Amended in Senate September 3, 2015

Amended in Senate August 18, 2015

Amended in Senate June 19, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 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. Greenhouse gases emissions intensity 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 greenhouse gases emissions intensity 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 otherbegin insert environmentalend insert attributes acquired from any facility notbegin delete providing the actual delivered electricity used to serve a retail customer.end deletebegin insert generating the electricity procured by the retail supplier and delivered to the balancing authority in which the customers of the retail supplier are located. The bill would require the Energy Commission, on or before January 1, 2017, to specify guidelines for the reporting of greenhouse gas emissions intensity, subject to public hearing. The bill would require retail suppliers, beginning June 1, 2019, to report to the Energy Commission data on annual emissions of greenhouse gases occurring after December 31, 2017, except as provided.end insert

The Public Utilities Act makes any public utility and any corporation other than a public utility, if the public utility or corporation violates the act or 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:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

Section 398.1 of the Public Utilities Code is
2amended to read:

3

398.1.  

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that there is a
4need for reliable, accurate,begin delete and timelyend deletebegin insert timely, and consistentend insert
5 information regarding fuel sources for electric generation offered
6for retail sale in California.

P3    1(b) The purpose of this article is to establish a program under
2which entities offering electric services in California disclose
3accurate, reliable, and simple to understand information on the
4sources of energy, and the associated emissions of greenhouse
5gases, that are used to provide electric services.

6

SEC. 2.  

Section 398.2 of the Public Utilities Code is amended
7to read:

8

398.2.  

The definitions set forth in this section shall govern the
9construction of this article.

10(a) “Retail supplier” means an entity that offers an electricity
11product for sale to retail consumers in California, including an
12electrical corporation, local publicly owned electric utility, electric
13service provider, and community choice aggregator.

14(b) “System operator” means the Independent System Operator
15with responsibility for the efficient use and reliable operation of
16the transmission grid, as provided by Section 345, or a local
17publicly owned electric utility that does not utilize the Independent
18System Operator.

19(c) “Specific purchases” means electricity transactions that are
20traceable to specific generation sources by any auditable contract
21trail or equivalent, such as a tradable commodity system, that
22provides commercial verification that the electricity source claimed
23has been sold once and only once to a retail consumer. Retail
24suppliers may rely on annual data to meet this requirement, rather
25than hour-by-hour matching of loads and resources.

26(d) “Unspecified sources of power” means electricity that is not
27traceable to specific generation sources by any auditable contract
28trail or equivalent, including a tradable commodity system, that
29provides commercial verification that the electricity source claimed
30has been sold once, and only once, to a retail consumer.

31

SEC. 3.  

Section 398.4 of the Public Utilities Code is amended
32to read:

33

398.4.  

(a) Every retail supplier that makes an offering to sell
34electricity that is consumed in California shall disclose its
35electricity sources and the associated greenhouse gases emissions
36intensity for the previous calendar year.

37(b) The disclosures required by this section shall be made to
38potential end-use consumers in all product-specific written
39promotional materials that are distributed to consumers by either
40printed or electronic means, including the retail supplier’s Internet
P4    1Web site, if one exists, except that advertisements and notices in
2general circulation media shall not be subject to this requirement.

3(c) The disclosures required by this section shall be made
4annually to end-use consumers of the offered electricity. The annual
5disclosure shall be made by the end of the first complete billing
6cycle for the third quarter of the year, and shall be consistent with
7information provided to the Energy Commission pursuant to
8Section 398.5.

9(d) The disclosures required by this section shall be made
10separately for each offering made by the retail supplier.

11(e) On or before January 1, 1998, the Energy Commission shall
12specify guidelines for the format and means for disclosure required
13by Section 398.3 and this section, based on the requirements of
14this article and subject to public hearing.

15(f) The costs of making the disclosures required by this section
16shall be considered to be generation related.

17(g) The disclosures required by this section shall comply with
18the following:

19(1) A retail supplier’s disclosure of its electricity sources shall
20be expressed as a percentage of annual sales derived from each of
21the following categories:

22(A) Unspecified sources of electricity.

23(B) Specific purchases.

24(2) A retail supplier’s disclosure of its electricity sources shall
25also separately identify total California system electricity, which
26is the sum of all in-state generation and net electricity imports by
27fuel type.

28(h) Each of the categories specified in subdivision (g) shall be
29additionally identified as a percentage of annual sales that is
30derived from the following fuels or sources of energy:

31(1) Coal.

32(2) Large hydroelectric (greater than 30 megawatts).

33(3) Natural gas.

34(4) Nuclear.

35(5) Eligible renewable energy resources pursuant to the
36California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program (Article 16
37(commencing with Section 399.11)), including any of the
38following:

39(A) Biomass and biowaste.

40(B) Geothermal.

P5    1(C) Eligible hydroelectric.

2(D) Solar.

3(E) Wind.

4(6) Other categories as determined by the Energy Commission.

