Amended in Senate August 4, 2016

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 Bill No. 1110

Introduced by Assembly Member Ting

February 27, 2015

An act to amend Sections 398.1, 398.2, begin delete and 398.4 end delete begin insert 398.4, and 398.5 end insert 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 begin delete customers end delete begin insert consumers end insert and potential end-use begin delete customers. end delete begin insert consumers. end insert 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. begin insert Existing law requires that retail suppliers annually report to the Energy Commission certain information for each electricity from “specified sources,” as defined, offering for the previous calendar year. end insert

This bill would require begin insert the Energy Commission to calculate the greenhouse gas emissions intensity for each purchase of electricity from “specified sources,” as defined, and, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, to establish greenhouse gas emissions intensity factors for electricity from “unspecified sources.” The bill would require end insert a retail supplier, including an electrical corporation, local publicly owned electric utility, electric service provider, and community choice begin delete aggregator end delete begin insert aggregator, end insert to also disclose the greenhouse gases emissions intensity begin delete associated with its electricity sources. end delete begin insert of any electricity portfolio offered to its retail customers, as specified, and the Energy Commission’s calculation of the greenhouse gas emissions intensity associated with all statewide retail electricity sales. end insert The bill would prohibit an adjustment in the calculation of begin delete emissions of end delete greenhouse begin delete gases end delete begin insert gas emissions intensity end insert through the application of begin insert unbundled end insert renewable energy credits, carbon offset credits, begin delete or other environmental attributes acquired from any facility not generating the electricity procured by the retail supplier and delivered to the balancing authority in which the customers of the retail supplier are located. end delete begin insert or credits associated with any greenhouse gas reductions unrelated to the production of electricity. The bill would require a retail supplier to annually report to the Energy Commission certain additional information for each electricity offering for the previous calendar year. end insert The bill would require the Energy Commission, on or before January 1, begin delete 2017, to specify end delete begin insert 2018, to adopt end insert guidelines for the reporting begin insert and disclosure end insert of greenhouse gas emissions intensity, subject to public hearing. The bill would require retail suppliers, beginning June 1, begin delete 2019, end delete begin insert 2020, end insert to report to the Energy Commission data on begin delete annual emissions of greenhouse gases end delete begin insert greenhouse gas emissions intensity associated with retail sales end insert occurring after December 31, begin delete 2017, end delete begin insert 2018, end insert except as provided.

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:

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, timely, and consistent 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.

begin insert

(a) “Greenhouse gas emissions intensity” means the sum of all
annual emissions of greenhouse gases associated with a generation
source divided by the annual production of electricity from the
generation source.

end insert begin delete

(a)

end delete

begin insert (b) end insert  “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.

begin delete

(b)

end delete

begin insert (c) end insert  “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.

begin delete

(c) “Specific purchases”

end delete

begin insert (d) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert “Purchases of electricity from specified sources” or
“purchases from specified sources” end insert 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 begin delete meet this requirement, end delete
begin insert determine whether a transaction meets this definition, end insert rather than
hour-by-hour matching of loads and resources.

begin delete

(d) “Unspecified sources of power”

end delete

begin insert (e) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert “Electricity from unspecified sources” end insert 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 greenhouse gases emissions
intensity 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 begin insert portfolio end insert 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)  begin delete Unspecified sources of electricity. end delete begin insert Electricity from
unspecified sources. end insert

(B)  begin delete Specific purchases. end delete begin insert Purchases of electricity from specified
sources. end insert

(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 begin delete fuels or end delete begin insert fuels, end insert sources of begin delete energy: end delete begin insert energy,
or electricity products: end insert

(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)), including any of the
following:

(A) Biomass and biowaste.

(B) Geothermal.

(C) Eligible hydroelectric.

(D) Solar.

(E) Wind.

begin insert

(F) Unbundled renewable energy credits.

end insert

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

(i) All electricity sources disclosed as begin delete specific end delete purchases begin insert of
electricity from specified sources end insert shall meet the requirements of
subdivision begin delete (c) end delete begin insert (d) end insert of Section 398.2.

(j)  begin delete Specific purchases end delete begin insert Purchases of electricity from specified
sources end insert identified pursuant to this section shall be from sources
connected to the Western Electricity Coordinating Council
interconnected grid.

begin delete

(k) (1) The greenhouse gases emissions intensity associated
with a retail supplier’s electricity sources shall be reported by the
retail supplier to the customer 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.

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

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

(B) 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.

(C) Other environmental attributes acquired from any facility
not generating the electricity procured by the retail supplier and
delivered to the balancing authority in which the customers of the
retail supplier are located.

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

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

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

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

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

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

(7) Each retail supplier shall separately identify the greenhouse
gases emissions intensity associated with statewide retail electricity
sales in the same year. The Energy 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.

(8) (A) On or before January 1, 2017, the Energy Commission
shall specify guidelines for the reporting and disclosure of
greenhouse gas emissions intensity, based on the requirements of
this subdivision and subject to public hearing. Beginning June 1,
2019, retail suppliers shall be required to report to the Energy
Commission data on annual emissions of greenhouse gases
occurring after December 31, 2017.

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

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

end delete begin insert

(k) (1) Each retail supplier shall disclose the greenhouse gas
emissions intensity of any electricity portfolio offered to its retail
customers and the Energy Commission’s calculation of greenhouse
gas emissions intensity associated with all statewide retail
electricity sales, consistent with the requirements of this
subdivision.

end insert begin insert

(2) The Energy Commission shall do all of the following:

end insert begin insert

(A) Calculate the greenhouse gas emissions intensity for each
purchase of electricity from a specified source using data reported
to the State Air Resources Board under the regulations for the
Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting program or a successor
program. If emissions data is unavailable or restricted due to
confidentiality, the Energy Commission may establish default
emissions intensity factors for purchases from specified sources.

end insert begin insert

(B) Establish, in consultation with the State Air Resources
Board, default emissions intensity factors for electricity from
unspecified sources located in California, electricity from
unspecified sources imported into the state from other regions,
and electricity from sources without a reporting obligation.

end insert begin insert

(C) Calculate the greenhouse gas emissions intensity associated
with statewide retail electricity sales based on the greenhouse gas
emissions for total California system electricity.

end insert begin insert

(D) Rely on the most recent verified greenhouse gas emissions
data while ensuring that greenhouse gas emissions intensity factors
for electricity from specified and unspecified sources are available
to retail suppliers with sufficient advance notice to permit timely
reporting.

end insert begin insert

(E) Retain the right to verify any procurement claims made by
a retail supplier, including the right to review any underlying
procurement contracts, the associated electronic tags
demonstrating that the claimed electricity was delivered to the
retail supplier, and all related financial settlements.

end insert begin insert

(3) The Energy Commission shall not authorize a retail seller
to make any adjustments to the calculation of greenhouse gas
emissions intensity beyond those permitted under the market-based
compliance mechanism adopted by the State Air Resources Board.
A retail seller shall not make adjustments due to the use of offset
credits, credits associated with any greenhouse gas reductions
unrelated to the production of electricity, or unbundled renewable
energy credits.

end insert begin insert

(4) The Energy Commission may authorize an adjustment to a
greenhouse gas emissions intensity factor for any local publicly
owned electric utility demonstrating procurement of quantities of
electricity in a single year in excess of its total retail sales from
purchases from specified sources that do not emit any greenhouse
gases. Any request for adjustments by an eligible local publicly
owned electric utility shall be considered in an open process,
subject to public comment, and adopted through a vote of the full
Energy Commission. An adjustment authorized by the Energy
Commission shall not permit excess generation procured in a
single year to be counted more than once or to be resold to another
retail supplier as a purchase from a specified source.

end insert begin insert

(5) The Energy Commission shall ensure that there is no double
counting of the greenhouse gas emissions or emissions attributes
associated with any unit of electricity production reported by a
retail supplier for any specific generating facility located within
the Western Electricity Coordinating Council when calculating
greenhouse gas emissions intensity.

end insert begin insert

(6) (A) On or before January 1, 2018, the Energy Commission
shall adopt guidelines for the reporting and disclosure of
greenhouse gas emissions intensity associated with retail sales
based on the requirements of this subdivision and subject to public
hearing. Beginning June 1, 2020, retail suppliers shall be required
to report data on greenhouse gas emissions intensity associated
with retail sales occurring after December 31, 2018.

end insert begin insert

(B) Any new community choice aggregator formed after January
1, 2016, shall not be required to report data on greenhouse gas
emissions intensity associated with retail sales until at least 24
months, but no later than 36 months, after serving its first retail
customer.

end insert begin insert

(7) Any marketing or retail product claims relating to the
greenhouse gas emissions intensity of the electric supply portfolio
of a retail supplier shall be consistent with the methodology
required under this section. Retail suppliers may provide additional
information to customers describing other actions relating to
greenhouse gases that are unrelated to the electric supply portfolio.

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.

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 4. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 398.5 of the end insert begin insert Public Utilities Code end insert begin insert is amended
to read: end insert

398.5.  

(a) Retail suppliers begin delete that disclose specific purchases
pursuant to Section 398.4 end delete shall annually report to the Energy
Commission, for each electricity offering for the previous calendar
year, each of the following:

(1) The kilowatthours purchased, by generator and fuel type
during the previous calendar year, consistent with the meter data,
including losses, reported to the system operator.

begin insert

(2) The kilowatthours purchased from unspecified sources in
California and from unspecified sources imported into California
from other subregions within the Western Electricity Coordinating
Council.

end insert begin insert

(3) Any kilowatthours supplied to the retail seller directly or
indirectly by a first deliverer of electricity into the state.

end insert begin delete

(2)

end delete

begin insert (4) end insert  For each electricity offering the kilowatthours sold at retail.

begin delete

(3)

end delete

begin insert (5) end insert  For each electricity offering the disclosures made to
consumers pursuant to Section 398.4.

(b) Information submitted to the Energy Commission pursuant
to this section that is a trade secret as defined in subdivision (d)
of Section 3426.1 of the Civil Code shall not be released except
in an aggregated form such that trade secrets cannot be discerned.

(c) The Energy Commission shall specify guidelines and
standard formats, based on the requirements of this article and
subject to public hearing, for the submittal of information pursuant
to this article.

(d) In developing the rules and procedures specified in this
section, the Energy Commission shall seek to minimize the
reporting burden and cost of reporting that it imposes on retail
suppliers.

(e) 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.

(f) The Energy Commission may verify environmental claims
made by retail suppliers.

begin delete SEC. 4. end delete

begin insert SEC. 5. end insert   

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.