BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 790
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 790 (Leno)
As Amended August 30, 2011
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :24-12
UTILITIES & COMMERCE 10-1
APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Bradford, Fong, Furutani, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| | | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| |Beth Gaines, Roger | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| |Hern�ndez, Huffman, | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, |
| |Knight, Nestande, | |Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| |Skinner, Valadao | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby, |
| | | |Solorio, Wagner |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Fletcher | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : This bill will revise and expand the definition of
Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), require the California
Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to initiate a Code of Conduct
rulemaking, and allow CCAs to receive Public Purpose funds to
administer energy efficiency programs. Specifically, this bill :
1)Memorializes a late-County Supervisor by naming this act.
2)Expands the entities defined as CCAs to include the Kings
River Conservation District, the Sonoma County Water Agency,
and any California public agency possessing statutory
authority to generate and deliver electricity at retail within
its designated jurisdiction.
3)Requires PUC to consider the impact if it finds that an
electrical corporation has violated the requirement to
cooperate fully with a community choice aggregator.
4)Establishes a time period by which the PUC must resolve
complaints against an electric utility which allege a
violation of statutes and rules governing electric utilities
SB 790
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that require the utility to cooperate with CCAs.
5)Affirms that the PUC shall not allow cost shifting of
nonbypassable charges from CCA customers to utility ratepayers
and specifies that a CCA is solely responsible for all
generation procurement activities on behalf of its customers,
except where other generation procurement arrangements are
expressly authorized by statute.
6)Modifies the PUC's current authority to establish procurement
requirements from its current requirement in proportion to the
costs recovered from ratepayers to instead require fair and
equitable distribution of costs.
7)Requires PUC, by March 2012 to establish a code of conduct to
ensure that an electrical corporation does not market against
a CCA except through an independent marketing division.
EXISTING LAW
1)Allows cities and counties to procure and sell electricity
within their community via a direct access arrangement called
for community choice aggregation (CCA).
2)Requires electric utilities to cooperate fully with CCAs that
investigate, pursue, or implement CCA programs.
FISCAL EFFECT : PUC estimates additional workload demands of
about $430,000. These costs include two regulatory analysts,
one administrative law judge and one legal analyst, to implement
the bill, which will include reviewing and certifying CCAs as
administrators of energy efficiency and conservation programs;
implementing the new stricter rules related to utility marketing
with regard to a CCA formation; conducting the complaint review
process regarding CCA formation, conducting proceedings to
implement the new rules for determining direct and indirect
benefits to CCA customers when the utilities are directed to
procure generation resources for system and for local area
reliability; and addressing issues that may arise if CCAs are no
longer local community load aggregators but expand beyond the
local communities into other jurisdictions, (Public Utilities
Reimbursement Account).
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A portion of this workload will be one-time in nature and the
ongoing workload will in part depend on the volume of new CCA
formation, thus some of the positions identified above may only
be required for a limited term.
COMMENTS :
According to the author this bill affirms CCA procurement
autonomy, protects both bundled service and CCA ratepayers, and
corrects abuses of market power by IOUs regarding the launch and
operation of CCA programs. SB 790 would help level the playing
field for local governments seeking to establish a CCA program.
In 2002, AB 117 (Migden), Chapter 838, Statutes of 2002,
established a local government's right to implement Community
Choice Aggregation (CCA), a program that allows communities to
pool, or aggregate, the electric load of their residents,
businesses and other institutions in order to procure and
generate electricity on their behalf. In the nine years since
local governments were given the right to establish CCAs, only
one CCA program has been successfully launched despite numerous
community efforts to do so.
Analysis Prepared by : Susan Kateley / U. & C. / (916)
319-2083
FN: 0002289