BILL NUMBER: SB 1435 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 2, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 16, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 5, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Senators Padilla and Kehoe
FEBRUARY 19, 2010
An act to amend Section 216 of, and to add Chapter 3 (commencing
with Section 4100) to Division 2 of, the Public Utilities Code,
relating to electric vehicle charging stations.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1435, as amended, Padilla. Electricity: electric and plug-in
hybrid vehicles: charging stations.
(1) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has
regulatory authority over public utilities, as defined. The existing
Public Utilities Act requires every public utility to furnish and
maintain adequate, efficient, just, and reasonable service,
instrumentalities, equipment, and facilities as are necessary to
promote the safety, health, comfort, and convenience of its patrons,
employees, and the public.
This bill would provide that the ownership, control, operation, or
management of a facility that supplies electricity only for use to
power electric vehicles or plug-in hybrid vehicles does not make the
corporation or person a public utility for purposes of the act.
(2) Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission, in
consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission, the State Air Resources Board, electrical
corporations, and the motor vehicle industry, to evaluate policies to
develop infrastructure sufficient to overcome any barriers to the
widespread deployment and use of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles
and, by July 1, 2011, to adopt rules that address specified matters.
This bill would require the Public Utilities Commission to adopt
rules that are applicable to each facility that supplies electricity
for use to power electric vehicles or plug-in hybrid vehicles, which
is located within the service territory of an electrical corporation,
to achieve certain results.
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 216 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
216. (a) "Public utility" includes every common carrier, toll
bridge corporation, pipeline corporation, gas corporation, electrical
corporation, telephone corporation, telegraph corporation, water
corporation, sewer system corporation, and heat corporation, where
the service is performed for, or the commodity is delivered to, the
public or any portion thereof.
(b) Whenever any common carrier, toll bridge corporation, pipeline
corporation, gas corporation, electrical corporation, telephone
corporation, telegraph corporation, water corporation, sewer system
corporation, or heat corporation performs a service for, or delivers
a commodity to, the public or any portion thereof for which any
compensation or payment whatsoever is received, that common carrier,
toll bridge corporation, pipeline corporation, gas corporation,
electrical corporation, telephone corporation, telegraph corporation,
water corporation, sewer system corporation, or heat corporation, is
a public utility subject to the jurisdiction, control, and
regulation of the commission and the provisions of this part.
(c) When any person or corporation performs any service for, or
delivers any commodity to, any person, private corporation,
municipality, or other political subdivision of the state, that in
turn either directly or indirectly, mediately or immediately,
performs that service for, or delivers that commodity to, the public
or any portion thereof, that person or corporation is a public
utility subject to the jurisdiction, control, and regulation of the
commission and the provisions of this part.
(d) Ownership or operation of a facility that employs cogeneration
technology or produces power from other than a conventional power
source or the ownership or operation of a facility which employs
landfill gas technology does not make a corporation or person a
public utility within the meaning of this section solely because of
the ownership or operation of that facility.
(e) Any corporation or person engaged directly or indirectly in
developing, producing, transmitting, distributing, delivering, or
selling any form of heat derived from geothermal or solar resources
or from cogeneration technology to any privately owned or publicly
owned public utility, or to the public or any portion thereof, is not
a public utility within the meaning of this section solely by reason
of engaging in any of those activities.
(f) The ownership or operation of a facility that sells compressed
natural gas at retail to the public for use only as a motor vehicle
fuel, and the selling of compressed natural gas at retail from that
facility to the public for use only as a motor vehicle fuel, does not
make the corporation or person a public utility within the meaning
of this section solely because of that ownership, operation, or sale.
(g) Ownership or operation of a facility that is an exempt
wholesale generator, as defined in the Public Utility Holding Company
Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 16451(6)), does not make a corporation
or person a public utility within the meaning of this section, solely
due to the ownership or operation of that facility.
(h) The ownership, control, operation, or management of an
electric plant used for direct transactions or participation directly
or indirectly in direct transactions, as permitted by subdivision
(b) of Section 365, sales into a market established and operated by
the Independent System Operator or any other wholesale electricity
market, or the use or sale as permitted under subdivisions (b) to
(d), inclusive, of Section 218, shall not make a corporation or
person a public utility within the meaning of this section solely
because of that ownership, participation, or sale.
(i) The ownership, control, operation, or management of a facility
that supplies electricity only for use to power electric vehicles or
plug-in hybrid vehicles does not make the corporation or person a
public utility within the meaning of this section solely because of
that ownership, control, operation, or management.
SEC. 2. Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 4100) is added to
Division 2 of the Public Utilities Code, to read:
CHAPTER 3. ELECTRICAL VEHICLE CHARGING STATIONS
4100. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Within the next five years automakers are expected to release
10 to 15 electric vehicle models into California's new car market.
(b) Electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles can benefit the
environment by reducing tailpipe emissions, but electrification of
the transportation sector could result in the construction of more
conventional powerplants using fossil fuels to generate electricity
to meet increased peak demand loads resulting in increased powerplant
emissions if the charging of those vehicles is not properly managed.
(c) Electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle charging will place new
demands on the state's electrical distribution and transmission
system, but managed properly that demand can benefit ratepayers.
(d) Third-party providers of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle
recharging systems will cumulatively provide charging services for
tens of thousands of vehicles. These recharging systems, if not
carefully integrated and controlled, have the potential to negatively
impact electrical grid operations and system reliability.
(e) A well-planned electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle charging
infrastructure can shift a significant amount of charging to off-peak
times, thereby avoiding the need to build new powerplants and
increasing utilization of existing powerplants, encouraging customers
to use electricity generated from eligible renewable energy
resources to charge their vehicles, and promoting the most energy
efficient electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
(f) To meet these goals, the Public Utilities Commission should
exercise limited jurisdiction over third-party electric and plug-in
hybrid vehicle charging providers to ensure
providers. "Limited jurisdiction," as used in this subdivision, means
ensuring effective load management, which will also result in
improved environmental performance of the system, including
integration with eligible renewable energy resources and reduced
emissions of greenhouse gases.
4105. The commission shall adopt rules that are applicable to
each facility that supplies electricity for use to power electric
vehicles or plug-in hybrid vehicles, which is located within the
service territory of an electrical corporation, to achieve all of the
following:
(a) Minimize negative impacts to the electrical distribution grid
and maximize potential benefits to ratepayers through management of
the grid.
(b) Shift a significant portion of electric and plug-in hybrid
vehicle charging to off-peak periods, thereby avoiding the need to
build new generating capacity and increasing the efficient use of
existing generating capacity.
(c) Encourage the integration of intermittent eligible renewable
energy resources into the electrical transmission and distribution
grid by encouraging charging when those resources are more likely to
be generating electricity.
(d) Promote use of the most energy efficient electric and plug-in
hybrid vehicles.