Amended in Senate April 22, 2013

Senate BillNo. 656


Introduced by Senator Wright

February 22, 2013


An act to amend Section 392.1 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 656, as amended, Wright. Electrical restructuring: information practices.

begin insert

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has broad regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. Existing law restructuring the electrical industry requires the commission to authorize and facilitate direct transactions between electricity suppliers and end-use customers subject to the implementation of a nonbypassable charge, as specified. Electrical restructuring requires electric service providers, which are entities that offer electrical service to customers within the service territory of an electrical corporation but which are not electrical corporations, to register with the commission and to disclose specified information, among other things and authorizes the commission to enforce specific statutes with respect to electric service providers, but does not grant the commission jurisdiction to regulate electric service providers other than as specified.

end insert
begin insert

Existing law restructuring the electrical industry requires the commission to compile and regularly update information regarding registered electric service providers, including the names and contact numbers of providers, information to assist consumers in making service choices, the number of customer complaints against specific providers in relation to the number of customers served by those providers, and the disposition of those complaints. In this regard, existing law requires the commission to direct the Office, now Division, of Ratepayer Advocates to collect and analyze this information for purposes of preparing easily understandable informational guides or other tools to help residential and small commercial customers understand how to evaluate competing electric service options.

end insert
begin insert

This bill would require the commission to compile and to update, every 6 months, the above-described information regarding registered electric service providers. The bill would delete the requirement that the commission direct the Office of Ratepayer Advocates to collect and analyze the information for purposes of making available informational guides or other tools.

end insert
begin delete

Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to compile and regularly update specific consumer information regarding electrical service.

end delete
begin delete

This bill would, instead, specifically require the commission to compile and update that information every 6 months.

end delete

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

Section 392.1 of the Public Utilities Code is
2amended to read:

3

392.1.  

(a) The commission shall compile and update every six
4months all of the following information: names and contact
5numbers of registered providers, information to assist consumers
6in making service choices, and the number of customer complaints
7against specific providers in relation to the number of customers
8served by those providers and the disposition of those complaints.
9To facilitate this function, registered entities shall file with the
10commission information describing the terms and conditions of
11any standard service plan made available to residential and small
12commercial customers. The commission shall adopt a standard
13format for this filing. The commission shall maintain and make
14generally available a list of entities offering electrical services
15operating in California. This list shall include all registered
16providers and those providers not required to be registered that
17request the commission to be included in the list. The commission,
P3    1upon request, shall make this information available at no charge.
2Notwithstanding any other provision of law, public agencies that
3are registered entities shall be required to disclose their terms and
4conditions of service contracts only to the same extent that other
5registered entities would be required to disclose the same or similar
6service contracts.

7(b) The commission shall issue public alerts about companies
8attempting to provide electric service in the state in an unauthorized
9or fraudulent manner as defined in subdivision (b) of Section
10394.25.

begin delete

11(c) The commission shall direct the Office of Ratepayer
12Advocates to collect and analyze information provided pursuant
13to subdivision (a) for purposes of preparing easily understandable
14informational guides or other tools to help residential and small
15commercial customers understand how to evaluate competing
16electric service options. In implementing these provisions, the
17commission shall direct the Office of Ratepayer Advocates to pay
18special attention to ensuring that customers, especially those with
19limited-English-speaking ability or other disadvantages when
20dealing with marketers, receive correct, reliable, and easily
21understood information to help them make informed choices. The
22Office of Ratepayer Advocates shall not make specific
23recommendations or rank the relative attractiveness of specific
24service offerings of registered providers of electric services.

end delete


O

    98