BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1391
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Date of Hearing: May 9, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Wesley Chesbro, Chair
AB 1391 (Committee on Utilities and Commerce) - As Introduced:
February 23, 2011
SUBJECT : Electricity: net energy metering: report
SUMMARY : Deletes an obsolete Public Utilities Commission (PUC)
reporting requirement.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires investor-owned and publicly-owned utilities to credit
all electricity generated by a customer-owned solar or wind
system against the customer's usage of electricity sold by the
utility, a procedure known as "net metering." Provides
compensation for "net surplus," i.e. if the customer generates
more electricity than the customer consumes in a 12-month
period.
2)Requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in consultation
with the California Energy Commission (CEC) to submit a report
to the Governor and the Legislature by January 1, 2010 on the
costs and benefits of net energy metering.
THIS BILL deletes the PUC's net energy metering cost/benefit
reporting requirement because the report was submitted as
required by law.
FISCAL EFFECT : Non-fiscal
COMMENTS :
1)Background. Since 1996, state law has required electric
utilities to buy back electricity generated by a
customer-owned solar or wind system. This buy-back program is
known as "net metering" because the electricity purchases of
the customer are netted against the electricity generated by
the customer's own solar or wind electric system. The
generated electricity spins the meter backward, making it
financially equivalent to using less electricity for the
customer.
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Net metering was initially permitted for systems up to 10
kilowatts (kW) making it suitable for residential-sized
applications (a typical residential net-metered system is two
to four kW). The total amount of capacity that could be net
metered was capped at 0.1% of the utility load.
The boundaries of net metering have been expanded
progressively via a string of statutes over the past several
years. Individual project size has been increased 100 fold,
to one megawatt, and total utility capacity has been increased
50 fold, to 5%, to allow larger and more solar energy systems.
Additionally, net-metered customers may sell any excess
electricity they produce over the course of a year to their
electric utility.
2)Net Metering Report. In 2010, the PUC published its report on
the costs and benefits of net energy metering, as required by
law. The report concluded that the estimated average net cost
of net energy metering is "$0.12 per kilowatt-hour (kWH)
exported, which is relatively high on a cents per kWh basis."
The PUC report justifies the higher price by noting that net
energy metering is not designed as an energy procurement
program, and "the volume of energy exported to the utilities
is small compared to the total solar generation and it is de
minimus compared to the total energy procured by the
utilities."
3)Double Referral . This bill was passed out of the Utilities
and Commerce Committee on April 4 with a vote of 15-0.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Mario DeBernardo / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092
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