BILL NUMBER: AB 413 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 20, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 13, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Fuentes
FEBRUARY 23, 2009
An act to amend Sections 327, 382, 739.1, and 747 of, and to add
Sections 739.9 365.1, 739.9, and 745
to, the Public Utilities Code, and to amend Section 80110 of the
Water Code, relating to energy.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 413, as amended, Fuentes. Energy: rates.
(1) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has
regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical
corporations and gas corporations, as defined. 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.
This bill would prohibit the commission from requiring or
permitting an electrical corporation to employ time-variant pricing,
as defined, for residential customers, but would authorize the
commission to authorize an electrical corporation to offer
residential customers the option of receiving service pursuant to
time-variant pricing. The bill, commencing January 1, 2016, would
authorize the commission to authorize an electrical corporation to
employ default time-variant pricing for residential customers, if the
customer has the option of receiving service pursuant to a rate
schedule that is not based upon time-variant pricing and if
residential customers that exercise the option to not receive service
pursuant to the time-variant pricing incur no additional fee or
surcharge to exercise that option.
(2) Existing law requires the commission to establish a program of
assistance to low-income electric and gas customers, referred to as
the California Alternate Rates for Energy or CARE program, and
prohibits the cost to be borne solely by any single class of
customer.
This bill would require the commission to establish the CARE
program to provide assistance to low-income electric and gas
customers with annual household incomes at or below 200% of the
federal poverty guideline levels, and require that the cost of the
program not be bo rne solely by any single class of
customer. The bill would require, for an
electrical corporation or public utility that is both an electrical
corporation and a gas corporation, that the cost of the program
be recovered on an equal cents per kilowatthour or per-therm
basis from all classes of customers that were subject to the
surcharge that funded the CARE program on January 1, 2008.
(3) Existing law relative to electrical restructuring requires
that the electrical corporations and gas corporations that
participate in the CARE program administer low-income energy
efficiency and rate assistance programs described in specified
statutes, and undertake certain actions in administering specified
energy efficiency and weatherization programs.
This bill would require that electrical corporations, in
administering the specified energy efficiency and weatherization
programs, to target energy efficiency and solar programs to
upper-tier and multifamily customers in a manner that will result in
long-term permanent reductions in electricity usage and develop
programs that specifically target new construction by, and new and
retrofit appliances for, nonprofit affordable housing providers. The
bill would require the commission to require electrical corporations
to deploy enhanced Low-Income Energy Efficiency (LIEE) programs, as
defined, designed to reach as many eligible customers as practicable
by December 31, 2014, particularly targeting those customers
occupying apartment houses or similar multiunit residential
structures, and would require the commission and electrical
corporations and gas corporations to expend all reasonable efforts to
coordinate ratepayer-funded programs with other energy conservation
and efficiency programs and to obtain additional federal funding to
support actions undertaken pursuant to this requirement.
(4) Existing law relative to electrical restructuring requires the
commission to authorize and facilitate direct transactions between
electricity suppliers and retail end-use customers.
Existing law requires the commission to designate a baseline
quantity of electricity and gas necessary for a significant portion
of the reasonable energy needs of the average residential customer,
and requires that electrical and gas corporations file rates and
charges, to be approved by the commission, providing baseline rates
and requires the commission, in establishing baseline rates, to avoid
excessive rate increases for residential customers.
Existing law enacted during the energy crisis of 2000-01,
authorized the Department of Water Resources, until January 1, 2003,
to enter into contracts for the purchase of electricity, and to sell
electricity to retail end use customers and, with specified
exceptions, local publicly owned electric utilities, at not more than
the department's acquisition costs and to recover those costs
through the issuance of bonds to be repaid by ratepayers. That law
provides that the department is entitled to recover certain expenses
resulting from its purchases and sales of electricity and authorizes
the commission to enter into an agreement with the department
relative to cost recovery. That law prohibits the commission from
increasing the electricity charges in effect on February 1, 2001, for
residential customers for existing baseline quantities or usage by
those customers of up to 130% of then existing baseline quantities,
until the department has recovered the costs of electricity it
procured for electrical corporation retail end use customers. That
law also suspends the right of retail end-use customers, other than
community choice aggregators and a qualifying direct transaction
customer, to acquire service through a direct transaction until the
Department of Water Resources no longer supplies electricity under
that law.
