BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 836|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 836
Author: Padilla (D)
Amended: 3/24/11
Vote: 21
SENATE ENERGY, UTIL. & COMM. COMMITTEE : 10-0, 5/3/11
AYES: Padilla, Fuller, Berryhill, Corbett, DeSaulnier,
Pavley, Rubio, Simitian, Strickland, Wright
NO VOTE RECORDED: De León
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : Renewable energy resources: cost reporting
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires the California Public
Utilities Commission (CPUC) to release the costs of all
contracts, in aggregate form, submitted by IOUs to meet the
states RPS goal, which are approved by the CPUC. The first
data release would be required in January, 2012 and every
six months thereafter.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law
1. Requires investor-owned utilities (IOUs), publicly
owned utilities
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(POUs), community choice aggregators (CCAs), and
energy service
providers (ESPs) to increase purchases of renewable
energy such that at
least 33% of retail sales are procured from renewable
energy resources by
December 31, 2020. In the interim each entity would be
required to
procure an average of 20% of renewable energy for the
period of January
1, 2011 through December 31, 2013; 25% by December 31,
2016, and
33% by 2020. This is known as the Renewable Portfolio
Standard (RPS).
Current law is effective upon the adjournment of the
first extraordinary
session.
2. Requires the California Public Utilities Commission
(CPUC) to adopt
procedures to ensure the confidentiality of any market
sensitive
information submitted in an IOU's proposed procurement
plan or
resulting contracts for generation.
3. Prohibits the release of information provided to the
CPUC by an IOU
except those matters specifically required to be open
to public inspection
under law.
Background
To meet the goals of the state's RPS program, the IOUs have
entered into hundreds of contracts with independent
producers of eligible renewable energy resources and also
built utility-owned generation. The costs of those
contracts and utility-owned generation have been submitted
to the CPUC for review and approval but are not made public
for several years after they are approved.
Reports have been made by the CPUC and the Division of
Ratepayers Advocates which analyze the cost impacts of the
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RPS. One specific report noted billions of dollars in
costs and opined that RPS contract prices are 15% higher
than those for natural gas plants. Reports of individual
contracts are periodically specified in media reports. A
February, 2011 article reported that in recent contract
filings by Southern California Edison the cost of solar
photovoltaics was less than the "market price referent" (a
measure of the cost of new natural gas fired generation).
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (5/13/11)
California Large Energy Consumers Association
California Public Utilities Commission (with technical
amendments)
Division of Ratepayer Advocates
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
in order to ensure that the public and the Legislature are
aware of the costs of the RPS program, the intent of this
measure is that the CPUC release those costs, in the
aggregate, to the Legislature on a regular basis. Under
current CPUC practices there is no data available to the
Legislature on the actual costs of approved contracts under
the RPS program. There are conflicting studies and media
reports on those costs as well. Yet those costs are
directly passed through to the ratepayers of IOUs and the
Legislature is expected to analyze the effectiveness of the
program without any real cost data.
RM:rm 5/16/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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