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SB-790 Electricity: community choice aggregation.(2011-2012)

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SB790:v90#DOCUMENT

Senate Bill No. 790
CHAPTER 599

An act to amend Sections 331.1, 365.1, 366.2, 380, 381.1, and 395.5 of, to add Sections 396.5 and 707 to, and to add Part 5 (commencing with Section 3260) to Division 1 of, the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.

[ Approved by Governor  October 08, 2011. Filed with Secretary of State  October 08, 2011. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 790, Leno. Electricity: community choice aggregation.
(1) The federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) requires every state regulatory authority with respect to each electric utility, as defined, for which it has ratemaking authority, to determine whether to adopt certain federal standards if consistent with otherwise applicable state law. The federal standards include that no electric utility may recover from any person other than the shareholders or other owners of the utility, any direct or indirect expenditure by the electric utility for promotional or political advertising, as defined.
This bill would require the commission to institute a rulemaking proceeding by March 1, 2012, for the purpose of considering and adopting a code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures, to govern the conduct of an electrical corporation relative to the consideration, formation, and implementation of community choice aggregation programs and to implement the code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures by January 1, 2013. The bill would require the code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures to do the following: (A) ensure that an electrical corporation does not market against a community choice aggregation program, except through an independent marketing division that is funded exclusively by the electrical corporation’s shareholders, (B) limit the electrical corporation’s independent marketing division’s use of support services from the electrical corporation’s ratepayer funded divisions, (C) ensure that the electrical corporation’s independent marketing division does not have access to competitively sensitive information, (D) incorporate rules that the commission finds to be necessary or convenient in order to facilitate the development of community choice aggregation programs, to foster fair competition, and to protect against cross-subsidization paid by ratepayers, and (E) provide for other matters that the commission determines to be necessary or advisable to protect a ratepayer’s right to be free from forced speech or to implement that portion of PURPA that establishes the federal standard that no electric utility may recover from any person other than the shareholders or other owners of the utility, any direct or indirect expenditure by the electric utility for promotional or political advertising.
(2) Existing law authorizes a community choice aggregator to aggregate the electrical load of interested electricity consumers within its boundaries and requires a community choice aggregator to file an implementation plan with the commission. Existing law requires an electrical corporation to cooperate fully with any community choice aggregator that investigates, pursues, or implements community choice aggregation programs, including providing appropriate billing and electrical load data.
This bill would expand the entities that are permitted to undertake community choice aggregation. The bill would require that the electrical load data to be supplied by an electrical corporation as part of its duty to cooperate fully with any community choice aggregator, include electrical consumption data, as defined. The bill would, if the commission finds that an electrical corporation has violated the requirement to cooperate fully with a community choice aggregator, require that the commission consider the impact of the violation upon community choice aggregators. The bill would revise certain resource adequacy requirements as they relate to community choice aggregators. The bill would require that any program funded through a nonbypassable charge be administered on a nondiscriminatory basis so that the electric service customers of a community choice aggregator may participate in the program on an equal basis with the customers of an electrical corporation. The bill would require the commission to authorize a community choice aggregator to elect to become a 3rd-party administrator of funds collected from the aggregator’s electric service customer and collected through a nonbypassable charge authorized by the commission for cost-effective energy efficiency and conservation programs, except those funds collected for broader statewide and regional programs authorized by the commission. The bill would require the governing body of a community choice aggregator to adopt a policy that expressly prohibits the dissemination by the community choice aggregator of any statement relating to the community choice aggregator’s rates or terms and conditions of service that is untrue or misleading, and that is known, or that, by the exercise of reasonable care, should be known, to be untrue or misleading.
(3) The bill would provide that nothing in Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code, which includes the Public Utilities Act, prohibits payment pursuant to an agreement authorized by the National Labor Relations Act or federal Labor Management Cooperation Act of 1978 or restricts the use permitted by federal law of money paid pursuant to those acts.
(4) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
Because this bill would expand the duties owed by an electrical corporation pursuant to the act, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime or expanding the definition of an existing 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.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

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


SECTION 1.

