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AB-21 Electric power.(2001-2002)

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AB21:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 22, 2001

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2001–2002 1st Ext.

Assembly Bill
No. 21

Introduced  by  Assembly Member Kelley
 (Coauthor(s): Assembly Member Bates, Correa, Daucher, Robert Pacheco, Zettel)

January 29, 2001

An act to add Section 743.2 to the Public Utilities amend Section 80110 of, and to add Section 80111 to, the Water Code, relating to electricity.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 21, as amended, Kelley. Electricity: interruptible contracts Electric power.
Existing law authorizes the Department of Water Resources to enter into contract for the purchase of electric power and to sell power to retail end use customers. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to suspend the right of retail end use customers to acquire service from other providers until the department no longer supplies electric power.
This bill would delete that suspension authority and would, except as specified, permit the commission to limit the right of a retail end use customer, who purchases power from an electrical corporation, as defined, to purchase power from an alternate provider, as defined, to the extent the commission determines to be necessary to ensure satisfaction of any power purchase obligation or bond obligation incurred by the department to procure power to serve that customer.

Existing law permits the Public Utilities Commission to approve contracts between an electrical corporation and its heavy industrial customers for interruptible electrical service contracts. Existing law permits the commission to amend these contracts.

This bill would prohibit the commission from amending specified interruptible electrical service contracts of the Southern California Edison Company and would rescind any amendments made by the commission to the original contract. A customer to such a contract could not be prohibited from opting out of their contract at the yearly opt-out date of the contract.

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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


SECTION 1.

Section 743.2 is added to the Public Utilities

Section 80110 of the Water Code is amended to read:

80110.
 The department shall retain title to all power sold by it to the retail end use customers. The department shall be entitled to recover, as a revenue requirement, amounts and at the times necessary to enable it to comply with Section 80134, and shall advise the commission as the department determines to be appropriate. Such revenue requirements may also include any advances made to the department hereunder or hereafter for purposes of this division, or from the Department of Water Resources Electric Power Fund, and General Fund moneys expended by the department pursuant to the Governor’s Emergency Proclamation dated January 17, 2001. For purposes of this division and except as otherwise provided in this section, the Public Utility Commission’s authority as set forth in Section 451 of the Public Utilities Code shall apply, except any just and reasonable review under Section 451 shall be conducted and determined by the department. The commission may enter into an agreement with the department with respect to charges under Section 451 for purposes of this division, and that agreement shall have the force and effect of a financing order adopted in accordance with Article 5.5 (commencing with Section 840) of Chapter 4 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code, as determined by the commission. In no case shall the commission increase the electricity charges in effect on the date that the act that adds this section becomes effective for residential customers for existing baseline quantities or usage by those customers of up to 130 percent of existing baseline quantities, until such time as the department has recovered the costs of power it has procured for the electrical corporation’s retail end use customers as provided in this division. After the passage of such period of time after the effective date of this section as shall be determined by the commission, the right of retail end use customers pursuant to Article 6 (commencing with Section 360) of Chapter 2.3 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code to acquire service from other providers shall be suspended until the department no longer supplies power hereunder. The department shall have the same rights with respect to the payment by retail end use customers for power sold by the department as do providers of power to such customers.

Section 80111 is added to the Water Code, to read:

