BILL ANALYSIS
AB 162
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 162 (Ruskin)
As Amended June 9, 2009
Majority vote
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|ASSEMBLY: |79-0 |(May 4, 2009) |SENATE: |39-0 |(August 24, |
| | | | | |2009) |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Original Committee Reference: U. & C.
SUMMARY : Changes and consolidates certain reporting
requirements for publicly owned utilities (POUs). Specifically,
this bill :
1)Requires that every California retail seller disclose its
electricity sources to end-use customers annually.
2)Defines the term "unspecified sources of power" as electricity
that is not traceable to a specific generation source.
3)Provides that compliance with power source disclosure
reporting requirements by a POU constitutes compliance with
reporting requirements to the California Energy Commission
(CEC) for the renewable portfolio standard (RPS).
The Senate amendments are technical, clarifying amendments.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires every California retail seller to disclose its
electricity sources to end-use customers at least quarterly
and to CEC annually.
2)Exempts POUs from the statutory requirements of RPS and
instead requires that each governing body of a POU to
implement and enforce their own renewable portfolio standard
program.
3)Requires each POU to report the resource mix used to serve its
customers by fuel type to its customers and to CEC on an
annual basis for the purposes of an RPS update.
4)Defines "net system power" as the mix of electricity fuel
AB 162
Page 2
source types consumed in California that are not disclosed as
specific purchases.
5)Defines "specific purchases" as electricity transactions which
are traceable to particular generation sources.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was substantially similar
to the version passed by the Senate.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : According to the author's office, the purpose of
this bill is to streamline the reporting process for POUs.
Since 2005, public power utilities have been the target of a
proliferation of data reports required by CEC. As new reporting
requirements are added, they often do not take into account
previous data-disclosure requirements and schedules, creating an
unnecessarily complicated, time-consuming and costly reporting
regime, especially for smaller utilities.
SB 1305 (Sher), Chapter 796, Statutes of 1997, requires retail
electricity suppliers to disclose information to customers
specifying the resources used to generate the electricity they
sell on a quarterly basis through what is known as the "power
content label." The original purpose of the power content label
was to provide customers with information detailing the
generation sources used by their energy service provider as
compared to an average of other providers' generation sources.
In addition to the power content label, POUs have to comply with
a number of other reporting requirements to the CEC resulting
from a number of different programs. These programs include the
RPS, the California Solar Initiative, and most recently the
Global Warming Solutions Act. These reporting requirements are
done with varying frequency.
The information reported to CEC and consumers regarding the
quantity and mix of renewable energy for RPS compliance differ
from the information disclosed for the power source disclosure
requirements. For example, the definition of renewable
resources for RPS includes restrictions on municipal solid
waste, biomass and hydropower that are not reflected in the
power content labels. This creates a potentially duplicative
process for POUs and could mislead customers regarding their
electric service provider's progress toward their RPS target.
AB 162
Page 3
AB 162 would streamline the process and give more accurate
information to the consumer by making the renewable components
of the power content label consistent with the requirements of
the RPS.
Analysis Prepared by : Nina Kapoor / U. & C. / (916) 319-2083
FN: 0002157