AB 1800, as amended, Hadley. Utility outage compensation claims: annual posting.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law requires each electrical corporation to report annually on its compliance with specified standards or rules adopted by the commission, including, but not limited to, standards for operation, reliability, and safety during periods of emergency and disaster. Existing law requires the commission to adopt inspection, maintenance, repair, and replacement standards for the distribution systems of electrical corporations in order to provide high-quality, safe, and reliable service. Existing law requires the commission to conduct a review to determine whether the standards have been met and to perform the review after every major outage.
The existing restructuring of the electrical industry within the Public Utilities Act provides for the establishment of an Independent System Operator, or ISO, as a nonprofit public benefit corporation and requires the ISO to ensure efficient use and reliable operation of the electrical transmission grid consistent with achieving planning and operating reserve criteria no less stringent than those established by the Western Electricity Coordinating Council and the North American Electric Reliability Council. Existing law requires the ISO to perform a review after any major outage that affects at least 10% of the customers of the entity providing the local distribution service. If the ISO finds that the operation and maintenance practices of the transmission facility owner or operator prolonged the response time or was responsible for the outage, the ISO is authorized to order appropriate sanctions, subject to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approving that authority.
This bill would require each electrical corporation and local publicly owned electric utility to annually post on its Internet Web site specified information relating to utility outage compensation claims for the previous year. The bill would make these requirements applicable to those outages that the ISO, the commission, or the utility has determined are the fault of thebegin delete utility.end deletebegin insert utility, or those claims relating to outages that the utility has determined to pay.end insert By adding reporting requirements that are applicable to local publicly owned electric utilities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.begin insert
The bill would prohibit information relating to utility outage compensation claims from being admitted as evidence in any action for damages against an electrical corporation or local publicly owned electric utility arising out of an outageend insertbegin insert.end insert
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 a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 8390) is
2added to Division 4.1 of the Public Utilities Code, to read:
The reporting requirements of this chapter apply only
5to those outages that the Independent System Operator, the
6commission, or the electrical corporation or local publicly owned
7electric utility has determined are the fault of thebegin delete utility.end deletebegin insert utility, or
8those claims relating to outages that the utility has determined to
9pay.end insert
Each electrical corporation and local publicly owned
11electric utility shall annually post on its Internet Web site all of
12the following information relating to utility outage compensation
13claims for the previous year:
14(a) The number of claims still open from the previous year.
15(b) The number of new claims received.
16(c) The total number of applicants awaiting determination or
17judgment at the end of the year.
18(d) The median time taken to process claims once the outage
19was determined to be the fault of
thebegin delete utility.end deletebegin insert utility, or once the
20utility has determined to pay.end insert
21(e) The number of claims approved.
22(f) The number of claims denied.
Information relating to utility outage compensation
24claims shall not be admitted as evidence in any action for damages
25against an electrical corporation or local publicly owned electric
26utility arising out of an outage.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
28Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
29a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service
30charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or
31level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section
3217556 of the Government Code.
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