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of the customer renewable energy subscription program uses the commission’s standard methods and practices for evaluating the
cost-effectiveness of distributed energy resources, as outlined in the commission’s Standard Practice Manual.
(12) Ensure, to the extent possible, that the terms and conditions of the customer renewable energy subscription program support viable and feasible community renewable energy generator development and financing. In making its determination, the commission shall include quantitative and qualitative analysis based on community renewable energy generator’s economics.
(13) Require that all community renewable energy generators participating in the customer renewable energy subscription program have no more than five megawatts of generation capacity and no more than five megawatts of energy storage.
(14) Limit total customer renewable energy subscription program capacity to four gigawatts, or end enrollment of new community renewable energy generators in the program after seven years, with the customer renewable energy subscription program closing to new community renewable energy generators when either limit is first reached.
(15) (A) Require the customer renewable energy subscription program administrator to report quarterly on customer renewable energy subscription program operations and outcomes, on a generator-by-generator basis. The commission shall post publicly the reported information on the commission’s internet website for all distributed generation projects.
(B) The quarterly reports shall include the megawatthours of participant
usage, the number of community renewable energy generators approved and completed, the location of those generators, subscriber information, job training, local hiring, community renewable energy generator status and capacity, the percent of low-income participation, and any other information as determined by the commission.
(C)The information described in this paragraph shall be collected and reported during the first two years of the customer renewable energy subscription program.
(16) Require owners of operational community renewable energy generators to report all of the
following to the commission and the Energy Commission on a quarterly basis:
(A) Hourly megawatt hours generated.
(B) Charging and discharging information.
(C) Hourly megawatt hours of participant usage.
(D) Community renewable energy generator status.
(E) Generating capacity of each community renewable energy generator component.
(F) Other information as determined by the commission or Energy Commission.
(d) (1) Beginning two years from the time when the first community renewable energy generator is
operational under the customer renewable energy subscription program adopted or modified under this section, the commission shall evaluate the customer renewable energy subscription program to ensure consistency with the requirements of subdivision (c).
(2) If the commission determines the customer renewable energy subscription program does not meet all of the requirements of subdivision (c), the commission shall modify the customer renewable energy subscription program so that it meets the requirements of subdivision (c) or prohibit new enrollment of community renewable energy generators in the customer renewable energy subscription program.
(3) The commission may terminate the customer renewable energy subscription program before the limits described in paragraph (14) of
subdivision (c) are reached.
(e) (1) On or before December 1, 2027, the The Energy Commission shall
shall, in a public process that includes opportunity for public comment,
evaluate the load modifying load-modifying potential of community renewable energy generators and identify attributes that the Energy Commission would expect a community renewable energy generator to meet in order to be classified as a load modifying resource. generators. The evaluation shall include, but not be limited to, an evaluation of whether the location of the subscribers, in relation to the location of the community renewable energy generator, has a material bearing on the facility’s ability to act as a load-modifying resource.
(2) The If the evaluation in paragraph (1) finds that community renewable energy generators have load-modifying potential, the Energy Commission shall ensure, as part of its identification of attributes, that the community renewable energy generator meets at least both of the following criteria: shall, on or before December 1, 2027, in a public process with the opportunity for public comment, identify attributes that the Energy Commission would expect a community renewable energy generator to meet in order to be classified by the commission as a load-modifying
resource pursuant to this section. The attributes shall include at least both of the following criteria:
(A) The community renewable energy generator consistently generates dispatches energy at times and in a manner that predictably and verifiably reshapes or reduces the net load curve.
(B) The community renewable energy generator
generators could credibly reduce the energy
procurement obligations of the load-serving entity whose territory hosts the community renewable energy generator.
(3) The Energy Commission may recommend determine a prioritization, threshold, or hierarchy of attributes that would be necessary to be met in order to classify a community renewable energy generator as a load modifying load-modifying resource.
(f)Ninety days following the completion of the evaluation by the Energy Commission pursuant to subdivision (e), the commission shall, in an existing or new proceeding, establish a mechanism to determine whether community renewable energy generators are load modifying resources consistent with the attributes identified by the Energy Commission. In establishing the mechanism, the commission shall do both of the following:
(1)Adopt a prioritization, threshold, or hierarchy of attributes that would be necessary to be met in order to classify a community renewable energy generator as a load modifying resource.
(2)Limit the scope of the mechanism solely to the attributes identified by the Energy Commission pursuant to subdivision (e).
SEC. 2.
Section 913.15 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:913.15.
(a) Within 24 months of the adoption or modification of the customer renewable energy subscription program pursuant to Section 769.3, and annually thereafter for the duration of the customer renewable energy subscription program, the commission shall submit a report to the Legislature on the community renewable energy generators participating in the customer renewable energy subscription program and customers subscribed, pursuant to that program, including an analysis of low-income customer participation.(b) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2034, and as of that date is repealed.
