BILL NUMBER: AB 1023	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Ruskin

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2009

   An act to amend Section 399.20 of the Public Utilities Code,
relating to energy.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1023, as introduced, Ruskin. Renewable energy resources.
   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations,
as defined. The Public Utilities Act imposes various duties and
responsibilities on the commission with respect to the purchase of
electricity by electrical corporations and requires the commission to
review and adopt a procurement plan and a renewable energy
procurement plan for each electrical corporation pursuant to the
California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program. The program
requires that a retail seller of electricity, including electrical
corporations, purchase a specified minimum percentage of electricity
generated by eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, in any
given year as a specified percentage of total kilowatthours sold to
retail end-use customers each calendar year (renewables portfolio
standard).
   Existing law requires every electrical corporation to file with
the commission a standard tariff for electricity generated by an
electric generation facility, as defined, that is owned and operated
by a retail customer of the electrical corporation. Existing law
requires, among other things, that the electric generation facility
have an effective capacity of not more than 1.5 megawatts and be
located on property owned or under the control of the customer.
   This bill would instead require that the electric generation
facility have an effective capacity of not more than 20 megawatts and
be located on property owned or under the control of the customer.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 399.20 of the Public Utilities Code is amended
to read:
   399.20.  (a) It is the policy of this state and the intent of the
Legislature to encourage  energy production  
electrical generation  from  eligible  renewable energy
resources.
   (b) As used in this section, "electric generation facility" means
an electric generation facility, owned and operated by a retail
customer of an electrical corporation,  and  that
meets all of the following criteria:
   (1) Has an effective capacity of not more than  one and
one-half   20  megawatts and is located on property
owned or under the control of the customer.
   (2) Is interconnected and operates in parallel with the electric
transmission and distribution grid.
   (3) Is strategically located and interconnected to the electric
transmission system in a manner that optimizes the deliverability of
electricity generated at the facility to load centers.
   (4) Is an eligible renewable energy resource, as defined in
Section 399.12.
   (c) Every electrical corporation shall file with the commission a
standard tariff for electricity generated by an electric generation
facility.
   (d) The tariff shall provide for payment for every kilowatthour of
electricity generated by an electric generation facility at the
market price as determined by the commission pursuant to Section
399.15 for a period of 10, 15, or 20 years, as authorized by the
commission.
   (e) Every electrical corporation shall make this tariff available
to customers that own and operate an electric generation facility
within the service territory of the electrical corporation, upon
request, on a first-come-first-served basis, until the combined
statewide cumulative rated generating capacity of those electric
generation facilities  equals   reaches 
500 megawatts. An electrical corporation may make the terms of the
tariff available to customers in the form of a standard contract
subject to commission approval. Each electrical corporation shall
only be required to offer service or contracts under this section
until that electrical corporation meets its proportionate share of
the 500 megawatts based on the ratio of its peak demand to the total
statewide peak demand of all electrical corporations.
   (f) Every kilowatthour of electricity generated by the electric
generation facility shall count toward the electrical corporation's
renewables portfolio standard annual procurement targets for purposes
of paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 399.15.
   (g) The physical generating capacity of an electric generation
facility shall count toward the electrical corporation's resource
adequacy requirement for purposes of Section 380.
   (h) The commission may modify or adjust the requirements of this
section for any electrical corporation with less than 100,000 service
connections, as individual circumstances merit.