 This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Charles McGlashan Community Choice Aggregation Act.

SEC. 2.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a)  It is the policy of the state to provide for the consideration, formation, and implementation of community choice aggregation programs authorized in Section 366.2 of the Public Utilities Code.
(b) Since community choice aggregation programs were first authorized in 2002, only one community choice aggregation program has been implemented.
(c) Electrical corporations have inherent market power derived from, among other things, name recognition among customers, longstanding relationships with customers, joint control over regulated operations and competitive generation services, access to competitive customer information, and the potential to cross-subsidize competitive generation services.
(d) The Public Utilities Commission has found that conduct by electrical corporations to oppose community choice aggregation programs has had the effect of causing community choice aggregation programs to be abandoned.
(e) The Public Utilities Commission has made considerable progress in identifying and addressing the conduct that has hindered the creation of community choice aggregation programs, and it is now appropriate to further address these issues in statute.
(f) The exercise of market power by electrical corporations is a deterrent to the consideration, development, and implementation of community choice aggregation programs.
(g) California has a substantial governmental interest in ensuring that conduct by electrical corporations does not threaten the consideration, development, and implementation of community choice aggregation programs.
(h) It is therefore necessary to establish a code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures, applicable to electrical corporations in order to facilitate the consideration, development, and implementation of community choice aggregation programs, to foster fair competition, and to protect against cross-subsidization by ratepayers.
(i) On March 27, 2011, Marin County Supervisor Charles McGlashan passed away at 49 years of age, leaving many life accomplishments, including the formation of the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART), the creation of the Marin Economic Forum, and the founding of the Marin Energy Authority, which launched California’s first community choice aggregation program, Marin Clean Energy.
(j) In naming this act, it is the intent of the Legislature to honor Supervisor Charles McGlashan for championing the right of local governments to aggregate their electricity loads for the purpose of procuring and generating more renewable energy, expanding consumer choice, and greatly accelerating regional efforts to address global climate change.

SEC. 3.

 Section 331.1 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:

331.1.
 For purposes of this chapter, “community choice aggregator” means any of the following entities, if that entity is not within the jurisdiction of a local publicly owned electric utility that provided electrical service as of January 1, 2003:
(a) Any city, county, or city and county whose governing board elects to combine the loads of its residents, businesses, and municipal facilities in a communitywide electricity buyers’ program.
(b) Any group of cities, counties, or cities and counties whose governing boards have elected to combine the loads of their programs, through the formation of a joint powers agency established under Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 6500) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code.
(c) 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, provided the entity may only combine the loads of residences, businesses, and governmental facilities of cities and counties within, or contiguous to, its jurisdiction that have, by resolution exercised pursuant to paragraph (12) of subdivision (c) of Section 366.2, requested the agency to implement a community choice aggregation program.

SEC. 4.

 Section 365.1 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:

365.1.
 (a) Except as expressly authorized by this section, and subject to the limitations in subdivisions (b) and (c), the right of retail end-use customers pursuant to this chapter to acquire service from other providers is suspended until the Legislature, by statute, lifts the suspension or otherwise authorizes direct transactions. For purposes of this section, “other provider” means any person, corporation, or other entity that is authorized to provide electric service within the service territory of an electrical corporation pursuant to this chapter, and includes an aggregator, broker, or marketer, as defined in Section 331, and an electric service provider, as defined in Section 218.3. “Other provider” does not include a community choice aggregator, as defined in Section 331.1, and the limitations in this section do not apply to the sale of electricity by “other providers” to a community choice aggregator for resale to community choice aggregation electricity consumers pursuant to Section 366.2.
(b) The commission shall allow individual retail nonresidential end-use customers to acquire electric service from other providers in each electrical corporation’s distribution service territory, up to a maximum allowable total kilowatthours annual limit. The maximum allowable annual limit shall be established by the commission for each electrical corporation at the maximum total kilowatthours supplied by all other providers to distribution customers of that electrical corporation during any sequential 12-month period between April 1, 1998, and the effective date of this section. Within six months of the effective date of this section, or by July 1, 2010, whichever is sooner, the commission shall adopt and implement a reopening schedule that commences immediately and will phase in the allowable amount of increased kilowatthours over a period of not less than three years, and not more than five years, raising the allowable limit of kilowatthours supplied by other providers in each electrical corporation’s distribution service territory from the number of kilowatthours provided by other providers as of the effective date of this section, to the maximum allowable annual limit for that electrical corporation’s distribution service territory. The commission shall review and, if appropriate, modify its currently effective rules governing direct transactions, but that review shall not delay the start of the phase-in schedule.
(c) Once the commission has authorized additional direct transactions pursuant to subdivision (b), it shall do both of the following:
(1) Ensure that other providers are subject to the same requirements that are applicable to the state’s three largest electrical corporations under any programs or rules adopted by the commission to implement the resource adequacy provisions of Section 380, the renewables portfolio standard provisions of Article 16 (commencing with Section 399.11), and the requirements for the electricity sector adopted by the State Air Resources Board pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code). This requirement applies notwithstanding any prior decision of the commission to the contrary.
(2) (A) Ensure that, in the event that the commission authorizes, in the situation of a contract with a third party, or orders, in the situation of utility-owned generation, an electrical corporation to obtain generation resources that the commission determines are needed to meet system or local area reliability needs for the benefit of all customers in the electrical corporation’s distribution service territory, the net capacity costs of those generation resources are allocated on a fully nonbypassable basis consistent with departing load provisions as determined by the commission, to all of the following:
(i) Bundled service customers of the electrical corporation.
(ii) Customers that purchase electricity through a direct transaction with other providers.
(iii) Customers of community choice aggregators.
(B) If the commission authorizes or orders an electrical corporation to obtain generation resources pursuant to subparagraph (A), the commission shall ensure that those resources meet a system or local reliability need in a manner that benefits all customers of the electrical corporation. The commission shall allocate the costs of those generation resources to ratepayers in a manner that is fair and equitable to all customers, whether they receive electric service from the electrical corporation, a community choice aggregator, or an electric service provider.
(C) The resource adequacy benefits of generation resources acquired by an electrical corporation pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall be allocated to all customers who pay their net capacity costs. Net capacity costs shall be determined by subtracting the energy and ancillary services value of the resource from the total costs paid by the electrical corporation pursuant to a contract with a third party or the annual revenue requirement for the resource if the electrical corporation directly owns the resource. An energy auction shall not be required as a condition for applying this allocation, but may be allowed as a means to establish the energy and ancillary services value of the resource for purposes of determining the net costs of capacity to be recovered from customers pursuant to this paragraph, and the allocation of the net capacity costs of contracts with third parties shall be allowed for the terms of those contracts.
(D) It is the intent of the Legislature, in enacting this paragraph, to provide additional guidance to the commission with respect to the implementation of subdivision (g) of Section 380, as well as to ensure that the customers to whom the net costs and benefits of capacity are allocated are not required to pay for the cost of electricity they do not consume.
(d) (1) If the commission approves a centralized resource adequacy mechanism pursuant to subdivisions (h) and (i) of Section 380, upon the implementation of the centralized resource adequacy mechanism the requirements of paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) shall be suspended. If the commission later orders that electrical corporations cease procuring capacity through a centralized resource adequacy mechanism, the requirements of paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) shall again apply.
(2) If the use of a centralized resource adequacy mechanism is authorized by the commission and has been implemented as set forth in paragraph (1), the net capacity costs of generation resources that the commission determines are required to meet urgent system or urgent local grid reliability needs, and that the commission authorizes to be procured outside of the Section 380 or Section 454.5 processes, shall be recovered according to the provisions of paragraph (2) of subdivision (c).
(3) Nothing in this subdivision supplants the resource adequacy requirements of Section 380 or the resource procurement procedures established in Section 454.5.
(e) The commission may report to the Legislature on the efficacy of authorizing individual retail end-use residential customers to enter into direct transactions, including appropriate consumer protections.

