Bill Text: CA AB2316 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Public Utilities Commission: customer renewable energy subscription programs and the community renewable energy program.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2022-09-16 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 350, Statutes of 2022. [AB2316 Detail]
Download: California-2021-AB2316-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Public Utilities Commission: customer renewable energy subscription programs and the community renewable energy program.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2022-09-16 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 350, Statutes of 2022. [AB2316 Detail]
Download: California-2021-AB2316-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 2316
| Introduced by Assembly Member Ward |
February 16, 2022 |
An act to add Section 2827.2 to the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2316, as introduced, Ward.
Community Renewable Energy Program.
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. For a large electrical corporation, as defined, existing law requires the commission to have developed a 2nd standard contract or tariff 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 to ensure that the 2nd standard contract or tariff made available to eligible customer-generators by large electrical corporations ensures that customer-sited renewable distributed generation continues to grow sustainably. Existing law requires the commission, in developing this standard contract or tariff, to include specific alternatives designed for growth among residential customers in disadvantaged communities.
This bill would require the commission, on or before July 1, 2023, to establish the Community Renewable Energy Program to authorize a distribution customer of a large electrical corporation to subscribe to, and receive bill credits
resulting from, the electricity generated by a community renewable energy facility, as defined, interconnected within the service territory of that large electrical corporation, as specified. The bill would require the commission to require each large electrical corporation to file any tariffs, agreements, or forms necessary for implementation of the program on or before October 1, 2023. The bill would require the commission, in administering the program, to, among other things, ensure the creation and financing of viable community renewable energy facilities, establish a community renewable energy program tariff, and establish financial incentives for community renewable energy facilities that have low-income customer subscribers, subscribers in disadvantaged communities, or low-income service organization subscribers, as specified.
Under existing law, a violation of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
Because a violation of a commission 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.
(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to create a community renewable energy program that ensures those Californians unable to host a rooftop solar system realize the benefits of distributed generation through a cost-effective program that provides benefits to all ratepayers.(b) The Legislature further intends to facilitate community renewable energy options that can help the state cost effectively meet the energy efficiency mandates in the California Building Standards Code.
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) “Applicable bill credit rate” means the dollar-per-kilowatt-hour rate, as determined by the commission, used to calculate a subscriber’s bill credit.
(2) “Benefiting account” means an electrical account that satisfies both of the following:
(A) It is located in the service territory of the same large electrical corporation as the generator account.
(B) It is an individually metered account of a distribution customer of a large electrical corporation.
(3) “Bill credit” means the monetary value of the electricity generated by the community renewable energy facility allocated to a subscriber to offset that subscriber’s electricity bill.
(4) (A) “Community renewable energy facility” means a facility that meets all of the following requirements:
(i) Is located in the service territory of a large electrical corporation.
(ii) Is connected to the electrical distribution grid serving the state.
(iii) Has at least three subscribers.
(iv) Has a nameplate capacity that does not exceed five megawatts, rated in alternating current.
(v) Has at least 50 percent of its capacity subscribed to by subscribers with subscriptions of 25 kilowatts or less.
(vi) Is located on a single parcel, or contiguous parcels, of land.
(vii) Is not colocated with another community renewable energy facility. Colocation shall be determined based on whether the facilities are within one mile of each other, as measured from the point of interconnection of one facility to the point of interconnection for the other facility.
(viii) Uses a renewable energy technology described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 25741 of the Public Resources Code.
(ix) Is located behind the meter of a generator account.
(x) Enables a subscriber to receive a bill credit for the electricity generated by the facility in proportion to the size of the subscriber’s subscription.
(B) A community renewable energy facility may include energy storage.
(C) A community renewable energy facility may serve onsite load behind the meter of the generating account beyond that required by the community renewable energy facility.
(5) “Community Renewable Energy Program” or “program” means the program established pursuant to subdivision (b).
(6) “Generator account” means the customer account where the community renewable energy facility is located behind a single meter and interconnected to the large electrical corporation’s
distribution system.
(7) “Large electrical corporation” has the same meaning as defined in Section 2827.
(8) “Load-serving entity” has the same meaning as defined in Section 380.
(9) “Low-income customer” means either 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 Heating Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) (42 U.S.C. Sec. 8621).
(vi) The federal Head Start Program (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9801 et seq.).
(B) An individual or household who resides within a census tract among the 25 percent most disadvantaged communities in California.
(10) “Low-income service organization” means an organization or nonprofit whose primary function is to provide services or assistance to low-income customers.
(11) “Net crediting” means a process whereby a large electrical corporation or load-serving entity applies the bill credit less the amount of the subscriber’s subscription on the subscriber’s electricity bill and disburses the balance to the subscriber organization.
(12) “Renewable energy credit” has the same meaning as defined in Section 399.12.
(13) “Subscriber” means a distribution customer of a large electrical corporation who owns one or more subscriptions of a community renewable energy facility interconnected with that large electrical corporation associated with one or more benefiting accounts. A subscriber shall be located in the same large electrical corporation service territory where the community renewable energy facility is located.
