Bill Text: CA SB699 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

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

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Bill Title: Public utilities: electrical corporations.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2014-09-25 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 550, Statutes of 2014. [SB699 Detail]

Download: California-2013-SB699-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: SB 699	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 12, 2014
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 7, 2013
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 19, 2013
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MAY 8, 2013
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 4, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Hill

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2013

    An act to add Sections 353.17 and 586 to the Public
Utilities Code, relating to electricity.   An act to add
Sections 761.4 and 761.6 to the Public Utilities Code, relating to
public utilities   . 



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 699, as amended, Hill.  Electricity: electrical
corporations: clean distributed energy resources.  
Public utilities: electrical and gas corporations.  
   The Public Utilities Act requires the Public Utilities Commission
to implement and enforce standards for the maintenance and operation
of facilities for the generation of electricity owned by an
electrical corporation or located in the state to ensure their
reliable operation.  
   This bill would require an electrical corporation, by July 1,
2015, to submit to the commission a security plan to enhance the
robustness and resilience of its electrical distribution facilities.
The bill would require the commission, in consultation with the
electrical corporation and applicable local, state, and federal
agencies to determine the appropriate level of public access to the
security plan. The bill would require the commission to consider the
cost of constructing distribution infrastructure necessary to
implement the security plan as a part of the next general rate case
for the electrical corporation.  
   This bill would require an electrical or gas corporation to
develop an official memorandum of understanding with state and local
law enforcement officials describing each party's responsibilities
before, during, and immediately following the deliberate destruction
of that corporation's equipment that leads to a disruption of
electric or gas service. The bill would require an electrical or gas
corporation, after consultation with, and approval from, the
Department of the California Highway Patrol, to train and designate
relevant employees as first responders to manage infrastructure
hazards and restore essential electric or gas service in the event of
an accident, natural disaster, or security breach.  
   Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any
order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the
commission is a crime.  
   Because the provisions of this bill are within the act, a
violation of these provisions would impose a state-mandated local
program by creating a new crime.  
   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.  
   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations,
as defined. The Public Utilities Act requires each public utility to
furnish reports to the commission at the time and in the form as the
commission may require and in those reports the utility is required
to specifically answer all questions propounded by the commission.
The act authorizes the commission to require any public utility to
file periodic reports concerning any matter about which the
commission is authorized by any law to inquire or to keep itself
informed, or which it is required to enforce. The act requires each
electrical corporation, as a part of its distribution planning
process, to consider specified nonutility owned distributed energy
resources as an alternative to investments in its distribution system
to ensure reliable electric services at the lowest possible costs.
 
   This bill would require an electrical corporation to annually
report to the commission capital expenditures included in the
distribution category of the electrical corporation's ratebase for
each project. The bill would require an electrical corporation to
report all interconnection costs charged to the customer for each
interconnection agreement to interconnect distributed energy
resources. The bill would require the Public Utilities Commission, in
consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission, to direct an electrical corporation to
consider and procure clean distributed energy resources, as defined,
to meet distribution grid needs as a part of the electrical
corporation's transmission and distribution grid infrastructure
investments and to consider and procure clean distributed energy
resources to meet the electrical corporation's needs as part of any
procurement and planning process at the commission, the State Energy
Resources Conservation and Development Commission, or the Independent
System Operator.  
   Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any
order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the
Public Utilities Commission is a crime.  
   Because the provisions of this bill are within the act and require
action by the Public Utilities Commission to implement its
requirements, a violation of these provisions would impose a
state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. 

