BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AJR 33
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 7, 2012

                    ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON UTILITIES AND COMMERCE
                               Steven Bradford, Chair
                  AJR 33 (Bradford) - As Introduced:  March 20, 2012
           
          SUBJECT  :   Southwest Power Outage.

           SUMMARY  :   This measure would request the Federal Energy 
          Regulatory Commission (FERC) to include certain elements in its 
          investigation of the Southwest Power Outage. Specifically,  this 
          bill  :  

          Requests that FERC include in its inquiry:

          1)Whether the balancing authorities were in compliance with 
            rules that require a balancing authority to be able to 
            maintain reliability in the event that one part of the system 
            fails

          2)Provide information to the Legislature on the status of its 
            investigation into the Southwest Power Outage

          3)Provide oversight to the North American Electric Reliability 
            Council (NERC) and the Western Electricity Coordinating 
            Council (WECC) in a manner that ensures that balancing 
            authorities are prepared for unplanned outages in the event 
            that they are relying on electricity from or through another 
            balancing authority.  

           EXISTING LAW  

          Establishes an Independent System Operator with duties related 
          to ensuring the reliability of electric service and the health 
          and safety of the public. (345.5 PUC)

           FISCAL EFFECT :   Unknown

           COMMENTS  :   

          1)California has several balancing authorities with 
            responsibility to manage reliability within their boundaries:

                 Balancing Authority of Northern California (BANC)
                 Bonneville Power Administration (BPA)








                                                                  AJR 33
                                                                  Page  2

                 California Independent System Operator (CAISO)
                 Turlock Irrigation District (TID)
                 Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP)
                 Nevada Power Co.
                 PacifiCorp-West
                 Sierra Pacific Power (SPP)
                 Western Area Lower Colorado (WALC)


          1)According to FERC and NERC, "The September 2011 blackout that 
            left 2.7 million consumers in Southern California, Arizona and 
            Baja California without power stemmed from operating in an 
            unsecure state due to inadequate planning and a lack of 
            observability and awareness of system operating conditions on 
            the day of the event."

            In addition, FERC and NERC made many recommendations, 
            including: " (1) expand entities' external visibility in their 
            models through, for example, more complete data sharing; (2) 
            improve the use of real-time tools to ensure the constant 
            monitoring of potential internal or external contingencies 
            that could affect reliable operations; and (3) improve 
            communications among entities to help maintain situational 
            awareness."

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          None on file.

           Opposition 
           
          None on file.
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Susan Kateley / U. & C. / (916) 
          319-2083