This bill would delete the prohibition that the commission not
increase the electricity charges in effect on February 1, 2001, for
residential customers for existing baseline quantities or usage by
those customers of up to 130% of then existing baseline quantities.
The bill would authorize the commission, until January 1, 2019, to
increase the rates charged residential customers for electricity
usage up to 130% of the baseline quantities by the annual percentage
change in the Consumer Price Index from the prior year plus 1%, but
not less than 3% and not more than 5% per year. This authorization
would be subject to the limitation that rates charged residential
customers for electricity usage up to the baseline quantities,
including any customer charge revenues, not exceed 90% of the system
average rate, as defined. The bill would authorize the commission to
increase the rates for participants in the CARE program, subject to
certain limitations. The bill would authorize the commission
to allow individual retail end-use customers taking service from an
electric service provider on January 1, 2010, or eligible to take
service from an electric service provider under rules adopted by the
commission in existence on January 1, 2008, to acquire service for
new accounts, as defined, from an electric service provider. The bill
would suspend the right of retail end-use customers to acquire
service through a direct transaction until the Legislature, by
statute, lifts the suspension or otherwise authorizes direct
transactions delete the existing suspension of direct
transactions in the Water Code that was adopted during the energy
crisis of 2000- 01, and would instead require the
commission to authorize direct transactions subject to a
phase-in schedule of not less than 3 years and not more than 5 years,
and subject to total and yearly direct transaction limits
established, as specified, for each electrical corporation. The bill
would continue the suspension of direct transactions except as
expressly authorized, until the Legislature, by statute, repeals the
suspension or otherwise authorizes direct transactions .
(5) Existing law requires the commission to prepare and submit to
the Governor and the Legislature a written report on an annual basis
before February 1 of each year on the costs of programs and
activities conducted by an electrical corporation or gas corporation
that has more than a specified number of customers in California.
This bill would also require the report to contain the commission'
s recommendations for actions that can be undertaken during the
upcoming year to limit utility cost increases, consistent with the
state's carbon reduction, energy, and environmental goals. The bill
would require the commission to annually require electrical and gas
corporations to study and report to the commission on measures that
they recommend be undertaken to limit cost increases.
(6) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or
any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the
commission is a crime.
Because certain of 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 would be a crime, the bill
would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new 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:
SECTION 1. Section 327 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
327. (a) The electrical corporations and gas corporations that
participate in the California Alternate Rates for Energy program, as
established pursuant to Section 739.1, shall administer low-income
energy efficiency and rate assistance programs described in Sections
382, 739.1, 739.2, and 2790, subject to commission oversight. In
administering the programs described in Section 2790, the electrical
corporations and gas corporations, to the extent practicable, shall
do all of the following:
(1) Continue to leverage funds collected to fund the program
described in subdivision (a) with funds available from state and
federal sources.
(2) Work with state and local agencies, community-based
organizations, and other entities to ensure efficient and effective
delivery of programs.
(3) Encourage local employment and job skill development.
(4) Maximize the participation of eligible participants.
(5) Work to reduce consumers electric and gas consumption, and
bills.
(6) For electrical corporations, target energy efficiency and
solar programs to upper-tier and multifamily customers in a manner
that will result in long-term permanent reductions in electricity
usage, and develop programs that specifically target new construction
by, and new and retrofit appliances for, nonprofit affordable
housing providers.
(b) If the commission requires low-income energy efficiency
programs to be subject to competitive bidding, the electric and gas
corporation described in subdivision (a), as part of their bid
evaluation criteria, shall consider both cost-of-service criteria and
quality-of-service criteria. The bidding criteria, at a minimum,
shall recognize all of the following factors:
(1) The bidder's experience in delivering programs and services,
including, but not limited to, weatherization, appliance repair and
maintenance, energy education, outreach and enrollment services, and
bill payment assistance programs to targeted communities.
(2) The bidder's knowledge of the targeted communities.
(3) The bidder's ability to reach targeted communities.
(4) The bidder's ability to utilize and employ people from the
local area.
(5) The bidder's general contractor's license and evidence of good
standing with the Contractors' State License Board.