   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. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    Section 761.4 is added to the 
 Public Utilities Code   , to read:  
   761.4.  (a) On or before July 1, 2015, an electrical corporation
shall submit to the commission a security plan to enhance the
robustness and resilience of its electrical distribution facilities
that identifies improvements to achieve all of the following:
   (1) Make the electric power delivery system less vulnerable to
security threats, whether physical, cyber, or personnel-related,
which may include the hardening of key substations and control
centers, increased physical surveillance, and increased air gapping
of electronic communication and control systems.
   (2) Reduce the consequence of successful security breaches, which
may include more robust substation and grid design, infrastructure
modernization, and selective demandside management.
   (3) Improve the speed of electric power restoration in the event
of a successful security breach, which may include enhanced training
of relevant personnel, improved blackstart capability, and
acquisition of convenient locations for critical spare parts.
   (4) Make critical services less vulnerable while the delivery of
conventional electric power has been disrupted, which may include the
avoidance of cross dependencies and the collocation of generation or
storage with critical loads such as pumps for water supply.
   (b) In developing the security plan, an electrical corporation
shall consider improvements that can be incorporated cost-effectively
and consistently with reductions or increases in local generation
capacity needs, safety and reliability needs, planned efforts to
promote distributed resources, demandside management, smart grid, and
other security efforts undertaken at the regional and national
level.
   (c) The commission, in consultation with the electrical
corporation and applicable local, state, and federal agencies, shall
determine an appropriate level of public access to the security plan
submitted by the electrical corporation that is consistent with
Section 583 and existing commission policies. A determination that
the commission makes regarding public access to security plans shall
not create barriers to essential information sharing among local,
state, and federal law enforcement and emergency response agencies.
The commission shall make this determination before accepting the
security plan from an electrical corporation.
   (d) The commission shall review each security plan and approve, or
modify and approve, the plan for that electrical corporation.
   (e) The commission shall consider the costs of constructing
distribution infrastructure necessary to implement the security plan
as a part of the next general rate case for the electrical
corporation unless the commission determines otherwise. The
commission may adopt criteria, benchmarks, and accountability
mechanisms to evaluate the success of any investment authorized
pursuant to the security plan. 
   SEC. 2.    Section 761.6 is added to the  
Public Utilities Code   , to read:  
   761.6.  (a) An electrical or gas corporation shall develop an
official memorandum of understanding with state and local law
enforcement officials that describes each party's responsibilities
before, during, and immediately following the deliberate destruction
of the electrical or gas corporation's equipment that leads to a
disruption of electric or gas service. The memorandum of
understanding shall provide a clear understanding of who is in charge
and explain how decisions will be reached in dealing with potential
tensions between crime scene investigation and timely restoration of
service, as well as with unanticipated contingencies.
   (b) An electrical or gas corporation, after consultation with, and
approval from, the Department of the California Highway Patrol,
shall train and designate relevant employees as first responders to
manage infrastructure hazards and restore essential electric and gas
service in the event of an accident, natural disaster, or security
breach. The Department of the California Highway Patrol may impose
any requirements necessary to ensure that the designation of relevant
electrical or gas corporation employees promotes public health,
safety, and security. 
   SEC. 3.    No reimbursement is required by this act
pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local
agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a
new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or
changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of
Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a
crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution.  
       
  SECTION 1.   The Legislature finds and declares
all of the following:
   (a) Clean distributed energy resources, including distributed
generation, can reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, reduce criteria
air pollution, reduce water consumption, increase grid reliability,
localize power generation, and decrease reliance on large, polluting
generation facilities.
   (b) The Legislature has established programs and policies to
support the commercialization and growth of clean distributed
generation technologies, including the California Solar Initiative,
combined heat and power feed-in tariffs pursuant to the Waste Heat
and Carbon Emissions Reduction Act, the self-generation incentive
program, and the renewable market adjusting tariff.
   (c) A central impediment to increased proliferation of distributed
energy resources is a lack of transparency in current utility
infrastructure investments in the distribution grid and in the costs
and process associated with interconnection to the utility grid,
costs that are ultimately borne by ratepayers.
   (d) Transparency on what distribution grid investments have been
made will allow policymakers and stakeholders to better understand
and evaluate what types of clean distributed energy resources may be
more cost effective and better serve the grid and ratepayers for
future investments.  
  SEC. 2.    Section 353.17 is added to the Public
Utilities Code, to read:
   353.17.  (a) The commission, in consultation with the Energy
Commission, shall do all of the following:
   (1) Direct each electrical corporation to consider and procure
clean distributed energy resources to meet distribution grid needs as
a part of the electrical corporation's transmission and distribution
grid infrastructure investments.
   (2) Direct each electrical corporation to consider and procure
clean distributed energy resources to meet the electrical corporation'
s needs as part of any procurement and planning process at the
commission, the Energy Commission, or the Independent System
Operator.
   (b) For the purposes of this section, "clean distributed energy
resources" means an electric generation technology that meets both of
the following requirements:
   (1) Reduces greenhouse gas emissions as determined by the State
Air Resources Board greenhouse gas emissions factor pursuant to the
California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division 25.5
(commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code).
   (2) Complies with emission standards and guidance adopted by the
State Air Resources Board pursuant to Sections 41514.9 and 41514.10
of the Health and Safety Code.
   (3) Is interconnected to the electrical corporation's distribution
grid.  
  SEC. 3.    Section 586 is added to the Public
Utilities Code, to read:
   586.  (a) For capital expenditures included in the distribution
category of the electrical corporation's ratebase, the electrical
corporation shall annually report expenditures for each project,
including all of the following:
   (1) The total dollar amount.
   (2) The type of equipment installed.
   (3) The purpose of the expenditure.
   (b) The report shall also include the rationale for the deployment
of distributed energy resources, both existing and projected,
factored into its distribution planning assumptions and expenditures.
This shall include both a summary of the methodologies used to track
and anticipate distributed energy system deployments and how that
information is then used for distribution planning.
   (c) For each interconnection agreement executed with customers
that interconnect distributed energy resources, the electrical
corporation shall report all interconnection costs charged to the
customer.  
  SEC. 4.    No reimbursement is required by this
act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local
agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a
new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or
changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of
Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a
crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution.