BILL NUMBER: AB 1295 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 23, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 9, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 21, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Roger Hernández
FEBRUARY 22, 2013
An act to add and repeal Chapter 7.6 (commencing with Section
2831) of Part 2 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code, relating
to public utilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1295, as amended, Roger Hernández. Public utilities: renewable
energy: community renewables option.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
jurisdiction over public utilities, including electrical
corporations, as defined, while local publicly owned electric
utilities, as defined, are under the direction of their governing
boards. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and
charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and
charges be just and reasonable. Under existing law, the local
government renewable energy self-generation program authorizes a
local government, as defined, to receive a bill credit, as defined,
to be applied to a designated benefiting account for electricity
exported to the electrical grid by an eligible renewable generating
facility, as defined, and requires the commission to adopt a rate
tariff for the benefiting account.
The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program, referred to
as the RPS program, requires a retail seller of electricity, as
defined, and local publicly owned electric utilities to purchase
specified minimum quantities of electricity products from eligible
renewable energy resources, as defined, for specified compliance
periods, sufficient to ensure that the procurement of electricity
products from eligible renewable energy resources achieves 20% of
retail sales for the period January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2013,
inclusive, 25% of retail sales by December 31, 2016, and 33% of
retail sales by December 31, 2020, and in all subsequent years. The
RPS program, consistent with the goals of procuring the least-cost
and best-fit eligible renewable energy resources that meet project
viability principles, requires that all retail sellers procure a
balanced portfolio of electricity products from eligible renewable
energy resources, as specified.
This bill would require an electrical corporation to include
provisions in its tariff and addenda to a standard contract or allow
an electrical generation facility, as defined, to participate in the
community renewables option that would allow the facility to assign
the payment by the electrical corporation due to that facility to a
subscribing customer, as defined, in the form of a bill credit.
The bill would require the commission to authorize the tariff by July
1, 2014. The bill would, on and after January 1, 2016, require
the commission to evaluate the demand for the community renewables
option. If the commission finds that the community renewables option
should be discontinued, the bill would make the above provisions
inoperative. The bill would require authorize
a local publicly owned utility , by July 1, 2015,
to offer a comparable community renewables option
and would require the governing board of the local publicly owned
utility to review and approve the community renewables option
. This bill would repeal the provision of the community
renewables option on January 1, 2020.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 7.6 (commencing with Section 2831) is added to
Part 2 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code, to read:
CHAPTER 7.6. COMMUNITY RENEWABLES FACILITY
2831. As used in this article, the following terms mean the
following:
(a) "Community renewables facility" means an electric generation
facility that has elected to participate in the community renewables
option.
(b) "Community renewables option" means the right of an electric
generation facility to assign the payment by the electrical
corporation due to that facility in accordance with this article to
subscribing customers of the electrical corporation in the form of a
bill credit.
(c) "Electric generation facility" means an electric generation
facility located within the service territory of, and developed to
sell electricity to, an electrical corporation that meets all of the
following criteria:
(1) Has an effective capacity of not more than three megawatts.
(2) Is interconnected and operates in parallel with the electrical
transmission and distribution grid.
(3) Is strategically located and interconnected to the electrical
transmission and distribution grid in a manner that optimizes the
deliverability of electricity generated at the facility to load
centers.
(4) Is an eligible renewable energy resource, as defined in
Section 399.12.
(5) Meets all the requirements established pursuant to Section
399.20 that are applicable to electric generation facilities.
(d) "Feed-in tariff payment" means the payment that is due to the
electric generation facility in accordance with the tariff or
standard contract established pursuant to Section 399.20 as described
in a monthly total payment.
(e) "Subscribing customer" means a customer of an electrical
corporation who has subscribed to the output of a community
renewables facility.
(f) "Subscription amount" means the percentage of kilowatthours
delivered to an electrical corporation from a community renewables
facility to which a subscribing customer has subscribed.
(g) "Unsubscribed output" means the percentage of kilowatthours
delivered to an electrical corporation from a community renewables
facility to which no subscribing customer has subscribed.
2831.5. A community renewables facility is not an electrical
corporation, as defined in Section 218 or an electric service
provider, as defined in Section 218.3.
2832. (a) An electrical corporation shall include provisions in
its tariff and an addendum to a standard contract developed pursuant
to Section 399.20 to provide for a community renewables option
allowing a community renewables facility to assign the payment of
electricity , adjusted to remove the value of any renewable
attributes if the customer elects to retain the renewable attributes,
by the electrical corporation due to that facility to a
subscribing customer in the form of a bill credit.