(6) The bidder's performance quality as verified by the funding
source.
(7) The bidder's financial stability.
(8) The bidder's ability to provide local job training.
(9) Other attributes that benefit local communities.
(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), the commission may modify the
bid criteria based upon public input from a variety of sources,
including representatives from low-income communities and the program
administrators identified in subdivision (b), in order to ensure the
effective and efficient delivery of high quality low-income energy
efficiency programs.
SEC. 2. Section 365.1 is added to the
Public Utilities Code , to read:
365.1. (a) Except as expressly authorized by this section, and
subject to the limitations in subdivisions (b) and (c), the right of
retail end-use customers pursuant to this chapter to acquire service
from other providers is suspended until the Legislature, by statute,
lifts the suspension or otherwise authorizes direct transactions. For
purposes of this section, "other provider" means any person,
corporation, or other entity that was authorized to provide electric
service within the service territory of an electrical corporation
pursuant to this chapter, and includes electric service providers, an
aggregator, broker, or marketer, as defined in Section 331, and an
electric service provider, as defined in Section 218.3.
(b) The commission may allow individual retail nonresidential
end-use customers to acquire electric service from electric service
providers, subject to the limitation that the total annual
kilowatthours supplied by all electric service providers to
distribution customers of an electrical corporation shall not exceed
the maximum total annual level of kilowatthours supplied by all
electric service providers, within that electrical corporation's
distribution service territory, for any year between April 1, 1998,
and January 1, 2010. By January 31, 2010, the commission shall
calculate and adopt a phase-in schedule of not less than three years,
and not more than five years, to raise the allowable limit of
kilowatthours supplied by other providers from the number of
kilowatthours provided by other providers as of January 1, 2010, to
the maximum total annual level for each electrical corporation's
distribution service territory.
(c) The commission shall not authorize additional direct
transactions pursuant to subdivision (b) unless both of the following
conditions are met:
(1) Other providers are subject to the same requirements that are
applicable to the state's three largest electrical corporations
pursuant to the resource adequacy requirements established by the
commission pursuant to Section 380, the renewables portfolio standard
requirements established by the commission pursuant to Article 16
(commencing with Section 399.11), and the requirements for the
electricity sector adopted by the State Air Resources Board pursuant
to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division 25.5
(commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code). It
is the intent of the Legislature in making these requirements that,
as a condition for allowing direct transactions, the resource
adequacy requirements, renewables portfolio standard requirements,
and requirements for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases be
applied in a competitively neutral manner.
(2) (A) The commission utilizes a mechanism that allocates the net
costs of new generation resources acquired by an electrical
corporation to meet system or local area reliability needs, on a
fully nonbypassable basis, either through a contract with a third
party, pursuant to commission authorization, or through direct
ownership of the generation resource by the electrical corporation,
pursuant to commission direction, to all of the following:
(i) Bundled service customers of the electrical corporation.
(ii) Customers that purchase electricity through a direct
transaction with other providers.
(iii) Customers of community choice aggregators.
(B) The resource adequacy benefits of new generation resources
shall be allocated to all customers who pay their net costs. The
allocation mechanism used by the commission should generally be
consistent with that adopted by the commission in Decision 06-07-029,
as modified by Decision 07-11-05, but that no energy auction shall
be required as a condition of employing the mechanism, but may be
allowed, to value the electricity generated by the resource for
purposes of determining the net costs of capacity to be recovered
from customers pursuant to this paragraph, and the allocation of the
net costs of contracts with third parties shall be allowed for the
terms of those contracts. It is the intent of the Legislature, in
enacting this subparagraph, to ensure that the customers to whom the
net costs and benefits of capacity are allocated are not required to
pay for the costs of electricity they do not consume.
(d) The commission may report to the Legislature on the efficacy
of authorizing individual retail end-use residential customers to
enter into direct transactions, including appropriate consumer
protections.
SEC. 2. SEC. 3. Section 382 of the
Public Utilities Code is amended to read:
382. (a) Programs provided to low-income electricity customers,
including, but not limited to, targeted energy-efficiency services
and the California Alternate Rates for Energy program shall be funded
at not less than 1996 authorized levels based on an assessment of
customer need.
