Amended in Senate August 18, 2015

Amended in Senate June 19, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1110

Introduced by Assembly Member Ting

February 27, 2015

An act to amend Sections 398.1, 398.2, and 398.4 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to energy.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1110, as amended, Ting. begin delete Emissions of greenhouse end delete begin insert Greenhouse end insert gases begin insert emissions intensity end insert reporting: retail electricity suppliers.

Under existing law, entities offering electric services in California are required to disclose information on the sources of energy that are used to provide electric services. Existing law requires every retail supplier, as defined, that makes an offer to sell electricity that is consumed in California to disclose its electricity sources for the previous calendar year. These disclosures are required to be made to end-use customers and potential end-use customers. Existing law requires a retail supplier to disclose its electricity sources as a percentage of annual sales that is derived from specified sources of energy, including eligible renewable energy resources.

This bill would require a retail supplier, including an electrical corporation, local publicly owned electric utility, electric service provider, and community choice aggregator to also disclose the begin delete emissions of end delete greenhouse gases begin insert emissions intensity end insert associated with its electricity sources. The bill would prohibit an adjustment in the calculation of emissions of greenhouse gases through the application of renewable energy credits, carbon offset credits, or other attributes acquired from any facility not providing the actual delivered electricity used to serve a retail customer.

The Public Utilities Act makes any public utility and any corporation other than a public utility, begin delete that violates the act, or that end delete begin insert if the public utility or corporation violates the act or end insert fails to comply with any part of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission, guilty of a crime.

Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing its requirements by an electrical corporation or electric service provider would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by expanding what is a crime. By placing additional reporting duties upon local publicly owned electric utilities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for specified reasons.

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

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

SECTION 1.  

Section 398.1 of the Public Utilities Code is
amended to read:

398.1.  

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that there is a
need for reliable, accurate, and timely information regarding fuel
sources for electric generation offered for retail sale in California.

(b) The purpose of this article is to establish a program under
which entities offering electric services in California disclose
accurate, reliable, and simple to understand information on the
sources of energy, and the associated emissions of greenhouse
gases, that are used to provide electric services.

SEC. 2.  

Section 398.2 of the Public Utilities Code is amended
to read:

398.2.  

The definitions set forth in this section shall govern the
construction of this article.

(a) “Retail supplier” means an entity that offers an electricity
product for sale to retail consumers in California, including an
electrical corporation, local publicly owned electric utility, electric
service provider, and community choice aggregator.

(b) “System operator” means the Independent System Operator
with responsibility for the efficient use and reliable operation of
the transmission grid, as provided by Section 345, or a local
publicly owned electric utility that does not utilize the Independent
System Operator.

(c) “Specific purchases” means electricity transactions that are
traceable to specific generation sources by any auditable contract
trail or equivalent, such as a tradable commodity system, that
provides commercial verification that the electricity source claimed
has been sold once and only once to a retail consumer. Retail
suppliers may rely on annual data to meet this requirement, rather
than hour-by-hour matching of loads and resources.

(d) “Unspecified sources of power” means electricity that is not
traceable to specific generation sources by any auditable contract
trail or equivalent, including a tradable commodity system, that
provides commercial verification that the electricity source claimed
has been sold once, and only once, to a retail consumer.

SEC. 3.  

Section 398.4 of the Public Utilities Code is amended
to read:

398.4.  

(a) Every retail supplier that makes an offering to sell
electricity that is consumed in California shall disclose its
electricity sources and the associated begin delete emissions of end delete greenhouse
gases begin insert emissions intensity end insert for the previous calendar year.

(b) The disclosures required by this section shall be made to
potential end-use consumers in all product-specific written
promotional materials that are distributed to consumers by either
printed or electronic means, including the retail supplier’s Internet
Web site, if one exists, except that advertisements and notices in
general circulation media shall not be subject to this requirement.

(c) The disclosures required by this section shall be made
annually to end-use consumers of the offered electricity. The annual
disclosure shall be made by the end of the first complete billing
cycle for the third quarter of the year, and shall be consistent with
information provided to the Energy Commission pursuant to
Section 398.5.