80111.
 (a) As used in this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) “Electrical corporation” means an electrical corporation, as defined in Section 218 of the Public Utilities Code, serving the customers for which the department is procuring power pursuant to this division.
(2) “Alternate provider” means an entity, other than an electrical corporation, supplying electrical power within the service territory of an electrical corporation.
(3) “Long term power purchase contract” means a contract for the purchase of electric energy or capacity with a term of one year or longer.
(b) The right of a retail end use customer who has not purchased power from an electrical corporation on or after January 17, 2001 to purchase power from an alternate provider may not be limited by this section.
(c) The right of a retail end use customer, who purchased power from an electrical corporation, to purchase power from an alternate provider for an increment of the customer’s power usage equivalent to the increment of the load served by the electrical corporation that is not procured by the department may not be limited by this section. If a customer elects to purchase this increment from an alternate provider, the customer shall continue to pay the department for the increment of power procured by the department in the manner provided in this division.
(d) Before the effective date of this section, the right of a retail end-use customer who purchases power from an electrical corporation to purchase power from an alternate provider may not be limited by this section.
(e) On and after the effective date of this section, the commission may limit the right of a retail end use customer, who purchases power from an electrical corporation, to purchase power from an alternate provider to the extent the commission determines to be necessary to ensure satisfaction of any power purchase obligation or bond obligation incurred by the department under this division to procure power to serve that customer. Any limitation imposed by the commission pursuant to this subdivision shall be consistent with all of the following:
(1) The right of a residential or small commercial customer, or multiple customers aggregated pursuant to Section 366 of the Public Utilities Code, to purchase power from an alternate provider may not be limited to the extent the total residential and small commercial load served within the service territory of the electrical corporation by alternate providers is less than or equal to the cumulative load growth within the service territory of the electrical corporation on and after the effective date of this section, as determined by the commission.
(2) In addition to the load growth allowance specifically allocated to residential and small commercial customers in paragraph (1), the right of any retail end-use customer to purchase power from an alternate provider may not be limited to the extent the total load served within the service territory of the electrical corporation by alternate providers is less than or equal to the difference between the total load within the service territory of the electrical corporation and the sum of that electrical corporation’s retained generation, power purchase contracts, and long term power purchase contracts procured by the department to serve that electrical corporation’s customers, as determined by the commission. In making the determinations, the commission shall consider daily, weekly, and seasonal variations in demand and supply, including significant variations in the power purchase commitments of the department.
(f) Notwithstanding subdivision (e), a customer may elect service from an alternate provider at any time, upon payment of a fee to the department equivalent to the department’s net unavoidable cost of power procurement, including any financing cost, attributable to that customer, as determined by the department. If the alternative provider elected under this subdivision is a self-generation or cogeneration provider pursuant to Section 218 of the Public Utilities Code, then no fee shall be due from the customer if the alternative provider has given at least 180 days prior notification to the department.
(g) On and after the effective date of this section, if a retail end-use customer previously served by an alternate provider acquires service from an electrical corporation, except those involuntarily required to return to an electrical corporation, the department may impose a fee equivalent to any unavoidable costs imposed on the department’s portfolio attributable to the load of that customer, if a fee is necessary to avoid imposing costs on other customers of the electrical corporation, or on the state. The fee under this subdivision shall not apply if the customer has given the department 12 months’ advance notice of the customer’s intent to purchase from the department. If the customer has not provided the department at least 12 months advance written notice, the customer shall pay to the department the fees associated with the unavoidable costs for a period of 12 months. After the 12 month period the customer shall be entitled to the tariff otherwise applicable for the customer.
(h) The commission shall require notification of each electrical corporation customer no later than 30 days after the effective date of this section of their limited option to choose between purchasing power from the electrical corporation and purchasing power from an alternate provider. The notification shall include a description of the future conditions of purchasing power from an alternate provider imposed by this section if the customer elects to purchase power from an alternative provider on or after the effective date of this section.

Code, to read:

743.2.

(a)Notwithstanding subdivision (f) of Section 743, the commission may not amend an interruptible electrical services contract between Southern California Edison Company, a California public utility and a customer of that utility who is a bundled-service, nondirect access customer on rate schedule I-6, and any amendments to the original contract made by the commission are rescinded.

(b)A customer described in subdivision (a) may not be prohibited from opting out of their interruptible electrical services contract at the yearly opt-out date of the contract.

SEC. 2.

The Legislature finds and declares that, because of the unique circumstances applicable only to the pilot interruptible electrical service program for a certain class of customers on the I-6 rate schedule for Southern California Edison Company, a statute of general applicability cannot be enacted within the meaning of subdivision (b) of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution.