AB 66, as amended, Muratsuchi. Electricity: system reliability.
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.
This bill would require the commission to require an electrical corporationbegin insert toend insert include in annual reliability reportsbegin insert,end insert required bybegin insert aend insert specifiedbegin delete decisionsend deletebegin insert decisionend insert of thebegin delete commissionsend deletebegin insert
commission,end insert that are due after July 1, 2014, information onbegin delete systemend deletebegin insert theend insert reliabilitybegin insert of service to end use customersend insert that identifies the frequency and duration of interruptions in services andbegin delete listend deletebegin insert indicatesend insert areas with both the most frequent and longest outages, using geographic regions determined by the commission. The bill would require the commission to use the information to require cost-effective remediation of reliability deficiencies if the report, or more than one report, identifies
repeated deficiencies in the same geographic region. The bill would require the electrical corporations tobegin insert conspicuouslyend insert post their annual reports on their Internet Web site. 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 program by expanding the definition of a 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 2774.1 is added to the Public Utilities
2Code, to read:
(a) (1) The commission shall require an electrical
4corporationbegin insert toend insert include in an annual reliability reportbegin insert,end insert required
5pursuant tobegin delete Decisions 96-09-045 and 04-10-034, information on begin insert Decision 96-09-045, information on the reliability
6system reliabilityend delete
7of service to end use customersend insert that identifies, but is not limited
8to, the frequency and duration of
interruptions in services. This
9information shallbegin delete listend deletebegin insert
indicateend insert areas with both the most frequent
P3 1and longest outages, using geographic regions determined by the
2commission.begin insert The commission, in consultation with the electrical
3corporationend insertbegin insert, shall ensure that the geographical boundaries of
4regions do not split up circuits.end insert The information shall be
5sufficiently aggregated to both maintain electrical system security,
6and be of use and relevance to affected customers of the electrical
7corporation.
8(2) Before July 1, 2014, the commission shall determine the
9geographic regions for the purposes of paragraph (1).
10(3) The
requirements of paragraph (1) shall apply to annual
11reports due after July 1, 2014.
12(4) The electrical corporation shallbegin insert conspicuouslyend insert post on its
13Internet Web site the annual report required pursuant tobegin delete Decisions begin insert Decision 96-09-045end insert.
1496-09-045 and 04-10-034end delete
15(b) begin insert(1)end insertbegin insert end insert The commission shall use the information
contained in
16an electrical corporation’s annual reliability report to require
17
cost-effective remediation of reliability deficiencies if the report,
18or more than one report, identifies repeated deficiencies in the
19same geographic region as determined by the commission pursuant
20to paragraphbegin delete (3)end deletebegin insert (1)end insert of subdivision (a). In requiring cost-effective
21remediation, the commissionbegin delete shallend deletebegin insert may consult with the electrical
22corporation andend insert consider mitigating factors that may impede an
23electrical corporation from implementing required cost-effective
24remediation, including, but not limited to, local permitting matters
25or other events or conditions or
public policy considerations that
26may present higher priority safety or reliability issues.
27(2) The commission shall determine the procedures for using
28the information contained in the electrical corporation’s annual
29reliability report to require remediation of reliability deficiencies
30and shall continue to exercise its discretion as to how to remediate
31those deficiencies.
32(3) The commission may suspend an electrical corporation’s
33remediation of reliability deficiencies if the commission finds that
34expenditures by the electrical corporation for those purposes are
35not justified or reasonable or that the remediation measures
36 undertaken by the electrical corporation are not
effective at
37improving safety and reliability.
38(c) (1) The commission may order an electrical corporation to
39make more frequent trend analyses of regional service reliability
40and to make those analyses publicly available.
P4 1
(2) The information made publicly available shall provide
2sufficient confidentiality for purposes of protecting electrical
3system security.
4(3) The commission may make those analyses publicly available.
begin insert(a)end insertbegin insert end insert It is the intent of the Legislature in adding Section
62774.1 to the Public Utilities Code, that the required system
7reliability information be included in the annual report required
8by the Public Utilities Commission in Decision 96-09-045
9(September 4, 1996), while preserving the discretion of the
10commission to modify an electrical corporation’s reporting
11requirements.
12(b) It is the further intent of the Legislature that the existing
13reporting limits be revised to accomplish both of the following:
14(1) To require an annual reliability report to include and
15differentiate both sustained outages and momentary outages, as
16defined by the commission.
17(2) That the geographic boundaries used in an annual reliability
18report not split up circuits, but will still use boundaries that are
19understandable to the general public.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
21Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
22the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
23district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
24infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
25for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of
26the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within
27the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
28Constitution.
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