5(i) All electricity sources disclosed as specific purchases shall
6meet the requirements of subdivision (c) of Section 398.2.

7(j) Specific purchases identified pursuant to this section shall
8be from sources connected to the Western Electricity Coordinating
9Council interconnected grid.

10(k) (1) The greenhouse gases emissions intensity associated
11with a retail supplier’s electricity sources shall be reportedbegin insert by the
12retail supplier to the customerend insert
as the sum of all annual emissions
13of greenhouse gases divided by annual retail electric sales.
14Emissions of greenhouse gases shall be calculated using the
15emissions reported for electricity supplied by entities required to
16report emissions of greenhouse gases pursuant to Article 2
17(commencing with Section 95100) of Subchapter 10 of Chapter 1
18of Division 3 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations.
19Emissions of greenhouse gases shall include any emissions
20otherwise attributable to any first deliverer, as defined in paragraph
21(178) of subdivision (a) of Section 95102 of Title 17 of the
22California Code of Regulations, supplying electricity directly or
23indirectly to the retail supplier.

24(2) For purposes of this subdivision, no adjustment shall be
25made to the calculation of emissions of greenhouse gases assigned
26to any retail supplier through the application of the following:

27(A) Renewable energy credits, as defined in subdivision (h) of
28Section 399.12.

29(B) Offset credits issued pursuant to Article 5 (commencing
30with Section 95801) of Subchapter 10 of Chapter 1 of Division 3
31of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations.

32(C) Otherbegin insert environmentalend insert attributes acquired from any facility
33notbegin delete providing the actual delivered electricity used to serve a retail
34customer.end delete
begin insert generating the electricity procured by the retail supplier
35and delivered to the balancing authority in which the customers
36of the retail supplier are located.end insert

begin insert

37(3) The Energy Commission shall ensure that the calculation
38of greenhouse gas emissions attributed to a retail supplier is
39consistent with treatment under the market-based compliance
P6    1mechanism adopted by the State Air Resources Board for the
2following:

end insert
begin insert

3(A) Procurement from electric generation without a compliance
4obligation pursuant to Section 95852.2 of Title 17 of the California
5Code of Regulations.

end insert
begin insert

6(B) Procurement satisfying the requirements of paragraph (4)
7of subdivision (b) of Section 95852 of Title 17 of the California
8Code of Regulations.

end insert
begin insert

9(4) For purposes of determining greenhouse gas intensity
10pursuant to this section, the Energy Commission shall determine
11the appropriate treatment for production from any electricity
12source located behind the meter of a customer served by a retail
13supplier. At a minimum, any reported electricity production shall
14 be verified using a revenue grade meter and added to the
15calculation of the retail electric sales for the retail supplier.

end insert
begin insert

16(5) The calculation of greenhouse gas emissions intensity shall
17not be determined based upon whether the procurement is either
18assigned to any particular portfolio content category under
19subdivision (b) of Section 399.16 or classified as counting in full
20pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 399.16.

end insert
begin insert

21(6) The Energy Commission shall, in consultation with the State
22Air Resources Board and consistent with the requirements of this
23subdivision, establish emissions intensity factors for electricity
24sources reported by retail suppliers.

end insert
begin delete

25(3)

end delete

26begin insert(7)end insert Each retail supplier shall separately identify the greenhouse
27gases emissions intensity associated with statewide retail electricity
28sales in the same year. Thebegin delete commission,end deletebegin insert Energy Commission,end insert in
29consultation with the State Air Resources Board, shall calculate
30the greenhouse gases emissions intensity associated with statewide
31retail electricity sales based on the emissions of greenhouse gases
32for total California system electricity.

begin insert

33(8) (A) On or before January 1, 2017, the Energy Commission
34shall specify guidelines for the reporting and disclosure of
35greenhouse gas emissions intensity, based on the requirements of
36this subdivision and subject to public hearing. Beginning June 1,
372019, retail suppliers shall be required to report to the Energy
38Commission data on annual emissions of greenhouse gases
39occurring after December 31, 2017.

end insert
begin insert

P7    1(B) Any new community choice aggregator formed after January
21, 2016, shall not be required to report to the Energy Commission
3data on annual emissions of greenhouse gases occurring until at
4least 24 months, but no later than 36 months, after serving its first
5retail customer.

end insert
begin insert

6(9) Any marketing or retail product claims relating to the
7greenhouse gas emissions intensity of the electricity sources of a
8retail supplier shall be consistent with the methodology required
9under this section. Retail suppliers may provide additional
10information to customers describing other actions relating to
11greenhouse gas emissions.

end insert

12(l) The provisions of this section shall not apply to generators
13providing electric service onsite, under an over-the-fence
14transaction as described in Section 218, or to an affiliate or
15affiliates, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 372.

16

SEC. 4.  

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
17Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
18a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service
19charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or
20level of service mandated by this act or because costs that may be
21incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred
22because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a
23crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction,
24within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or
25changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6
26of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.



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