California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 1739


Introduced by Assembly Member Waldron

February 1, 2016


An act to amend Section 2827.3 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1739, as introduced, Waldron. Net energy metering.

Existing law requires all electric utilities to develop a standard contract or tariff providing for net energy metering, and to make this contract available to eligible customer generators, upon request, except as provided. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to complete a study by October 1, 2013, to determine who benefits from, and who bears the economic burden, if any, of the net energy metering program, and to determine the extent to which each class of ratepayers and each region of the state receiving service under the net energy metering program is paying the full cost of the services provided to them by electrical corporations, and the extent to which those customers pay their share of the costs of public purpose programs. Existing law requires the commission to report the results of the study to the Legislature within 30 days of its completion.

This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to this provision.

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

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

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SECTION 1.  

Section 2827.3 of the Public Utilities Code is
2amended to read:

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2827.3.  

(a) By October 1, 2013, the commission shall complete
4a study to determine who benefits from, and who bears the
5economic burden, if any, of, the net energy metering program
6authorized pursuant to Section 2827, and to determine the extent
7to which each class of ratepayers and each region of the state
8receiving service under the net energy metering program is paying
9the full cost of the services provided to them by electrical
10corporations, and the extent to which those customers pay their
11share of the costs of public purpose programs. In evaluating
12program costs and benefits for purposes of the study, the
13commission shall consider all electricity generated by renewable
14electric generating systems, including the electricity used onsite
15to reduce a customer’s consumption of electricity that otherwise
16would be supplied through the electrical grid, as well as the
17electrical output that is being fed back to the electrical grid for
18which the customer receives credit or net surplus electricity
19compensation under net energy metering. The study shall quantify
20the costs and benefits of net energy metering to participants and
21nonparticipants and shall further disaggregate the results by utility,
22customer class, and household income groups within the residential
23class. The study shall further gather and present data on the income
24distribution of residential net energy metering participants. In order
25to assess the costs and benefits at various levels of net energy
26metering implementation, the study shall be conducted using
27multiple net energy metering penetration scenarios, including, at
28a minimum, the capacity needed to reach the solar photovoltaic
29goals of the California Solar Initiative pursuant to Section 25780
30of the Public Resources Code, and the estimated net energy
31metering capacity under the 5-percent minimum requirement of
32paragraphs (1) and (4) of subdivision (c) of Section 2827.

33(b) (1) The commission shall report the results of the study to
34the Legislature within 30 days ofbegin delete itsend deletebegin insert the study’send insert completion.

35(2) The report shall be submitted in compliance with Section
369795 of the Government Code.

P3    1(3) Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this
2section is repealed on July 1, 2017.



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