BILL NUMBER: SB 1476	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Padilla

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2010

   An act to repeal and add Section 393 to, and to add Section 387.7
to, the Public Utilities Code, relating to public utilities.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1476, as introduced, Padilla. Public utilities: customer
privacy.
   (1) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has
regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical
corporations, as defined. The existing Public Utilities Act requires
every public utility to furnish and maintain adequate, efficient,
just, and reasonable service, instrumentalities, equipment, and
facilities as are necessary to promote the safety, health, comfort,
and convenience of its patrons, employees, and the public.
   Existing law requires the commission to conduct a pilot study of
certain customers of each electrical corporation to determine the
relative value to ratepayers of information, rate design, and
metering innovations using specified approaches, but prohibits this
data from being used for any commercial purpose, unless authorized by
the customer.
   This bill would repeal the provisions relating to the study, and
would prohibit an electrical corporation, 3rd-party provider, or
local publicly owned utility with access to the electrical usage
information output of a residential or small business customer from
using that information output for any commercial purpose unless
specifically authorized by the customer.
   (2) Under existing law, a violation of any provision of the Public
Utilities Act, or of any of the rules or orders issued under the
act, is a crime.
   Because the provisions of this bill are within the act and require
action by the 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  Section 393 of the Public Utilities Code is repealed.

   393.  (a) The commission shall conduct a pilot study of the
residential and small commercial customers of each electrical
corporation, where the rate level established in subdivision (a) of
Section 368 is no longer in effect, to determine the relative value
to ratepayers of various information, rate design, and metering
innovations for helping residential and small commercial customers
better manage their electricity use. The commission shall compare the
net benefits, including, but not limited to, all of the following
approaches:
   (1) The retrofit or replacement of residential and small
commercial meters to provide real-time usage information to a
standard output interface that is connected to a visual display
module within the customer's home or business that presents
information, at minimum, on current usage and historic usage. The
commission may also test the effects of providing greater amounts of
information display capability including, but not limited to,
historic usage and estimated aggregated costs for the billing period,
associated with the customer's bundled rate structure. The standard
output interface of the meter must be multiply accessible to allow
the installation by the customer, an electrical corporation, or a
registered energy service provider of energy information-based energy
management applications.
   (2) The replacement of residential and small commercial meters
with time-of-use meters that distinguish and measure peak and
off-peak energy use. Subject to the approval of the commission,
electrical corporations shall offer a rate schedule to customers that
differentially price seasonal on-peak, mid-peak, and off-peak energy
use that reflects the electrical corporation's actual energy cost.
The meters used shall have the same standard usage information output
interface as in paragraph (1).
   (3) The replacement of residential and small commercial meters
with meters that facilitate the offering of hourly real-time pricing.
Subject to the approval of the commission, electrical corporations
shall offer a rate schedule to customers that prices electricity
usage at the electrical corporation's hourly cost. The meters used
shall have the same standard usage information output interface as in
paragraph (1) .
   (b) The commission shall ensure that sufficient valid randomized
customer use data, normalized for weather, occupancy, energy cost
differences and other potentially confounding factors, are collected
to respond to, but are not limited to, all of the following
questions:
   (1) To what extent is the real-time availability of customer usage
information to customers sufficient to bring about a significant
change in customer energy consumption behavior?
   (2) To what extent is the availability of customer usage
information to customers sufficient to stimulate innovation in energy
information-based energy management applications?
   (3) What is the difference in energy consumption behavior between
customers that have enhanced access to energy consumption information
and those who have time-of-use rates?
   (4) Do the differences in usage and net cost savings, if any,
between customers who have enhanced energy information and those who
have time-of-use rates justify the broader offering of time-of-use
metering capability?
   (5) What is the difference in energy consumption behavior between
customers who consume electricity under hourly real-time pricing and
customers who either have enhanced information access or time-of-use
pricing? Does the value of these differences justify the broader
offering of hourly real-time pricing?
   (6) What issues should be addressed prior to systemwide
deployment?
   (c) In conducting the pilot study, the commission shall ensure
that all of the following study conditions are observed:
   (1) No more than the minimum number of customers required to
provide a statistically valid sample for a customer group in a pilot
study as required by subdivision (a) are included. The aggregate
total number of customers participating in a customer group in a
pilot study may not exceed 3 percent of the electrical corporation's
customers.
   (2) Customers from each electrical corporation are selected from
comparable geographic areas, from a variety of climate zones, and
from a range of socioeconomic circumstances. In addition, control
groups of customers shall be established for each study against whom
the behavior of the study group participants may be compared.
   (3) No customer is required to participate in a pilot study.
However, customer rates of participation and reasons for
nonparticipation for each study condition shall be monitored and
incorporated in the study results, as appropriate.
   (4) The offerings for the customers in the service territories of
each electrical corporation that participates in a pilot study
required by subdivision (a) are identical among electrical
corporations to allow the comparison of data and results. However,
electrical corporations may test alternative technological solutions,
not including those relating to the standard usage information
output interface specified in subdivision (e), to offer hourly
real-time pricing for the pilot study in paragraph (3) of subdivision
(a).
   (5) Notwithstanding paragraph (4), the commission may waive the
requirement imposed by that paragraph, or otherwise alter a pilot
study, if the commission finds that it is in the public interest.
   (6) All interested energy service providers and equipment
manufacturers are included in the design and implementation of the
pilot study to ensure that its results may be used to guide the
subsequent deployment of the appropriate customer usage information
infrastructure.
   (d) The commission shall report to the Legislature on the initial
results of the pilot study on or before March 31, 2002. The
commission shall report on the results of the study for electrical
corporations that continue to be under the rate level established in
subdivision (a) of Section 368 at the effective date of this act
within 15 months from the time when that rate level is no longer in
effect.
   (e) The study data shall be available to the public. The data
shall be provided in a way that does not reveal customer-specific
information.
   (f) The standard usage information output interface used in pilot
study elements set forth in paragraphs (1) to (3), inclusive, of
subdivision (a) shall meet all of the following specifications:
   (1) All electrical corporation retrofits or meter replacements
shall conform to the same American National Standards Institute,
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers or other standard,
as appropriate, and provide the same standard output interface.
   (2) The technology selected shall be the most cost-effective,
including its use of electricity on a life-cycle basis.
   (3) The standard output interface selected shall allow a customer'
s data to be multiply accessed in a secure and protected manner.
   (4) The standard output interface shall be installed in a way that
does not compromise customer or worker safety or the integrity or
accuracy of the meter.
   (5) Because some older vintage meters cannot be readily
retrofitted, the decision regarding whether to retrofit or replace a
meter must be made on the basis of cost-effectiveness.
   (6) Access by electrical corporations and third-party providers to
the usage information output interface shall be at the sole
discretion of the customer, except to the extent that the customer
enters into a billing relationship with an electrical corporation or
energy service provider.
   (7) To ensure customer privacy, unless specifically authorized by
the customer, information based upon customer data may not be used
for any commercial purpose.
   (8) Customers receiving service under the California Alternative
Rates for Energy program under Section 739.1 do not pay a higher
distribution rate attributable to participating in any of the pilot
studies in subdivision (a).
   (g) The commission shall allow electrical corporations to include
in their distribution rates the reasonable investment and operating ,
installing, accounting, and evaluating costs of the pilot studies,
those costs to be allocated only among the customer classes
participating in the study. 
  SEC. 2.  Section 393 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
   393.  To ensure customer privacy, an electrical corporation or
third-party provider with access to the electrical usage information
output of a residential or small business customer shall not use that
information output for any commercial purpose unless specifically
authorized by the customer.
  SEC. 3.  Section 387.7 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
   387.7.  To ensure customer privacy, a local publicly owned
electric utility or third-party provider with access to the
electrical usage information output of a residential or small
business customer shall not use that information output for any
commercial purpose unless specifically authorized by 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.