BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 66
Author: Muratsuchi (D), et al.
Amended: 8/12/13 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES & COMMUNICATIONS COMM. : 8-0, 6/18/13
AYES: Padilla, Fuller, Corbett, DeSaulnier, Hill, Knight, Wolk,
Wright
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cannella, De Le�n, Pavley
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 8/30/13
AYES: De Le�n, Walters, Gaines, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-1, 5/28/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Electricity: system reliability
SOURCE : South Bay Cities Council of Government
DIGEST : This bill requires that within an annual reliability
report, electrical corporations (IOUs) indicate the frequency
and duration of outages ranked by areas with the most frequent
and longest outages.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires the Public Utilities
Commission (PUC) to adopt standards for quality, safe, and
reliable service by electrical corporations (IOUs). The PUC is
also directed to require electrical corporations to report
annually on compliance with the standards.
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Existing orders of the PUC require electrical corporations to
report reliability information to the PUC annually.
This bill:
1.Requires that within an annual reliability report, IOUs
indicate areas with both the most frequent and longest
outages, using local areas determined by the PUC.
2.Instructs the PUC to use the reliability reports to identify
areas with repeated outages and requires remediation of the
problems by the IOUs.
3.States that the PUC may suspend an IOUs remediation of
reliability deficiencies if the PUC finds that expenditures by
the IOU for those purposes are not justified or reasonable or
that the remediation measures undertaken by the electrical
corporation are not effective at improving safety and
reliability.
4.States that it is the intent of the Legislature to require an
annual reliability report to include and differentiate both
sustained outages and momentary outages, as defined by the
PUC.
Background
In 1996 the PUC established reporting requirements for IOUs that
include system reliability using data on the frequency and
duration of system disturbances. The reports also include
information on circuits that consistently perform poorly and
accidents or incidents that affect reliability. The primary
metrics that the PUC uses to evaluate system reliability are:
System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI; minutes per
customer): the average length of time customers were without
power. It is calculated by dividing the total minutes of
sustained customer interruptions by the total number of
customers.
Customer Average Interruption Duration Index (CAIDI; minutes
per interruption): the average duration of the outages
experienced by customers. CAIDI is calculated by dividing the
total number of customer minutes of interruption by the total
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number of customer interruptions.
System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI; number per
customer per time): the average number of sustained power
interruptions for each customer during a specified time
period. It is calculated by dividing the total number of
sustained customer interruptions by the total number of
customers.
Momentary Average Interruption Frequency Index (MAIFI; number
per customer per time): the total number of momentary
customer interruptions divided by the total number of
customers.
The PUC recognized that system-wide data can mask more localized
problems and directed the IOUs to record reliability indices
according to circuit, division, region, or district portions of
the system to the extent of their ability. This information is
meant to be available to any interested person upon request.
The PUC considers a minimum level of reliability determined by
historical trends within a given region. Thus, remediation is
only ordered when a circuit behaves differently than it had
previously.
Utilities are required to report on the number of poorly
performing circuits with 12 or more outages in any 12-month
period. They are permitted to exclude from this list outages
that were caused by events where a state of emergency was
declared. The 2012 annual reliability report by PG&E contains a
list of the circuits where one or more customers experienced
more than 12 outages.
According to the City of Ranchos Palos Verdes, there have been
over 100 unscheduled outages from their service provider,
Southern California Edison (SCE), from 2008-2011. This count
includes momentary, sustained, planned, and unplanned outages.
The city also reports that there have been at least three fires
attributed to electrical service disruptions since 2005. During
a meeting in Palos Verdes Estates in 2011, SCE communicated that
it has spent over $10 million since 2008 in the region on
repairs and upgrades of the distribution infrastructure with
additional projects slated for 2012. SCE also noted that
planned outages are part of the process for the infrastructure
upgrades.
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Real time information regarding outages is available on the SCE,
the San Diego Gas and Electric Company, and the Pacific Gas and
Electric Company websites. This information includes the number
of affected customers, planned, and unplanned outages. The
outages can be organized by city, county, or zip code. However,
none of the IOUs appear to have a comprehensive
publicly-available online database of historical outages.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
One-time costs of $325,000 from the Public Utilities
Reimbursement Account (special) to modify reporting
requirements and to develop the procedures for determining
required remediation based on the annual reliability report.
Ongoing costs of $100,000 from the Public Utilities
Reimbursement Account for increased review of annual
reliability reports, making remediation determinations, and to
oversee required remediation.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/29/13)
South Bay Cities Council of Governments (source)
Cities of: Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Rancho Palos Verdes,
Rolling Hills Estate, and Torrance
Palos Verdes Peninsula Chamber of Commerce
Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce
California Public Utilities Commission
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, "?power
outages have raised concerns about the frequent open space fires
caused by electrical failures and accidents that threaten lives
and property. Since 2005, there have been at least three fires
attributed to service disruptions in the region. Outage related
fires have resulted in approximately 200 open space acres being
destroyed. Inconsistent electricity service in Rancho Palos
Verdes and throughout the South Bay has resulted in growing
frustration amongst ratepayers in the region." The author also
states, "?accessibility to this information will create
reliability and trust between Californians and their utility
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providers. Transparency has been shown to be good for business
and for consumer relations. AB 66 provides Californians with
information they have a right to know, and provides a mechanism
for accountability for rate payers."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-1, 5/28/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,
Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway,
Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier,
Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell,
Gray, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez, Jones,
Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein,
Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin,
Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea,
V. Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner,
Stone, Ting, Wagner, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams,
Yamada, John A. P�rez
NOES: Donnelly
NO VOTE RECORDED: Grove, Holden, Waldron, Vacancy
JG:nl 8/31/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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