(b) In order to meet legitimate needs of electric and gas
customers who are unable to pay their electric and gas bills and who
satisfy eligibility criteria for assistance, recognizing that
electricity is a basic necessity, and that all residents of the state
should be able to afford essential electricity and gas supplies, the
commission shall ensure that low-income ratepayers are not
jeopardized or overburdened by monthly energy expenditures. Energy
expenditure may be reduced through the establishment of different
rates for low-income ratepayers, different levels of rate assistance,
and energy efficiency programs.
(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit
electric and gas providers from offering any special rate or program
for low-income ratepayers that is not specifically required in this
section.
(d) The commission shall allocate funds necessary to meet the
low-income objectives in this section.
(e) Beginning in 2002, an assessment of the needs of low-income
electricity and gas ratepayers shall be conducted periodically by the
commission with the assistance of the Low-Income Oversight Board.
The assessment shall evaluate low-income program implementation and
the effectiveness of weatherization services and energy efficiency
measures in low-income households. The assessment shall consider
whether existing programs adequately address low-income electricity
and gas customers' energy expenditures, hardship, language needs, and
economic burdens.
(f) The commission shall require electrical corporations to deploy
enhanced low-income energy efficiency programs designed to reach as
many eligible customers as practicable by December 31, 2014,
particularly targeting those customers occupying apartments or
similar multiunit residential structures. The commission and
electrical corporations and gas corporations shall make all
reasonable efforts to coordinate ratepayer-funded programs with other
energy conservation and efficiency programs and to obtain additional
federal funding to support actions undertaken pursuant to this
subdivision. For purposes of this subdivision, "enhanced programs"
are programs that provide long-term reductions in energy consumption
at the dwelling unit based on an audit or assessment of the dwelling
unit, and may include improved insulation, energy efficient
appliances, measures that utilize solar energy, and other
cost-effective improvements to the physical structure.
SEC. 3. SEC. 4. Section 739.1 of the
Public Utilities Code is amended to read:
739.1. (a) As used in this subdivision, the following terms have
the following meanings:
(1) "Baseline quantity" has the same meaning as defined in Section
739.
(2) "California Solar Initiative" means the program providing
ratepayer funded incentives for eligible solar energy systems adopted
by the commission in Decision 05-12-044 and Decision 06-01-024, as
modified by Article 1 (commencing with Section 2851) of Chapter 9 of
Part 2 and Chapter 8.8 (commencing with Section 25780) of Division 15
of the Public Resources Code.
(3) "CalWORKs program" means the program established pursuant to
the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids Act
(Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 11200) of Part 3 of Division 9
the Welfare and Institutions Code).
(4) "Public goods charge" means the nonbypassable separate rate
component imposed pursuant to Article 7 (commencing with Section 381)
of Chapter 2.3 and the nonbypassable system benefits charge imposed
pursuant to the Reliable Electric Service Investments Act (Article 15
(commencing with Section 399) of Chapter 2.3).
(b) (1) The commission shall establish a program of assistance to
low-income electric and gas customers with annual household incomes
at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty guideline levels, the
cost of which shall not be borne solely by any single class of
customer. For an electrical corporation and for a public
utility that is both an electrical corporation and a gas corporation,
the costs shall be recovered on an equal cent-per-kilowatthour
or equal cents-per-therm basis from all classes of
customers that were subject to the surcharge that funded the program
on January 1, 2008. The program shall be referred to as the
California Alternate Rates for Energy or CARE program. The commission
shall ensure that the level of discount for low-income electric and
gas customers correctly reflects the level of need.
(2) The commission may, subject to the limitation in paragraph
(4), increase the rates in effect for CARE program participants for
electricity usage up to 130 percent of baseline quantities by the
annual percentage increase in benefits under the CalWORKs program as
authorized by the Legislature for the fiscal year in which the rate
increase would take effect, but not to exceed 3 percent per year.
This paragraph shall become inoperative on January 1, 2019, unless a
later enacted statute deletes or extends that date.
(3) Beginning January 1, 2019, the commission may, subject to the
limitation in paragraph (4), establish rates for CARE program
participants pursuant to Sections 739, 739.9, and this section,
subject to both of the following requirements:
(A) That low-income ratepayers are not jeopardized or overburdened
by monthly energy expenditures.
(B) That the level of discount for low-income electric and gas
customers correctly reflects the level of need as determined by the
needs assessment conducted pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section
382.
(4) Tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3 CARE rates shall not exceed 80
percent of the corresponding tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3 rates charged
residential customers not participating in the CARE program,
excluding any Department of Water Resources bond charge imposed
pursuant to Division 27 (commencing with Section 80000) of the Water
Code, the CARE surcharge portion of the public goods charge, any
charge imposed pursuant to the California Solar Initiative, and any
charge imposed to fund any other program that exempts CARE
participants from paying the charge.
(5) Rates charged to CARE program participants shall not have more
than three tiers. An electrical corporation that does not have a
tier 3 CARE rate may introduce a tier 3 CARE rate that, in order to
moderate the impact on program participants whose usage exceeds 130
percent of baseline quantities, shall be phased in to 80 percent of
the corresponding rates charged residential customers not
participating in the CARE program, excluding any Department of Water
Resources bond charge imposed pursuant to Division 27 (commencing
with Section 80000) of the Water Code, the CARE surcharge portion of
the public goods charge, any charge imposed pursuant to the
California Solar Initiative, and any other charge imposed to fund a
program that exempts CARE participants from paying the charge. For
electrical corporations that currently do not have a tier 3 CARE
rate, the initial rate shall be no more than 150 percent of the CARE
baseline rate and any additional revenues collected by an electrical
corporation resulting from the adoption of a tier 3 CARE rate shall,
until the utility's next periodic general rate case review of cost
allocation and rate design, be tracked and credited to reduce rates
of residential ratepayers not participating in the CARE program with
usage above 130 percent of baseline quantities.
(c) The commission shall work with the public utility electrical
and gas corporations to establish penetration goals. The commission
shall authorize recovery of all administrative costs associated with
the implementation of the CARE program that the commission determines
to be reasonable, through a balancing account mechanism.
Administrative costs shall include, but are not limited to, outreach,
marketing, regulatory compliance, certification and verification,
billing, measurement and evaluation, and capital improvements and
upgrades to communications and processing equipment.
(d) The commission shall examine methods to improve CARE
enrollment and participation. This examination shall include, but
need not be limited to, comparing information from CARE and the
Universal Lifeline Telephone Service (ULTS) to determine the most
effective means of utilizing that information to increase CARE
enrollment, automatic enrollment of ULTS customers who are eligible
for the CARE program, customer privacy issues, and alternative
mechanisms for outreach to potential enrollees. The commission shall
ensure that a customer consents prior to enrollment. The commission
shall consult with interested parties, including ULTS providers, to
develop the best methods of informing ULTS customers about other
available low-income programs, as well as the best mechanism for
telephone providers to recover reasonable costs incurred pursuant to
this section.
(e) (1) The commission shall improve the CARE application process
by cooperating with other entities and representatives of California
government, including the California Health and Human Services Agency
and the Secretary of California Health and Human Services, to ensure
that all gas and electric customers eligible for public assistance
programs in California that reside within the service territory of an
electrical corporation or gas corporation, are enrolled in the CARE
program. To the extent practicable, the commission shall develop a
CARE application process using the existing ULTS application process
as a model. The commission shall work with public utility electrical
and gas corporations and the Low-Income Oversight Board established
in Section 382.1 to meet the low-income objectives in this section.
(2) The commission shall ensure that an electrical corporation or
gas corporation with a commission-approved program to provide
discounts based upon economic need in addition to the CARE program,
including a Family Electric Rate Assistance program, utilize a single
application form, to enable an applicant to alternatively apply for
any assistance program for which the applicant may be eligible. It is
the intent of the Legislature to allow applicants under one program,
that may not be eligible under that program, but that may be
eligible under an alternative assistance program based upon economic
need, to complete a single application for any commission-approved
assistance program offered by the public utility.
(f) The commission's program of assistance to low-income electric
and gas customers shall, as soon as practicable, include nonprofit
group living facilities specified by the commission, if the
commission finds that the residents in these facilities substantially
meet the commission's low-income eligibility requirements and there
is a feasible process for certifying that the assistance shall be
used for the direct benefit, such as improved quality of care or
improved food service, of the low-income residents in the facilities.
The commission shall authorize utilities to offer discounts to
eligible facilities licensed or permitted by appropriate state or
local agencies, and to facilities, including women's shelters,
hospices, and homeless shelters, that may not have a license or
permit but provide other proof satisfactory to the utility that they
are eligible to participate in the program.
(g) It is the intent of the Legislature that the commission ensure
CARE program participants are afforded the lowest possible electric
and gas rates and, to the extent possible, are exempt from additional
surcharges attributable to the energy crisis of 2000-01.
SEC. 4. SEC. 5. Section 739.9 is
added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:
739.9. (a) The commission may, subject to the limitation in
subdivision (b), increase the rates charged residential customers for
electricity usage up to 130 percent of the baseline quantities, as
defined in Section 739, by the annual percentage change in the
Consumer Price Index from the prior year plus 1 percent, but not less
than 3 percent and not more than 5 percent per year. For purposes of
this subdivision, the annual percentage change in the Consumer Price
Index shall be calculated using the same formula that was used to
determine the annual Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment on
January 1, 2008. This subdivision shall become inoperative on January
1, 2019, unless a later enacted statute deletes or extends that
date.
(b) The rates charged residential customers for electricity usage
up to the baseline quantities, including any customer charge
revenues, shall not exceed 90 percent of the system average rate
prior to January 1, 2019, and may not exceed 92.5 percent after that
date. For purposes of this subdivision, the system average rate shall
be determined by dividing the electrical corporation's total revenue
requirements for bundled service customers by the adopted forecast
of total bundled service sales.
(c) This section does not require the commission to raise any
residential rate or restrict, or otherwise limit, the authority of
the commission to reduce any residential rate in effect immediately
preceding January 1, 2010.
SEC. 5. SEC. 6. Section 745 is added
to the Public Utilities Code, to read:
745. (a) The commission shall not require or permit an electrical
corporation to employ mandatory time-variant pricing for residential
customers.
(b) The commission may authorize an electrical corporation to
offer residential customers the option of receiving service pursuant
to time-variant pricing.
(c) Commencing January 1, 2016, the commission may authorize an
electrical corporation to employ default time-variant pricing for
residential customers, if the customer has the option of receiving
service pursuant to a rate schedule that is not based upon
time-variant pricing. The commission shall only approve an electrical
corporation's default use of time-variant pricing if residential
customers that exercise the option to not receive service pursuant to
time-variant pricing incur no additional fee or surcharge to
exercise that option.
(d) For purposes of this section, "time-variant pricing" includes
time-of-use rates, critical-peak pricing, and real-time pricing, but
does not include programs that provide customers with discounts from
the standard tariff rate as an incentive to reduce consumption at
certain times, including peak-time rebates.
SEC. 6. SEC. 7. Section 747 of the
Public Utilities Code is amended to read:
747. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature that the commission
reduce rates for electricity and natural gas to the lowest amount
possible.
(b) (1) The commission shall prepare a written report on the costs
of programs and activities conducted by each electrical corporation
and gas corporation that is subject to this section, including
activities conducted to comply with their duty to serve. The report
shall be completed on an annual basis before February 1 of each year,
and shall identify, clearly and concisely, all of the following:
(A) Each program mandated by statute and its annual cost to
ratepayers.
(B) Each program mandated by the commission and its annual cost to
ratepayers.
(C) Energy purchase contract costs and bond-related costs incurred
pursuant to Division 27 (commencing with Section 80000) of the Water
Code.
(D) All other aggregated categories of costs currently recovered
in retail rates as determined by the commission.
(2) The report shall also contain the commission's recommendations
for actions that can be undertaken during the upcoming year to limit
utility cost increases, consistent with the state's carbon
reduction, energy, and environmental goals.
(3) In preparing the report, the commission shall annually require
electrical and gas corporations to study and report to the
commission on measures that they recommend be undertaken to limit
cost increases.
(c) As used in this section, the reporting requirements apply to
electrical corporations with at least 1,000,000 retail customers in
California and gas corporations with at least 500,000 retail
customers in California.
(d) The report required by subdivision (b) shall be submitted to
the Governor and the Legislature no later than February 1 of each
year.
