Bill Text: CA AB2450 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Electric Program Investment Charge: Clean Vehicle Rebate
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-05-25 - In committee: Set, second hearing. Held under submission. [AB2450 Detail]
Download: California-2011-AB2450-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2450 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 29, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Hall
FEBRUARY 24, 2012
An act to amend Section 739.1 of add
Section 399.1 to the Public Utilities Code, relating to
electricity vehicles .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2450, as amended, Hall. Electrical rates.
Electric Program Investment Charge: Clean Vehicle Rebate Project
program.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUT)
has regulatory authority over public utilities, including
electrical corporations, as defined. 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. Existing law requires the commission to designate a
baseline quantity of electricity and gas necessary to supply a
significant portion of the reasonable energy needs of the average
residential customer, and requires that electrical and gas
corporations file rates and charges, to be approved by the
commission, providing baseline rates. Existing law requires the
commission, in establishing the baseline rates, to avoid excessive
rate increases for residential customers. Existing law requires the
commission to establish a program of assistance to specified
low-income electric and gas customers, referred to as the California
Alternate Rates for Energy or CARE program. The
Reliable Electric Service Investments Act required the PUC to require
the state's 3 largest electrical corporations, until January 1,
2012, to identify a separate electrical rate component, commonly
referred to as the "public goods charge," to collect specified
amounts to fund energy efficiency, renewable energy, and research,
development, and demo nstration programs that enhance
system reliability and provide in-state benefits. An existing
decision of the PUC institutes an Electric Program Investment Charge
(EPIC), subject to refund, to fund renewable energy and research,
development, and demonstration programs.
This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change
to that provision establish the Clean Vehicle Rebate
Project Fund in the State Treasury and require the PUC to allocate
not less than $15,000,000 from the moneys collected pursuant to the
EPIC to the fund. The bill would authorize the State Air Resources
Board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to use moneys in the
fund for distribution as rebates pursuant to the program criteria
established pursuant to the state board's Clean Vehicle Rebate
Project program .
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 399.1 is added to the
Public Utilities Code , to read:
399.1. (a) The Clean Vehicle Rebate Project Fund is hereby
established in the State Treasury. Moneys in the account shall be
available to the State Air Resources Board, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, for purposes of providing rebates pursuant to the state
board's Clean Vehicle Rebate Project program.
(b) Out of the moneys the commission otherwise orders to be
collected pursuant to Decision 11-12-035 (Phase 1 Decision
Establishing Interim Research, Development and Demonstration, and
Renewables Programs Funding Levels, dated December 15, 2011, in
Rulemaking 11-10-003), the commission shall allocate not less than
fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000) to the Clean Vehicle Rebate
Project Fund. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, moneys in the
fund may be used by the state board for the Clean Vehicle Rebate
Project program, for distribution as rebates pursuant to the program
criteria established by the state board.
(c) Funding provided pursuant to this section shall supplement,
and not supplant, the funding of the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project
from all other sources, as described in the AB 118 Air Quality
Improvement Program Funding Plan for Fiscal Year 2011-12, adopted by
the State Air Resources Board on July 21, 2011.
(d) Nothing in this section provides the commission with any
authority to order the collection of the moneys consistent with
Decision 11-12-035 or to increase the amount collected through the
Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC).
SECTION 1. Section 739.1 of the Public
Utilities Code is amended to read:
739.1. (a) As used in this section, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(1) "Baseline quantity" has the same meaning as defined in Section
739.
(2) "California Solar Initiative" means the program providing
ratepayer funded incentives for eligible solar energy systems adopted
by the commission in Decision 05-12-044 and Decision 06-01-024, as
modified by Article 1 (commencing with Section 2851) of Chapter 9 of
Part 2 and Chapter 8.8 (commencing with Section 25780) of Division 15
of the Public Resources Code.
(3) "CalWORKs program" means the program established pursuant to
the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids Act
(Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9 of
the Welfare and Institutions Code).
(4) "Public goods charge" means the nonbypassable separate rate
component imposed pursuant to Article 7 (commencing with Section 381)
of Chapter 2.3 and the nonbypassable system benefits charge imposed
pursuant to the Reliable Electric Service Investments Act (Article 15
(commencing with Section 399) of Chapter 2.3).
(b) (1) The commission shall establish a program of assistance to
low-income electric and gas customers with annual household incomes
that are no greater than 200 percent of the federal poverty guideline
levels, the cost of which shall not be borne solely by any single
class of customer. The program shall be referred to as the California
Alternate Rates for Energy or CARE program. The commission shall
ensure that the level of discount for low-income electric and gas
customers correctly reflects the level of need.
(2) The commission may, subject to the limitation in paragraph
(4), increase the rates in effect for CARE program participants for
electricity usage up to 130 percent of baseline quantities by the
annual percentage increase in benefits under the CalWORKs program as
authorized by the Legislature for the fiscal year in which the rate
increase would take effect, but not to exceed 3 percent per year.
