BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 656
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 656 (Wright)
As Amended September 3, 2013
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :37-0
UTILITIES & COMMERCE 13-0
APPROPRIATIONS 15-0
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|Ayes:|Bradford, Patterson, |Ayes:|Gatto, Harkey, Bocanegra, |
| |Bonilla, Buchanan, | |Bradford, Ian Calderon, |
| |Chávez, Fong, Garcia, | |Campos, Eggman, Gomez, |
| |Gorell, Roger Hernández, | |Hall, Holden, Linder, |
| |Quirk, Rendon, Skinner, | |Pan, Quirk, Wagner, Weber |
| |Williams | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Suspends a requirement for the Public Utilities
Commission (PUC) to maintain specified consumer information and
establishes registration requirements for core transport agents.
Specifically, this bill :
a)Delays various PUC direct access requirements until
competitive residential electricity service becomes available,
including a requirement to issue public alerts about entities
providing electrical service in an unauthorized or fraudulent
manner.
b)Repeals a requirement for PUC to direct the Division and
Office of Ratepayer Advocates to publish informational guides
or other tools to help residential and small commercial
customers evaluate competing electric service options.
c)Establishes a requirement for competitive natural gas service
providers who market to residential and small commercial
customers to register with PUC and meet specified
requirements.
d)Provides gas customers may seek remedies through PUC or the
judicial system to resolve complaints.
SB 656
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e)Requires PUC to issue public alerts about entities providing
natural gas service in an unauthorized or fraudulent manner
and act on customer complaints.
f)Requires PUC to direct the Division and Office of Ratepayer
Advocates to publish informational guides or other tools to
help customers evaluate competing natural gas service options.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, increased costs of approximately $200,000 to PUC from
the Public Utilities Reimbursement Account (PURA) to develop and
implement registration requirements, compile data and create
educational materials for Core Transport Agents.
PUC is authorized to collect a registration fee and adjust the
fee as necessary to recover the cost of administering the
program.
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose . This bill delays requirements for PUC and Division
and Office of Ratepayer Advocates to collect data and develop
informational guides for the direct access electricity program
until the program is operational. This bill also adds
regulatory oversight and for the optional Core Gas Aggregation
Service program.
2)Direct Access Electricity . Direct access is a system that
allows customers of an electrical corporation to purchase
electricity directly from wholesale sellers and use the
electrical corporation only for distribution and transmission
services. The electricity crisis of 2001 resulted in a
suspension of the program but any customer enrolled at the
time was permitted to remain with their electricity provider.
As of March 15, 2013, utility reports indicate that statewide
there are currently 11,120 residential and 17,307 small
commercial (non-residential) customers subscribed to direct
access electricity contracts.
3)Third-Party Natural Gas Providers . In 1999, AB 1421 (Wright),
Chapter 909, Statutes of 2000, authorized customers to
purchase natural gas from an entity other than a gas
SB 656
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corporation. Core Gas Aggregation Service is the optional
program that allows residential or business customers to
purchase natural gas from Core Transport Agents (third-party
gas suppliers). Through this program, the gas corporation
continues to read the meter and deliver gas to the customer.
Non-utility natural gas suppliers are not regulated by PUC.
If a customer has a complaint against a non-utility natural
gas supplier, it may not be possible for PUC to resolve the
complaint with the non-utility supplier. PUC requires, but
does not enforce, core gas aggregators to follow utility gas
rules.
According to the most recent Energy Information Administration
data, 34,391 residential customers in California purchase gas
from marketers, representing about 0.7% of deliveries to
residential consumers statewide in 2008.
4)Customer Complaints . Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) has
investigated approximately 1,200 Core Transport Agents,
related complaints from customers in the last 15 months,
including complaints about unauthorized switches to different
providers, cancellation requests, and deceptive practices.
This bill requires PUC, instead of gas corporations, to
investigate and resolve these types of complaints.
Analysis Prepared by : Susan Kateley / U. & C. / (916)
319-2083
FN: 0002249