(e) The commission shall post the report required by subdivision
(b) in a conspicuous area of its Internet Web site.
SEC. 7. SEC. 8. Section 80110 of the
Water Code is amended to read:
80110. (a) For purposes of this section, a "new account" means
either of the following:
(1) An account belonging to an individual retail end-use customer,
as described in subdivision (g), that exists on January 1, 2010, and
that receives bundled utility service from an electrical
corporation.
(2) An additional meter or request for service of an individual
retail end-use customer, as described in subdivision (g), added after
January 1, 2010.
(b)
80110. (a) The department shall
retain title to all power sold by it to the retail end-use customers.
The department shall be entitled to recover, as a revenue
requirement, amounts and at the times necessary to enable it to
comply with Section 80134, and shall advise the commission as the
department determines to be appropriate.
(c)
(b) The revenue requirements may also include any
advances made to the department hereunder or hereafter for purposes
of this division, or from the Department of Water Resources Electric
Power Fund, and General Fund moneys expended by the department
pursuant to the Governor's Emergency Proclamation dated January 17,
2001.
(d)
(c) (1) For the purposes of this division and except as
otherwise provided in this section, the Public Utility Commission's
authority as set forth in Section 451 of the Public Utilities Code
shall apply, except any just and reasonable review under Section 451
shall be conducted and determined by the department. Prior to the
execution of any modification of any contract for the purchase of
power by the department pursuant to this division, on or after the
effective date of this section, the department or the commission, as
applicable, shall do the
following:
(A) The department shall notify the public of its intent to modify
a contract and the opportunity to comment on the proposed
modification.
(B) At least 21 days after providing public notice, the department
shall make a determination as to whether the proposed modifications
are just and reasonable. The determination shall include responses to
any public comments.
(C) No later than 70 days before the date of execution of the
contract modification, the department shall provide a written report
to the commission setting forth the justification for the
determination that the proposed modification is just and reasonable,
including documents, analysis, response to public comments, and other
information relating to the determination.
(D) Within 60 days of the date of receipt of the department's
written report, the commission shall review the report and make
public its comments. If the commission in its comments recommends
against the proposed modification, the department shall not execute
the proposed contract modification.
(2) This subdivision does not apply to the modification of a
contract modified to settle litigation to which the commission is a
party.
(3) This subdivision does not apply to the modification of a
contract for the purchase of electricity that is generated from a
facility owned by a public agency if the contract requires the public
agency to sell electricity to the department at or below the public
agency's cost of that power.
(4) This subdivision does not apply to the modification of a
contract to address issues relating to billing, scheduling, delivery
of electricity, and related contract matters arising out of the
implementation by the Independent System Operator of its market
redesign and technology upgrade program.
(5) (A) For purposes of this subdivision, the department proposes
to "modify" a contract if there is any material change proposed in
the terms of the contract.
(B) A change to a contract is not material if it is only
administrative in nature or the change in ratepayer value results in
ratepayer savings, not to exceed twenty-five million dollars
($25,000,000) per year. For the purpose of making a determination
that a change is only administrative in nature or results in
ratepayer savings of twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000) or
less per year, the executive director of the commission shall concur
in writing with each of those determinations by the department.
(e)
(d) The commission may enter into an agreement with the
department with respect to charges under Section 451 for purposes of
this division, and that agreement shall have the force and effect of
a financing order adopted in accordance with Article 5.5 (commencing
with Section 840) of Chapter 4 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Public
Utilities Code, as determined by the commission.
(f) The right of retail end-use customers pursuant to Article 6
(commencing with Section 360) of Chapter 2.3 of Part 1 of Division 1
of the Public Utilities Code to acquire service from other providers
is suspended until the Legislature, by statute, repeals the
suspension or otherwise authorizes direct transactions.
(g) Notwithstanding subdivision (f), the commission may allow
individual retail end-use customers taking service from an electric
service provider as of January 1, 2010, or eligible to take service
from an electric service provider under rules adopted by the
commission in existence on January 1, 2008, to acquire service for
new accounts from an electric service provider.
(h)
(e) The department shall have the same rights with
respect to the payment by retail end-use customers for power sold by
the department as do providers of power to the customers.
SEC. 8. SEC. 9. No reimbursement is
required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution because the only 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.