Amended in Assembly May 8, 2013

Amended in Assembly March 14, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 66


Introduced by Assembly Member Muratsuchi

January 7, 2013


An act to add Section 2774.1 to the Public Utilities Code, relating tobegin delete the Public Utilities Commission.end deletebegin insert electricity.end insert

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 66, as amended, Muratsuchi. begin deleteEconomic development. end deletebegin insertElectricity: system reliability.end insert

begin delete

Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to establish priority among the types or categories of customers of an electrical corporation. In the event the electrical corporation experiences a shortage in capacity or capability in the generation, production, or transmission of electricity and is unable to obtain electricity from alternative sources to meet all of its customers’ demand, existing law authorizes the commission to order a temporary reduction in service in an amount that reflects the priority established by the commission.

end delete
begin insert

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. The Public Utilities Act authorizes the commission to ascertain and fix just and reasonable standards, classifications, regulations, practices, measurements, or service to be furnished, imposed, observed, and followed by specified public utilities, including all electrical corporations. If the commission finds after a hearing that the rules, practices, equipment, appliances, facilities, or service of any public utility, or of the methods of manufacture, distribution, transmission, storage, or supply employed by the public utility, are unjust, unreasonable, unsafe, improper, inadequate, or insufficient, the act requires that the commission determine and, by order or rule, fix the rules, practices, equipment, appliances, facilities, service, or methods to be observed, furnished, constructed, enforced, or employed. 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.

end insert

This bill would require the commission to require an electrical corporationbegin delete to publish and maintain on the electrical corporation’s Internet Web site a report describing local levelend deletebegin insert include in an annual reliability report, information onend insert system reliabilitybegin delete problems. The bill would require the report to be updated at least quarterly.end deletebegin insert, including the frequency and duration of interruptions in services ranked by areas with both the most frequent and longest outages. The bill would require the commission to use the information to require remediation of reliability deficiencies if the report, or more than one report, identifiesend insertbegin insert repeated deficiencies in the same region.end insert Because a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local programbegin insert by expanding the definition of a crimeend insert.

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:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

Section 2774.1 is added to the Public Utilities
2Code
, to read:

3

2774.1.  

begin insert(a)end insertbegin insertend insert The commission shall require an electrical
4corporationbegin delete to publish and maintain on the electrical corporation’s
5Internet Web site a report describing local levelend delete
begin insert include in an
6annual reliability report, information onend insert
system reliability
7begin delete problemsend delete, including, but not limited to, the frequency and duration
8of interruptions in services ranked by areas with both the most
P3    1frequent and longest outages. Thebegin delete report shall be updated at least
2quarterly.end delete
begin insert information shall be sufficiently aggregated to maintain
3electrical system security.end insert

begin insert

4(b) The commission shall use the information contained in an
5electrical corporation’s annual reliability report to require
6remediation of reliability deficiencies if the report, or more than
7one report, identifies repeated deficiencies in the same region. In
8requiring remediation, the commission may consider mitigating
9factors that may impede an electrical corporation from
10implementing required remediation, including local permitting
11matters or other events that may present higher priority safety or
12reliability issues.

end insert
begin insert

13(c) (1) The commission may order an electrical corporation to
14make more frequent trend analyses of regional service reliability
15and to make those analyses publicly available.

end insert
begin insert

16 (2) The information made publicly available shall provide
17sufficient confidentiality for purposes of protecting electrical
18system security.

end insert
begin insert

19(3) The commission may make those analyses publicly available.

end insert
20begin insert

begin insertSEC. 2.end insert  

end insert

begin insertIt is the intent of the Legislature in adding Section
212774.1 to the Public Utilities Code, that the required system
22reliability information be included in the annual report required
23by the Public Utilities Commission in Decision 96-09-045
24(September 4, 1996), while preserving the discretion of the
25commission to modify an electrical corporation’s reporting
26requirements.end insert

27

begin deleteSEC. 2.end delete
28begin insertSEC. 3.end insert  

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
29Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
30the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
31district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
32infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
33for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of
34the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within
35the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
36Constitution.



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