(b) The subscribing customer's bill credit shall be calculated as
the feed-in tariff payment multiplied by the customer's subscription
amount.
(c) In approving the tariff, the commission shall ensure all of
the following:
(1) Customers that do not participate in the community renewables
option are indifferent to whether other customers participate in the
community renewables option, and no costs are shifted from
subscribing customers to nonsubscribing customers.
(2) An electric generation facility that has executed a standard
contract with an electrical corporation and has begun deliveries
pursuant to the contract may, in its sole discretion, elect to become
a community renewables facility.
(3) (A) The community renewables facility is solely responsible
for any and all arrangements, agreements, or disputes with its
subscribing customers concerning the community renewables option. The
community renewables facility shall communicate, in writing, to the
electrical corporation, in a timely manner, to be specified in the
electrical corporation's tariff and contract addendum described in
subdivision (c), but not less than once per year, information
necessary for the electrical corporation to make payment under the
standard contract and addendum to the standard contract that
, include, includes, but is not limited to, all
of the following:
(i) The name of each subscribing customer.
(ii) The service address and service account number of each
subscribing customer to which a bill credit should be applied.
(iii) Each subscribing customer's subscription amount.
(iv) The unsubscribed output, if any, for which payment should be
made directly to the community renewables facility.
(B) The electrical corporation shall not be a party to an
arrangement or agreement between the community renewables facility
and the subscribing customer.
(4) The electrical corporation shall continue to bill subscribing
customers for all electricity consumed pursuant to each subscribing
customer's otherwise applicable tariff. The payments made to a
subscribing customer in the form of a bill credit shall be applied to
the subscribing customer's monthly bill calculated pursuant to the
customer's otherwise applicable tariff.
(5) The electrical corporation shall pay the community renewables
facility for any unsubscribed output by multiplying the unsubscribed
output by the feed-in tariff payment.
(6) All electricity purchases by an electrical corporation
pursuant to this section shall be credited towards the electrical
corporation's procurement requirements pursuant to Section 399.15 and
shall count toward the electrical corporation's proportionate share
of the statewide cap specified in Section 399.20.
(d) The No later than July 1, 2014, the
commission shall not authorize the
tariff for the community renewables option until it
has adopted the tariff consistent with this section.
(e) Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (5) of subdivision (c) of
Section 2831, the commission may allow the renewable programs adopted
by the commission in commission decisions 10-12-048 and 09-06-049 to
include a community renewables option if the community renewable
option meets the requirements of subdivision (c). If the commission
elects to establish a community renewables option pursuant to this
subdivision, the subscribing customer's monthly bill credit shall be
calculated as the amount that would be otherwise
be paid to the participating renewable generator in accordance with
the power purchase contract between the utility and the renewable
generator multiplied by the customer's subscription amount, and all
purchases pursuant to this subdivision shall count towards the
electrical corporation's proportional share of the program's cap.
(f) An electrical corporation shall recover from the community
renewables facility any costs of implementing the community
renewables option reasonably attributable to the community facility.
Any implementation costs not reasonably attributable to the community
renewables facility shall be recovered from the ratepayers, as
determined by the commission.
(g) If a customer participates in direct transactions pursuant to
paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 365 or Section 365.1, the
electrical corporation that provides distribution service for the
customer is not obligated to allow that customer to participate in a
community renewables option.
(h) On or before July 1, 2015, an energy service provider or
community choice aggregator shall offer a comparable community
renewables option of eligible renewable energy resources as defined
in Section 399.12 in accordance with the procurement practices of
that load serving entity. The commission shall review and approve the
community renewables option proposed by the load serving entity to
ensure that it is comparable to the requirements specified in
subdivision (c).
(i) (1) On and after January 1, 2016, the commission shall
evaluate the demand for the community renewables option and consider
whether to continue offering a community renewables option.
(2) If the commission determines that the community renewables
option should terminate, the commission shall issue an order to that
effect and deliver a copy of the order to the Secretary of State. The
section shall become inoperative on the effective date of the order.
2832.5. On or before July 1, 2015, a A
local publicly owned electric utility required to comply with
Section 399.32 shall may offer a
comparable community renewables option for an electric generation
facility as defined in Section 399.32. The governing board
of the local publicly owned electric utility shall review and approve
the community renewables option.
2833. This chapter shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2020, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2020, deletes or extends
that date.