Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission is vested with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. The Public Utilities Act imposes various duties and responsibilities on the commission with respect to the purchase of electricity by electrical corporations and requires the commission to review and adopt a procurement plan and a renewable energy procurement plan for each electrical corporation pursuant to the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program. The program requires that a retail seller of electricity, including electrical corporations, purchase a specified minimum percentage of electricity generated by eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, in any given year as a specified percentage of total kilowatthours sold to retail end-use customers each calendar year (renewables portfolio standard).

Existing law requires every electrical corporation to file with the commission a standard tariff for renewable energy output produced at an electric generation facility, as defined, that is an eligible renewable energy resource and meets other size, deliverability, and interconnection requirements. Existing law requires the electrical corporation to make this tariff available to public water or wastewater agencies that own and operate an electric generation facility within the service territory of the electrical corporation, upon request, on a first-come, first-served basis, until the combined statewide cumulative rated generating capacity of those electric generation facilities equals 250 megawatts. Existing law provides that the renewable energy output of an electric generation facility counts toward the electrical corporation’s renewables portfolio standard and resource adequacy requirements.

This bill would instead require every electrical corporation to make the tariff available to any customer of the electrical corporation, upon request, on a first-come, first-served basis, until the electrical corporation meets its proportionate share of a combined statewide cumulative rated generating capacity of those renewable electric generation facilities, as defined, of 1,000 megawatts. The bill would provide that the renewable energy output of a renewable electric generation facility counts toward the electrical corporation’s renewables portfolio standard and resource adequacy requirements. The bill would delete an existing requirement that the electric generation facility be sized to offset part or all of the generator’s electricity demand. The bill would authorize a customer receiving electrical service pursuant to an alternative net metering program, as defined, to elect to receive service pursuant to the tariff filed by an electrical corporation pursuant to the bill’s requirements and would provide that a customer electing to receive service pursuant to the tariff waives any right the customer otherwise has to thereafter receive service pursuant to an alternative net metering program. The bill would require the commission, in consultation with the Independent System Operator, to establish tariff provisions that facilitate these programs and the reliable operation of the grid.

Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or an order or direction of the commission is a crime. Because this bill would require an order or other action of the commission to implement its provisions and a violation of that order or action would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.