(3) Beginning January 1, 2019, the commission may, subject to the
limitation in paragraph (4), establish rates for CARE program
participants pursuant to this section and Sections 739 and 739.9,
subject to both of the following:
(A) The requirements of subdivision (b) of Section 382 that the
commission ensure that low-income ratepayers are not jeopardized or
overburdened by monthly energy expenditures.
(B) The requirement that the level of the discount for low-income
electricity and gas ratepayers correctly reflects the level of need
as determined by the needs assessment conducted pursuant to
subdivision (d) of Section 382.
(4) Tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3 CARE rates shall not exceed 80
percent of the corresponding tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3 rates charged
to residential customers not participating in the CARE program,
excluding any Department of Water Resources bond charge imposed
pursuant to Division 27 (commencing with Section 80000) of the Water
Code, the CARE surcharge portion of the public goods charge, any
charge imposed pursuant to the California Solar Initiative, and any
charge imposed to fund any other program that exempts CARE
participants from paying the charge.
(5) Rates charged to CARE program participants shall not have more
than three tiers. An electrical corporation that does not have a
tier 3 CARE rate may introduce a tier 3 CARE rate that, in order to
moderate the impact on program participants whose usage exceeds 130
percent of baseline quantities, shall be phased in to 80 percent of
the corresponding rates charged to residential customers not
participating in the CARE program, excluding any Department of Water
Resources bond charge imposed pursuant to Division 27 (commencing
with Section 80000) of the Water Code, the CARE surcharge portion of
the public goods charge, any charge imposed pursuant to the
California Solar Initiative, and any other charge imposed to fund a
program that exempts CARE participants from paying the charge. For an
electrical corporation that does not have a tier 3 CARE rate that
introduces a tier 3 CARE rate, the initial rate shall be no more than
150 percent of the CARE baseline rate. Any additional revenues
collected by an electrical corporation resulting from the adoption of
a tier 3 CARE rate shall, until the utility's next periodic general
rate case review of cost allocation and rate design, be credited to
reduce rates of residential ratepayers not participating in the CARE
program with usage above 130 percent of baseline quantities.
(c) The commission shall work with the public utility electrical
and gas corporations to establish penetration goals. The commission
shall authorize recovery of all administrative costs associated with
the implementation of the CARE program that the commission determines
to be reasonable, through a balancing account mechanism.
Administrative costs shall include, but are not limited to, outreach,
marketing, regulatory compliance, certification and verification,
billing, measurement and evaluation, and capital improvements and
upgrades to communications and processing equipment.
(d) The commission shall examine methods to improve CARE
enrollment and participation. This examination shall include, but
need not be limited to, comparing information from CARE and the
Universal Lifeline Telephone Service (ULTS) to determine the most
effective means of utilizing that information to increase CARE
enrollment, automatic enrollment of ULTS customers who are eligible
for the CARE program, customer privacy issues, and alternative
mechanisms for outreach to potential enrollees. The commission shall
ensure that a customer consents prior to enrollment. The commission
shall consult with interested parties, including ULTS providers, to
develop the best methods of informing ULTS customers about other
available low-income programs, as well as the best mechanism for
telephone providers to recover reasonable costs incurred pursuant to
this section.
(e) (1) The commission shall improve the CARE application process
by cooperating with other entities and representatives of California
government, including the California Health and Human Services Agency
and the Secretary of California Health and Human Services, to ensure
that all gas and electric customers eligible for public assistance
programs in the state that reside within the service territory of an
electrical corporation or gas corporation, are enrolled in the CARE
program. To the extent practicable, the commission shall develop a
CARE application process using the existing ULTS application process
as a model. The commission shall work with public utility electrical
and gas corporations and the Low-Income Oversight Board established
in Section 382.1 to meet the low-income objectives in this section.
(2) The commission shall ensure that an electrical corporation or
gas corporation with a commission-approved program to provide
discounts based upon economic need in addition to the CARE program,
including a Family Electric Rate Assistance program, utilize a single
application form, to enable an applicant to alternatively apply for
any assistance program for which the applicant may be eligible. It is
the intent of the Legislature to allow applicants under one program,
that may not be eligible under that program, but that may be
eligible under an alternative assistance program based upon economic
need, to complete a single application for any commission-approved
assistance program offered by the public utility.
(f) The commission's program of assistance to low-income electric
and gas customers shall, as soon as practicable, include nonprofit
group living facilities specified by the commission, if the
commission finds that the residents in these facilities substantially
meet the commission's low-income eligibility requirements and there
is a feasible process for certifying that the assistance shall be
used for the direct benefit, such as improved quality of care or
improved food service, of the low-income residents in the facilities.
The commission shall authorize utilities to offer discounts to
eligible facilities licensed or permitted by appropriate state or
local agencies, and to facilities, including women's shelters,
hospices, and homeless shelters, that may not have a license or
permit but provide other proof satisfactory to the utility that they
are eligible to participate in the program.
(g) It is the intent of the Legislature that the commission ensure
CARE program participants are afforded the lowest possible electric
and gas rates and, to the extent possible, are exempt from additional
surcharges attributable to the energy crisis of 2000-01.
