BILL NUMBER: AB 1295 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 24, 2013
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 provide a 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
allowing a subscribing customer's bill be adjusted to
reflect the customer's subscription in the output of a community
renewables facility . The bill would require the commission to
authorize the tariff for community renewables option 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 authorize a local publicly owned utility
to offer a comparable 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 participate in a program that allows a
customer to subscribe to the output of an electric generation
facility .
(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. that allows a subscribing
customer's bill to be adjusted to reflect the customer's
subscription.
(b) The subscribing customer's bill credit shall be calculated as
the feed-in tariff payment multiplied by the customer's subscription
amount.
(c)
(b) 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 includes administer the
community renewables option that 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
adjustment 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)
(4) 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
(5) (A) Customer
subscriptions shall not be credited
towards the electrical corporation's procurement requirements
pursuant to Section 399.15 and but
shall continue to count toward the electrical corporation'
s proportionate share of the statewide cap specified in Section
399.20.
(B) In calculating its procurement requirements pursuant to
Section 399.15, an electrical corporation may exclude from the total
retail sales the kilowatthours subscribed to by participating
customers pursuant to this section.
(6) Any unsubscribed output from a community renewables generators
shall continue to 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)
(c) No later than July 1, 2014, the commission shall
authorize the tariff for the community renewables option consistent
with this section , including setting a reasonable cap on total
megawatts that can be subscribed to under a community rene
wables program pursuant to this section .
(e)
(d) 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 renewables
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 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
All purchases pursuant to this subdivision shall count
towards toward the electrical
corporation's proportional share of the program's cap.
(f)
(e) 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)
(f) 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)
(g) (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. A local publicly owned electric utility required to
comply with Section 399.32 may offer a comparable community
renewables option for an electric generation facility as defined in
Section 399.32.
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.