Bill Text: CA SB656 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Electrical restructuring: natural gas restructuring: information practices.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2013-10-05 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 604, Statutes of 2013. [SB656 Detail]

Download: California-2013-SB656-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: SB 656	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 22, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Wright

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2013

   An act to amend Section 392.1 of the Public Utilities Code,
relating to electricity.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 656, as amended, Wright. Electrical restructuring: information
practices. 
   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has broad
regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical
corporations, as defined. Existing law restructuring the electrical
industry requires the commission to authorize and facilitate direct
transactions between electricity suppliers and end-use customers
subject to the implementation of a nonbypassable charge, as
specified. Electrical restructuring requires electric service
providers, which are entities that offer electrical service to
customers within the service territory of an electrical corporation
but which are not electrical corporations, to register with the
commission and to disclose specified information, among other things
and authorizes the commission to enforce specific statutes with
respect to electric service providers, but does not grant the
commission jurisdiction to regulate electric service providers other
than as specified.  
   Existing law restructuring the electrical industry requires the
commission to compile and regularly update information regarding
registered electric service providers, including the names and
contact numbers of providers, information to assist consumers in
making service choices, the number of customer complaints against
specific providers in relation to the number of customers served by
those providers, and the disposition of those complaints. In this
regard, existing law requires the commission to direct the Office,
now Division, of Ratepayer Advocates to collect and analyze this
information for purposes of preparing easily understandable
informational guides or other tools to help residential and small
commercial customers understand how to evaluate competing electric
service options.  
   This bill would require the commission to compile and to update,
every 6 months, the above-described information regarding registered
electric service providers. The bill would delete the requirement
that the commission direct the Office of Ratepayer Advocates to
collect and analyze the information for purposes of making available
informational guides or other tools.  
   Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to compile
and regularly update specific consumer information regarding
electrical service.  
   This bill would, instead, specifically require the commission to
compile and update that information every 6 months. 
   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.  Section 392.1 of the Public Utilities Code is amended
to read:
   392.1.  (a) The commission shall compile and update every six
months all of the following information: names and contact numbers of
registered providers, information to assist consumers in making
service choices, and the number of customer complaints against
specific providers in relation to the number of customers served by
those providers and the disposition of those complaints. To
facilitate this function, registered entities shall file with the
commission information describing the terms and conditions of any
standard service plan made available to residential and small
commercial customers. The commission shall adopt a standard format
for this filing. The commission shall maintain and make generally
available a list of entities offering electrical services operating
in California. This list shall include all registered providers and
those providers not required to be registered that request the
commission to be included in the list. The commission, upon request,
shall make this information available at no charge. Notwithstanding
any other provision of law, public agencies that are registered
entities shall be required to disclose their terms and conditions of
service contracts only to the same extent that other registered
entities would be required to disclose the same or similar service
contracts.
   (b) The commission shall issue public alerts about companies
attempting to provide electric service in the state in an
unauthorized or fraudulent manner as defined in subdivision (b) of
Section 394.25. 
   (c) The commission shall direct the Office of Ratepayer Advocates
to collect and analyze information provided pursuant to subdivision
(a) for purposes of preparing easily understandable informational
guides or other tools to help residential and small commercial
customers understand how to evaluate competing electric service
options. In implementing these provisions, the commission shall
direct the Office of Ratepayer Advocates to pay special attention to
ensuring that customers, especially those with
limited-English-speaking ability or other disadvantages when dealing
with marketers, receive correct, reliable, and easily understood
information to help them make informed choices. The Office of
Ratepayer Advocates shall not make specific recommendations or rank
the relative attractiveness of specific service offerings of
registered providers of electric services.