SEC. 5.

 Section 366.2 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:

366.2.
 (a) (1) Customers shall be entitled to aggregate their electric loads as members of their local community with community choice aggregators.
(2) Customers may aggregate their loads through a public process with community choice aggregators, if each customer is given an opportunity to opt out of their community’s aggregation program.
(3) If a customer opts out of a community choice aggregator’s program, or has no community choice aggregation program available, that customer shall have the right to continue to be served by the existing electrical corporation or its successor in interest.
(4) The implementation of a community choice aggregation program shall not result in a shifting of costs between the customers of the community choice aggregator and the bundled service customers of an electrical corporation.
(5) A community choice aggregator shall be solely responsible for all generation procurement activities on behalf of the community choice aggregator’s customers, except where other generation procurement arrangements are expressly authorized by statute.
(b) If a public agency seeks to serve as a community choice aggregator, it shall offer the opportunity to purchase electricity to all residential customers within its jurisdiction.
(c) (1) Notwithstanding Section 366, a community choice aggregator is hereby authorized to aggregate the electrical load of interested electricity consumers within its boundaries to reduce transaction costs to consumers, provide consumer protections, and leverage the negotiation of contracts. However, the community choice aggregator may not aggregate electrical load if that load is served by a local publicly owned electric utility. A community choice aggregator may group retail electricity customers to solicit bids, broker, and contract for electricity and energy services for those customers. The community choice aggregator may enter into agreements for services to facilitate the sale and purchase of electricity and other related services. Those service agreements may be entered into by an entity authorized to be a community choice aggregator, as defined in Section 331.1.
(2) Under community choice aggregation, customer participation may not require a positive written declaration, but all customers shall be informed of their right to opt out of the community choice aggregation program. If no negative declaration is made by a customer, that customer shall be served through the community choice aggregation program. If an existing customer moves the location of their electric service within the jurisdiction of the community choice aggregator, the customer shall retain the same subscriber status as prior to the move, unless the customer affirmatively changes their subscriber status. If the customer is moving from outside to inside the jurisdiction of the community choice aggregator, customer participation shall not require a positive written declaration, but the customer shall be informed of their right to elect not to receive service through the community choice aggregator.
(3) A community choice aggregator establishing electrical load aggregation pursuant to this section shall develop an implementation plan detailing the process and consequences of aggregation. The implementation plan, and any subsequent changes to it, shall be considered and adopted at a duly noticed public hearing. The implementation plan shall contain all of the following:
(A) An organizational structure of the program, its operations, and its funding.
(B) Ratesetting and other costs to participants.
(C) Provisions for disclosure and due process in setting rates and allocating costs among participants.
(D) The methods for entering and terminating agreements with other entities.
(E) The rights and responsibilities of program participants, including, but not limited to, consumer protection procedures, credit issues, and shutoff procedures.
(F) Termination of the program.
(G) A description of the third parties that will be supplying electricity under the program, including, but not limited to, information about financial, technical, and operational capabilities.
(4) A community choice aggregator establishing electrical load aggregation shall prepare a statement of intent with the implementation plan. Any community choice load aggregation established pursuant to this section shall provide for the following:
(A) Universal access.
(B) Reliability.
(C) Equitable treatment of all classes of customers.
(D) Any requirements established by state law or by the commission concerning aggregated service, including those rules adopted by the commission pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 8341 for the application of the greenhouse gases emission performance standard to community choice aggregators.
(5) In order to determine the cost-recovery mechanism to be imposed on the community choice aggregator pursuant to subdivisions (d), (e), and (f) that shall be paid by the customers of the community choice aggregator to prevent shifting of costs, the community choice aggregator shall file the implementation plan with the commission, and any other information requested by the commission that the commission determines is necessary to develop the cost-recovery mechanism in subdivisions (d), (e), and (f).
