BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �          1





                SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
                                 ALEX PADILLA, CHAIR
          

          SB 674 -  Padilla                                 Hearing Date:  
          April 5, 2011              S
          As Introduced: February 18, 2011        FISCAL           B
                                                                        
                                                                        6
                                                                        7
                                                                        4

                                      DESCRIPTION
           
           Current law  requires an investor-owned utility (IOU) or publicly 
          owned utility (POU) using advanced metering (smart meters) to 
          protect consumers energy usage data from unauthorized access or 
          disclosure.

           This bill  clarifies that contracts between utilities and third 
          parties to facilitate a customer's access to consumption data 
          require a customer's prior consent for the third party use and 
          release of a customer's data for a secondary commercial purpose. 
           

           Current law  requires a mobilehome park owner which provides 
          master meter service to its tenants to pass on to each customer 
          the proportional share of any rebate that the mobilehome park 
          owner receives from an IOU.

           This bill  excludes from the definition of rebate an incentive 
          received from the California Solar Initiative for a solar 
          thermal or photovoltaic system that service only the common area 
          of a mobilehome park. 

           Current law  requires the California Public Utilities Commission 
          (CPUC) to monitor and participate in a 1999 proceeding of the 
          Federal Communications Commission.

           This bill  repeals this obsolete provision.

                                       COMMENTS
           
              1.   Author's Purpose  .  This is a code maintenance bill in 











               which the author has repealed an obsolete section of the 
               Public Utilities Code and made technical, non-controversial 
               changes to two other sections. 

               First, this bill makes technical changes to SB 1476 
               (Padilla, 2010) which were intended in that bill but the 
               author was precluded from making due to legislative 
               deadlines.  The language clarifies the requirement in SB 
               1476 that parties to contracts between utilities and third 
               parties will follow the principles behind the bill and 
               include in the terms of contracts between them that a 
               customer's prior consent will always be required for the 
               use and release of a customer's data for a secondary 
               commercial purpose.

               Second, under current law a mobilehome park operator which 
               in essence acts in the place of a utility for its park 
               tenants is referred to as a master meter and must extend 
               any funds received in the form of rebates to all of its 
               submetered customers (tenants).  This bill would, only for 
               incentive payments under the CSI, permit the master meter 
               to receive and retain the incentive payments if the 
               installed solar only serves the common area of the 
               mobilehome park.

              2.   Double Referral  .  Should this bill be approved by the 
               committee, it should be re-referred to the Senate Committee 
               on Judiciary for its consideration.
                                           
                                      POSITIONS
           
           Sponsor:
           
          Author

           Support:
           
          Division of Ratepayer Advocates

           Oppose:
           
          None on file












          


















          Kellie Smith 
          SB 674 Analysis
          Hearing Date:  April 5, 2011