Existing law that provides for the purchase of electricity by the Department of Water Resources for sale to retail end-use customers and to requesting local publicly owned electric utilities, as practicable, prohibits the department from contracting for the purchase of electrical power under those provisions on and after January 1, 2003, but states that the authority of the department to administer contracts entered into prior to that date, or the department’s authority to sell electricity, is unaffected.
This bill would clarify that the authority of the department to administer each contract entered into under those provisions includes, but is not limited to, the authority to renegotiate, novate, or otherwise amend that contract to include any contractual term that the department determines to be necessary, appropriate, or convenient to further the purposes of those provisions. The bill would authorize the department to enter into arrangements that it determines to be necessary, appropriate, or convenient to implement that authority. The bill would declare that its provisions are declaratory of existing law.