Amended in Senate May 5, 2015

Amended in Senate April 27, 2015

Senate BillNo. 793


Introduced by Senator Wolk

(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Williams)

February 27, 2015


An act to amend Section 2833begin delete of, and to repeal Section 2834 of,end deletebegin insert ofend insert the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 793, as amended, Wolk. Green Tariff Shared Renewables Program.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. The Green Tariff Shared Renewables Program requires a participating utility, defined as being an electrical corporation with 100,000 or more customers in California, to file with the commission an application requesting approval of a tariff to implement a program enabling ratepayers to participate in electrical generation facilities that use eligible renewable energy resources, consistent with certain legislative findings and statements of intent. Existing law requires the commission, by July 1, 2014, to issue a decision concerning the participating utility’s application, determining whether to approve or disapprove the application, with or without modifications. Existing law requires the commission, after notice and opportunity for public comment, to approve the application if the commission determines that the proposed program is reasonable and consistent with the legislative findings and statements of intent and requires the commission to require that a participating utility’s green tariff shared renewables program be administered in accordance with specified provisions. Existing law repeals the program on January 1, 2019.

This bill would require the commission to additionally require that a participating utility’s green tariff shared renewables program permit a participating customer to subscribe to the program and receive a reasonably estimated bill credit and bill charge, as determined by the commission, for a period of up to 20 years.begin delete The bill would delete the repeal of the program.end delete

Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.

Because the bill would require action by the commission to implement its requirements and a violation of those requirements would be a crime, the bill would imposed a state-mandated local program by expanding the definition of a crime.

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:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

Section 2833 of the Public Utilities Code is
2amended to read:

3

2833.  

(a) The commission shall require a green tariff shared
4renewables program to be administered by a participating utility
5in accordance with this section.

6(b) Generating facilities participating in a participating utility’s
7green tariff shared renewables program shall be eligible renewable
8energy resources with a nameplate rated generating capacity not
9exceeding 20 megawatts, except for those generating facilities
10reserved for location in areas identified by the California
11Environmental Protection Agency as the most impacted and
12disadvantaged communities pursuant to paragraph (1) of
13subdivision (d), which shall not exceed one megawatt nameplate
14rated generating capacity.

P3    1(c) A participating utility shall use commission-approved tools
2and mechanisms to procure additional eligible renewable energy
3resources for the green tariff shared renewables program from
4electrical generation facilities that are in addition to those required
5by the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program (Article
616 (commencing with Section 399.11) of Chapter 2.3 of Part 1).
7For purposes of this subdivision, “commission-approved tools and
8mechanisms” means those procurement methods approved by the
9commission for an electrical corporation to procure eligible
10renewable energy resources for purposes of meeting the
11procurement requirements of the California Renewables Portfolio
12Standard Program (Article 16 (commencing with Section 399.11)
13of Chapter 2.3 of Part 1).

14(d) A participating utility shall permit customers within the
15service territory of the utility to purchase electricity pursuant to
16the tariff approved by the commission to implement the utility’s
17green tariff shared renewables program, until the utility meets its
18proportionate share of a statewide limitation of 600 megawatts of
19customer participation, measured by nameplate rated generating
20 capacity. The proportionate share shall be calculated based on the
21ratio of each participating utility’s retail sales to total retail sales
22of electricity by all participating utilities. The commission may
23place other restrictions on purchases under a green tariff shared
24renewables program, including restricting participation to a certain
25level of capacity each year. The following restrictions shall apply
26to the statewide 600 megawatt limitation:

27(1) (A) One hundred megawatts shall be reserved for facilities
28that are no larger than one megawatt nameplate rated generating
29capacity and that are located in areas previously identified by the
30California Environmental Protection Agency as the most impacted
31and disadvantaged communities. These communities shall be
32identified by census tract, and shall be determined to be the most
33impacted 20 percent based on results from the best available
34cumulative impact screening methodology designed to identify
35each of the following:

36(i) Areas disproportionately affected by environmental pollution
37and other hazards that can lead to negative public health effects,
38exposure, or environmental degradation.

39(ii) Areas with socioeconomic vulnerability.

P4    1(B) (1) For purposes of this paragraph, “previously identified”
2means identified prior to commencing construction of the facility.

3(2) Not less than 100 megawatts shall be reserved for
4participation by residential class customers.

5(3) Twenty megawatts shall be reserved for the City of Davis.

6(e) To the extent possible, a participating utility shall seek to
7procure eligible renewable energy resources that are located in
8reasonable proximity to enrolled participants.

9(f) A participating utility’s green tariff shared renewables
10program shall support diverse procurement and the goals of
11commission General Order 156.

12(g) A participating utility’s green tariff shared renewables
13program shall not allow a customer to subscribe to more than 100
14percent of the customer’s electricity demand.

15(h) Except as authorized by this subdivision, a participating
16utility’s green tariff shared renewables program shall not allow a
17customer to subscribe to more than two megawatts of nameplate
18generating capacity. This limitation does not apply to a federal,
19state, or local government, school or school district, county office
20of education, the California Community Colleges, the California
21State University, or the University of California.

22(i) A participating utility’s green tariff shared renewables
23program shall not allow any single entity or its affiliates or
24subsidiaries to subscribe to more than 20 percent of any single
25calendar year’s total cumulative rated generating capacity.

26(j) To the extent possible, a participating utility shall actively
27market the utility’s green tariff shared renewables program to
28low-income and minority communities and customers.

29(k) Participating customers shall receive bill credits for the
30generation of a participating eligible renewable energy resource
31using the class average retail generation cost as established in the
32participating utility’s approved tariff for the class to which the
33participating customer belongs, plus a renewables adjustment value
34representing the difference between the time-of-delivery profile
35of the eligible renewable energy resource used to serve the
36participating customer and the class average time-of-delivery
37profile and the resource adequacy value, if any, of the resource
38contained in the utility’s green tariff shared renewables program.
39The renewables adjustment value applicable to a time-of-delivery
40profile of an eligible renewable energy resource shall be determined
P5    1according to rules adopted by the commission. For these purposes,
2“time-of-delivery profile” refers to the daily generating pattern of
3a participating eligible renewable energy resource over time, the
4value of which is determined by comparing the generating pattern
5of that participating eligible renewable energy resource to the
6demand for electricity over time and other generating resources
7available to serve that demand.

8(l) Participating customers shall pay a renewable generation
9rate established by the commission, the administrative costs of the
10participating utility, and any other charges the commission
11determines are just and reasonable to fully cover the cost of
12procuring a green tariff shared renewables program’s resources to
13serve a participating customer’s needs.

14(m) A participating customer’s rates shall be debited or credited
15with any other commission-approved costs or values applicable
16to the eligible renewable energy resources contained in a
17participating utility’s green tariff shared renewables program’s
18portfolio. These additional costs or values shall be applied to new
19customers when they initially subscribe after the cost or value has
20been approved by the commission.

21(n) Participating customers shall pay all otherwise applicable
22charges without modification.

23(o) A participating utility shall permit a participating customer
24to subscribe to the program and receive a reasonably estimated
25bill credit and bill charge, as determined by the commission, for
26a period of up to 20 years.

27(p) A participating utility shall provide support for enhanced
28community renewables programs to facilitate development of
29eligible renewable energy resource projects located close to the
30source of demand.

31(q) The commission shall ensure that charges and credits
32associated with a participating utility’s green tariff shared
33renewables program are set in a manner that ensures nonparticipant
34ratepayer indifference for the remaining bundled service, direct
35access, and community choice aggregation customers and ensures
36that no costs are shifted from participating customers to
37nonparticipating ratepayers.

38(r) A participating utility shall track and account for all revenues
39and costs to ensure that the utility recovers the actual costs of the
P6    1utility’s green tariff shared renewables program and that all costs
2and revenues are fully transparent and auditable.

3(s) Any renewable energy credits associated with electricity
4procured by a participating utility for the utility’s green tariff shared
5renewables program and utilized by a participating customer shall
6be retired by the participating utility on behalf of the participating
7customer. Those renewable energy credits shall not be further sold,
8transferred, or otherwise monetized for any purpose. Any
9renewable energy credits associated with electricity procured by
10a participating utility for the shared renewable energy
11 self-generation program, but not utilized by a participating
12customer, shall be counted toward meeting that participating
13utility’s renewables portfolio standard.

14(t) A participating utility shall, in the event of participant
15customer attrition or other causes that reduce customer participation
16or electrical demand below generation levels, apply the excess
17generation from the eligible renewable energy resources procured
18through the utility’s green tariff shared renewables program to the
19utility’s renewable portfolio standard procurement obligations or
20bank the excess generation for future use to benefit all customers
21in accordance with the renewables portfolio standard banking and
22procurement rules approved by the commission.

23(u) In calculating its procurement requirements to meet the
24requirements of the California Renewables Portfolio Standard
25Program (Article 16 (commencing with Section 399.11) of Chapter
262.3 of Part 1), a participating utility may exclude from total retail
27sales the kilowatthours generated by an eligible renewable energy
28resource that is credited to a participating customer pursuant to
29the utility’s green tariff shared renewables program, commencing
30with the point in time at which the generating facility achieves
31commercial operation.

32(v) All renewable energy resources procured on behalf of
33participating customers in the participating utility’s green tariff
34shared renewables program shall comply with the State Air
35Resources Board’s Voluntary Renewable Electricity Program.
36California-eligible greenhouse gas allowances associated with
37these purchases shall be retired on behalf of participating customers
38as part of the board’s Voluntary Renewable Electricity Program.

39(w) A participating utility shall provide a municipality with
40 aggregated consumption data for participating customers within
P7    1the municipality’s jurisdiction to allow for reporting on progress
2toward climate action goals by the municipality. A participating
3utility shall also publicly disclose, on a geographic basis,
4consumption data and reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases
5achieved by participating customers in the utility’s green tariff
6shared renewables program, on an aggregated basis consistent with
7privacy protections as specified in Chapter 5 (commencing with
8Section 8380) of Division 4.1.

9(x) Nothing in this section prohibits or restricts a community
10choice aggregator from offering its own voluntary renewable
11energy programs to participating customers of the community
12choice aggregation.

begin delete13

SEC. 2.  

Section 2834 of the Public Utilities Code is repealed.

end delete
14

begin deleteSEC. 3.end delete
15begin insertSEC. 2.end insert  

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
16Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
17the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
18district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
19infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
20for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of
21the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within
22the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
23Constitution.



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