(d) The disclosures required by this section shall be made
separately for each offering made by the retail supplier.

(e) On or before January 1, 1998, the Energy Commission shall
specify guidelines for the format and means for disclosure required
by Section 398.3 and this section, based on the requirements of
this article and subject to public hearing.

(f) The costs of making the disclosures required by this section
shall be considered to be generation related.

(g) The disclosures required by this section shall comply with
the following:

(1) A retail supplier’s disclosure of its electricity sources shall
be expressed as a percentage of annual sales derived from each of
the following categories:

(A) Unspecified sources of electricity.

(B) Specific purchases.

(2) A retail supplier’s disclosure of its electricity sources shall
also separately identify total California system electricity, which
is the sum of all in-state generation and net electricity imports by
fuel type.

(h) Each of the categories specified in subdivision (g) shall be
additionally identified as a percentage of annual sales that is
derived from the following fuels or sources of energy:

(1) Coal.

(2) Large hydroelectric (greater than 30 megawatts).

(3) Natural gas.

(4) Nuclear.

(5) Eligible renewable energy resources pursuant to the
California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program (Article 16
(commencing with Section 399.11)), begin delete identified by the
corresponding categories described in subdivision (b) of Section
399.16, end delete including any of the following:

(A) Biomass and biowaste.

(B) Geothermal.

(C) Eligible hydroelectric.

(D) Solar.

(E) Wind.

(6) Other categories as determined by the Energy Commission.

(i) All electricity sources disclosed as specific purchases shall
meet the requirements of subdivision (c) of Section 398.2.

(j) Specific purchases identified pursuant to this section shall
be from sources connected to the Western Electricity Coordinating
Council interconnected grid.

(k)  begin insert (1) end insert begin insert   end insert The begin delete emissions of end delete greenhouse gases begin insert emissions intensity end insert
associated with a retail supplier’s electricity sources shall be
reported as the sum of all annual emissions of greenhouse gases
divided by annual retail electric sales. Emissions of greenhouse
gases shall be calculated using the emissions reported for electricity
supplied by entities required to report emissions of greenhouse
gases pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 95100) of
Subchapter 10 of Chapter 1 of Division 3 of Title 17 of the
California Code of Regulations. Emissions of greenhouse gases
shall include any emissions otherwise attributable to any first
deliverer, as defined in paragraph (178) of subdivision (a) of
Section 95102 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations,
supplying electricity directly or indirectly to the retail supplier.
begin delete For end delete

begin insert (2) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert For end insert purposes of this begin delete calculation, end delete begin insert subdivision, end insert no adjustment
shall be made to the calculation of emissions of greenhouse gases
assigned to any retail supplier through the application of the
following:

begin delete

(1)

end delete

begin insert (A) end insert  Renewable energy credits, as defined in subdivision (h) of
Section 399.12.

begin delete

(2)

end delete

begin insert (B) end insert  Offset credits issued pursuant to Article 5 (commencing
with Section 95801) of Subchapter 10 of Chapter 1 of Division 3
of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations.

begin delete

(3)

end delete

begin insert (C) end insert  Other attributes acquired from any facility not providing
the actual delivered electricity used to serve a retail customer.

begin insert

(3) Each retail supplier shall separately identify the greenhouse
gases emissions intensity associated with statewide retail electricity
sales in the same year. The commission, in consultation with the
State Air Resources Board, shall calculate the greenhouse gases
emissions intensity associated with statewide retail electricity sales
based on the emissions of greenhouse gases for total California
system electricity.

end insert

(l) The provisions of this section shall not apply to generators
providing electric service onsite, under an over-the-fence
transaction as described in Section 218, or to an affiliate or
affiliates, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 372.

SEC. 4.  

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service
charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or
level of service mandated by this act or because costs that may be
incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred
because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a
crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction,
within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or
changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6
of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.