BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 43|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 43
Author: Wolk (D), et al.
Amended: 9/6/13
Vote: 21
SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES & COMMUNIC. COMM. : 6-4, 4/30/13
AYES: Corbett, De León, DeSaulnier, Hill, Pavley, Wolk
NOES: Padilla, Cannella, Knight, Wright
NO VOTE RECORDED: Fuller
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-2, 5/23/13
AYES: De León, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Gaines
SENATE FLOOR : 27-9, 5/30/13
AYES: Beall, Block, Calderon, Corbett, Correa, De León,
DeSaulnier, Evans, Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso,
Jackson, Lara, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Padilla, Pavley, Price, Roth,
Steinberg, Torres, Wolk, Wright, Yee
NOES: Anderson, Berryhill, Cannella, Fuller, Gaines, Knight,
Nielsen, Walters, Wyland
NO VOTE RECORDED: Emmerson, Huff, Monning, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : Not available
SUBJECT : Electricity: Green Tariff Shared Renewables Program
SOURCE : City of Davis
DIGEST : This bill establishes, until January 1, 2019, a Green
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Tariff Shared
Renewables Program to allow investor-owned utilities (IOUs) to
administer a program that allows utility customers to
voluntarily purchase electricity from renewable energy
facilities.
Assembly Amendments revise and recast with similar intent as it
left the Senate.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Authorizes individual retail, non-residential, end-use
customers to acquire electric service from other providers in
each electrical corporation's (IOU) distribution service
territory, up to the historically highest amount of
kilowatt-hours (kWh) of annual sales for each utility.
Increases authorized in 2009 require a phase-in period for
new customer enrollments of not less than three years and not
more than five years. The program is commonly referred to as
"direct access" (DA).
2. Establishes a general exception to the cap on DA for
community choice aggregation (CCA) undertaken by cities and
counties serving their own residents and businesses, with
electricity secured from the market or energy producers under
contract with the CCA to provide service to IOU customers
choosing to enroll.
3. Requires an electric service provider (ESP) that is a
non-utility entity that offers electric service to customers
within the service territory of an IOU to register with, and
be subject to, the jurisdiction of the Public Utilities
Commission (PUC). The ESP is required to undergo background
checks and provide proof of financial viability and technical
and operational ability in addition to other fees, bonds, and
reporting requirements to the PUC and to the customer's
served.
This bill:
1. Establishes a 600 Megawatt (MW) pilot program until July 1,
2016, for a Green Tariff Shared Renewables Program to allow
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customers of IOUs to purchase electricity from renewable
energy facilities and specifies program implementation
requirements with respect to valuing bill credits and how the
renewable attributes are counted in the State's Renewable
Portfolio Standard (RPS) program.
2. Allocates 100 MWs to residential customers and 100 MWs for 1
MW facilities located in the disadvantaged communities.
3. Allocates 20 MWs to the City of Davis.
4. Requires that the cost of the program be paid by the program
participants and establishes transparency requirements for
expenditures and revenues.
5. Specifies that costs for this program shall not be paid by
non-participating ratepayers.
6. Specifies that IOU shareholders are not required to pay for
costs associated with this program.
7. Specifies that Community Choice Aggregators may voluntarily
offer a similar program.
8. Sunsets the provisions of this bill on January 1, 2019.
Comments
While rooftop solar is a strong and growing business in
California, at least 75% of households cannot participate
because they are renters and do not own their roofs, they do not
have strong enough credit, or their roof is too small or does
not receive enough sunlight. The same is true of most
businesses, 70% of whom rent or lease their facilities.
Despite their inability to utilize renewable energy, these
utility customers continue to pay into solar and renewable
programs that fail to benefit them. Additionally, programs
(MASH, SASH, Solar Share, etc.) designed to benefit low-income
or rental utility customers by providing them the opportunity to
utilize renewable energy either have no room for new
participants or fail to provide consumers with access to
affordable renewable energy.
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The state's RPS, which requires IOUs to procure 33% of their
electricity from renewable sources by 2020, will increase the
proportion of IOU customers' overall power mix being served by
renewables. However, customers without suitable roofs do not
have the option to purchase more clean energy than is already
required by the RPS.
Without undoing California's world-leading policies that are
already enabling the private deployment of clean energy, a green
option allows customers to purchase as much as 100% renewable
generation. This is a strategy that allows low-income
Californians, those who do not own their roofs and those who are
not oriented toward the sun to participate in the market for
renewable energy.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, increased
costs to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) of approximately
$250,000 from the Public Utilities Reimbursement Account
(special fund) to implement and evaluate the program.
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/10/13)
City of Davis (source)
American Lung Association
Black Rock Solar
California Apartment Association
California Environmental Justice Alliance
California Interfaith Power and Light
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
California Solar Energy Industries Association
City of Woodland
Clean Power Campaign
Coalition of California Utility Employees
Division of Ratepayer Advocates
El Peco Energy, LLC
Environment California
Environmental Defense Fund
Environmental Health Coalition
League of California Cities
Mainstream Energy
Recurrent Energy
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San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
School Energy Coalition
Sierra Club California
Silicon Valley Leadership Group
Solar Energy Industry Association
SolarCity
Sonoma County Board of Supervisors
Sullivan Solar Power
Sungevity
Sunible
SunRun
The Utility Reform Network
Vote Solar Initiative
Western Center on Law and Poverty
Yolo County Board of Supervisors
OPPOSITION : (Verified 9/10/13)
Alliance for Retail Energy Markets
California Farm Bureau Federation
Marin Energy Authority
JG:k 9/11/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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