(14) “Subscriber organization” means a for-profit or nonprofit entity that owns or operates one or more community renewable energy facilities. A subscriber organization shall not be considered an electrical corporation, load-serving entity, or otherwise a utility solely as a result of its ownership or operation of a community renewable energy facility.
(15) “Subscription” means a contract between a subscriber and the owner or operator of a community renewable energy facility. A subscription shall be sized so that the estimated bill credits do not exceed the subscriber’s average annual bill for the customer account to which the subscription is attributed.
(b) (1) On or before July 1, 2023, the commission shall establish the Community Renewable Energy Program to authorize a distribution customer of a large electrical corporation to subscribe to, and
receive bill credits resulting from, the electricity generated by a community renewable energy facility interconnected within the service territory of that large electrical corporation.
(2) The commission shall require each large electrical corporation to file any tariffs, agreements, or forms necessary for implementation of the program on or before October 1, 2023.
(c) In administering the program, the commission shall do all of the following:
(1) Ensure the creation and financing of viable community renewable energy facilities.
(2) Establish a community renewable energy program tariff that does all of the following:
(A) Creates a bill credit rate that is differentiated based on the time
of generation. This time-differentiated bill credit rate shall be based on the avoided costs of the facility, including, but not limited to, wholesale energy values plus all expected benefits to a facility over the 25-year term of the tariff, including, but not limited to, avoided generation capacity costs, avoided transmission and distribution costs, and avoided greenhouse gas costs. Avoided costs associated with nonwholesale energy values shall be based on the commission’s avoided cost calculator, or its successor, and held fixed for not less than 25 years upon a facility’s execution of an interconnection agreement.
(B) Provides bill credits to a community renewable energy facility’s subscribers for not less than 25 years from the date the community renewable energy facility is first interconnected
(C) Ensures that renewable energy credits from generation by the community
renewable energy facility are retired on behalf of the subscribers.
(3) (A) Require each large electrical corporation to apply bill credits to subscriber bills within one billing cycle following the cycle during which the electricity was generated by the community renewable energy facility.
(B) Require each large electrical corporation to provide a bill credit on a subscriber’s subsequent monthly electricity bill for the proportional output of a community renewable energy facility attributable to that subscriber. The value of the bill credit for the subscriber shall be calculated by multiplying the subscriber’s portion of the kilowatt-hour electricity production from the community renewable energy facility by the applicable bill credit rate for the subscriber. Any amount of the bill credit that exceeds the subscriber’s monthly bill shall be carried over and
applied to the next month’s bill in perpetuity.
(4) Authorize all customers of load-serving entities to participate in the program and ensure participation opportunities for all customer classes.
(5) Prohibit a large electrical corporation from removing a customer from their otherwise applicable tariff and customer class in order to participate in a community renewable energy facility.
(6) Establish any necessary protocols for large electrical corporations and subscriber organizations to communicate the necessary information for calculating and providing bill credits to subscribers in a timely fashion, including both of the following reports:
(A) Monthly reports to the large electrical corporation whereby each subscriber organization shall, in a
standardized electronic format, provide to the large electrical corporation a subscriber list indicating the percentage of generation attributable to each subscriber to a community renewable energy facility in accordance with the subscriber’s portion of the electricity generated by the community renewable energy facility. Subscriber lists may be updated monthly to reflect unsubscribed customers and to add new subscribers.
(B) Monthly reports, in a standardized electronic format, from the large electrical corporation to the subscriber organization that indicates the total value of bill credits generated by the community renewable energy facility in the prior month and the amount of the bill credit applied to each subscriber.
(7) Authorize a subscriber organization to accumulate bill credits on the generator account in the event that some or all of the electricity generated by a
community renewable energy facility is not allocated to subscribers in a given month. On an annual basis, the subscriber organization shall furnish to the large electrical corporation allocation instructions for distributing excess bill credits to subscribers. Bill credits may be held on the generator account for a maximum of two years, after which they will be compensated at the net surplus compensation rate.
(8) Authorize the transfer and porting of subscriptions, including authorizing a subscriber to retain a subscription to a community renewable energy facility if the subscriber moves within the same large electrical corporation’s service territory.
(9) Authorize community renewable energy facilities to interconnect through Electric Rule 21, or any successor interconnection rule.
(10) Provide for consumer
protection in accordance with existing laws, including all of the following:
(A) Require all subscriber organizations to register with the commission before subscribing residential customers.
(B) Require uniform disclosures to be made to subscribers.
(C) Prohibit termination or exit fees from being assessed on low-income customers who end their subscriptions.
(D) Prohibit subscriber organizations from collecting credit scores from low-income customers.
(11) Establish financial incentives for community renewable energy facilities that have low-income customer subscribers, subscribers in disadvantaged communities, or low-income service organization subscribers.
(12) Require large electrical corporations to establish net crediting available to subscriber organizations and their subscribers at a cost not to exceed the equivalent of 1 percent of the value of the bill credit.
(13) Authorize each large electrical corporation to recover its reasonable costs of administering the program.
(14) Ensure a community renewable energy facility has received any nonministerial permits and a signed interconnection agreement before securing capacity for purposes of the program.
(15) Include a program implementation schedule.
