California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1736

Introduced by Assembly Member Buchanan

February 14, 2014

An act to amend Section 739 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to energy.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1736, as introduced, Buchanan. Energy: baseline quantities of electricity and natural gas.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations, as defined. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. The Public Utilities Act requires the commission to designate a baseline quantity of electricity and gas necessary for a significant portion of the reasonable energy needs of the average residential customer, and to establish a higher energy allowance above the baseline, for residential customers dependent on life-support equipment. The act requires that electrical corporations and gas corporations file rates and charges, to be approved by the commission, providing baseline rates that are applicable to the first block of usage and requires the commission, in establishing baseline rates, to avoid excessive rate increases for residential customers and to establish an appropriate gradual differential between the rates for the respective blocks of usage.

This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive revisions to the requirement that the commission designate a baseline quantity of electricity and gas necessary for a significant portion of the reasonable energy needs of the average residential customer.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 739 of the Public Utilities Code is
amended to read:

739.  

(a) As used in this section:

(1) “Baseline quantity” means a quantity of electricity or gas
allocated by the commission for residential customers based on
from 50 to 60 percent of average residential consumption of these
commodities, except that, for residential gas customers and for
all-electric residential customers, the baseline quantity shall be
established at from 60 to 70 percent of average residential
consumption during the winter heating season. In establishing the
baseline quantities, the commission shall take into account climatic
and seasonal variations in consumption and the availability of gas
service. The commission shall review and revise baseline quantities
as average consumption patterns change in order to maintain these
ratios.

(2) “Residential customer” means those customers receiving
electrical or gas service pursuant to a domestic rate schedule and
excludes industrial, commercial, and every other category of
customer.

(b) The commission shall designate a baseline quantity of gas
and electricity begin delete which end delete begin insert that end insert is necessary to supply a significant
portion of the reasonable energy needs of the average residential
customer. In estimating those quantities, the commission shall take
into account differentials in energy needs between customers whose
residential energy needs are currently supplied by electricity alone
or by both electricity and gas. The commission shall develop a
separate baseline quantity for all-electric residential customers.
For these purposes, “all-electric residential customers” are
residential customers having electrical service only or whose space
heating is provided by electricity, or both. The commission shall
also take into account differentials in energy use by climatic zone
and season.

(c) (1) The commission shall establish a standard limited
allowance begin delete which end delete begin insert that end insert shall be in addition to the baseline quantity
of gas and electricity for residential customers dependent on
life-support equipment, including, but not limited to, emphysema
and pulmonary patients. A residential customer dependent on
life-support equipment shall be allocated a higher energy allocation
than the average residential customer.

(2) “Life-support equipment” means that equipment begin delete which end delete begin insert that end insert
utilizes mechanical or artificial means to sustain, restore, or
supplant a vital function, or mechanical equipment begin delete which end delete begin insert that end insert is
relied upon for mobility both within and outside of buildings.
“Life-support equipment,” as used in this subdivision, includes all
of the following: all types of respirators, iron lungs, hemodialysis
machines, suction machines, electric nerve stimulators, pressure
pads and pumps, aerosol tents, electrostatic and ultrasonic
nebulizers, compressors, IPPB machines, and motorized
wheelchairs.

(3) The limited allowance specified in this subdivision shall
also be made available to paraplegic and quadriplegic persons in
consideration of the increased heating and cooling needs of those
persons.

(4) The limited allowance specified in this subdivision shall
also be made available to multiple sclerosis patients in
consideration of the increased heating and cooling needs of those
persons.

(5) The limited allowance specified in this subdivision shall
also be made available to scleroderma patients in consideration of
the increased heating needs of those persons.

(6) The limited allowance specified in this subdivision shall
also be made available to persons who are being treated for a
life-threatening illness or have a compromised immune system, if
a licensed physician and surgeon or a person licensed pursuant to
the Osteopathic Initiative Act certifies in writing to the utility that
the additional heating or cooling allowance, or both, is medically
necessary to sustain the life of the person or prevent deterioration
of the person’s medical condition.

(d) (1) The commission shall require that every electrical and
gas corporation file a schedule of rates and charges providing
baseline rates. The baseline rates shall apply to the first or lowest
block of an increasing block rate structure which shall be the
baseline quantity. In establishing these rates, the commission shall
avoid excessive rate increases for residential customers, and shall
establish an appropriate gradual differential between the rates for
the respective blocks of usage.

(2) In establishing residential electric and gas rates, including
baseline rates, the commission shall ensure that the rates are
sufficient to enable the electrical corporation or gas corporation
to recover a just and reasonable amount of revenue from residential
customers as a class, while observing the principle that electricity
and gas services are necessities, for which a low affordable rate is
desirable and while observing the principle that conservation is
desirable in order to maintain an affordable bill.

(3) At least until December 31, 2003, the commission shall
require that all charges for residential electric customers are
volumetric, and shall prohibit any electrical corporation from
imposing any charges on residential consumption that are
independent of consumption, unless those charges are in place
prior to April 12, 2001.

(e) (1) Each electrical corporation and each gas corporation
shall, in a timeframe consistent with each electrical and gas
corporation’s next general rate case, disclose on the billing
statement of a residential customer all of the following:

(A) Cost per kilowatthour or gas therm per tier.

(B) Allocation of kilowatthour or gas therm per tier.

(C) Visual representation of usage and cost per tier.

(D) Usage comparison with prior periods.

(E) Itemized cost components in the bill to identify state and
local taxes.

(F) Identification of delivery, generation, public purpose, and
other charges.

(G) Contact information for the commission’s Consumer Affairs
Branch.

(2) An electrical corporation and a gas corporation shall make
available online to residential customers both of the following:

(A) Examples of how conservation measures, including changing
thermostat settings and turning off unused lights, could reduce
energy usage and costs.

(B) Examples of how energy-saving devices and weatherization
measures could reduce energy usage and costs.

(3) The commission may modify, adjust, or add to the
requirements of this subdivision as the individual circumstances
of each electrical corporation or gas corporation merits, or for
master-meter customers, as individual circumstances merit.

(4) The commission shall, as part of the general rate case of an
electrical corporation or gas corporation, assess opportunities to
improve the quality of information contained in the utility’s
periodic billings.

(f) Wholesale electrical or gas purchases, and the rates charged
therefor, are exempt from this section.

(g) Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to
prohibit experimentation with alternative gas or electrical rate
schedules for the purpose of achieving energy conservation.