(6) The commission shall notify any electrical corporation serving the customers proposed for aggregation that an implementation plan initiating community choice aggregation has been filed, within 10 days of the filing.
(7) Within 90 days after the community choice aggregator establishing load aggregation files its implementation plan, the commission shall certify that it has received the implementation plan, including any additional information necessary to determine a cost-recovery mechanism. After certification of receipt of the implementation plan and any additional information requested, the commission shall then provide the community choice aggregator with its findings regarding any cost recovery that must be paid by customers of the community choice aggregator to prevent a shifting of costs as provided for in subdivisions (d), (e), and (f).
(8) No entity proposing community choice aggregation shall act to furnish electricity to electricity consumers within its boundaries until the commission determines the cost-recovery that must be paid by the customers of that proposed community choice aggregation program, as provided for in subdivisions (d), (e), and (f). The commission shall designate the earliest possible effective date for implementation of a community choice aggregation program, taking into consideration the impact on any annual procurement plan of the electrical corporation that has been approved by the commission.
(9) All electrical corporations shall cooperate fully with any community choice aggregators that investigate, pursue, or implement community choice aggregation programs. Cooperation shall include providing the entities with appropriate billing and electrical load data, including, but not limited to, electrical consumption data as defined in Section 8380 and other data detailing electricity needs and patterns of usage, as determined by the commission, and in accordance with procedures established by the commission. The commission shall exercise its authority pursuant to Chapter 11 (commencing with Section 2100) to enforce the requirements of this paragraph when it finds that the requirements of this paragraph have been violated. Electrical corporations shall continue to provide all metering, billing, collection, and customer service to retail customers that participate in community choice aggregation programs. Bills sent by the electrical corporation to retail customers shall identify the community choice aggregator as providing the electrical energy component of the bill. The commission shall determine the terms and conditions under which the electrical corporation provides services to community choice aggregators and retail customers.
(10) If the commission finds that an electrical corporation has violated this section, the commission shall consider the impact of the violation upon community choice aggregators.
(11) The commission shall proactively expedite the complaint process for disputes regarding an electrical corporation’s violation of its obligations pursuant to this section in order to provide for timely resolution of complaints made by community choice aggregation programs, so that all complaints are resolved in no more than 180 days following the filing of a complaint by a community choice aggregation program concerning the actions of the incumbent electrical corporation. This deadline may only be extended under either of the following circumstances:
(A) Upon agreement of all of the parties to the complaint.
(B) The commission makes a written determination that the deadline cannot be met, including findings for the reason for this determination, and issues an order extending the deadline. A single order pursuant to this subparagraph shall not extend the deadline for more than 60 days.
(12) (A) An entity authorized to be a community choice aggregator, as defined in Section 331.1, that elects to implement a community choice aggregation program within its jurisdiction pursuant to this chapter, shall do so by ordinance. A city, county, or city and county may request, by affirmative resolution of its governing council or board, that another entity authorized to be a community choice aggregator act as the community choice aggregator on its behalf. If a city, county, or city and county, by resolution, requests another authorized entity be the community choice aggregator for the city, county, or city and county, that authorized entity shall be responsible for adopting the ordinance to implement the community choice aggregation program on behalf of the city, county, or city and county.
(B) Two or more entities authorized to be a community choice aggregator, as defined in Section 331.1, may participate as a group in a community choice aggregation program pursuant to this chapter, through a joint powers agency established pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 6500) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code, if each entity adopts an ordinance pursuant to subparagraph (A). Pursuant to Section 6508.1 of the Government Code, members of a joint powers agency that is a community choice aggregator may specify in their joint powers agreement that, unless otherwise agreed by the members of the agency, the debts, liabilities, and obligations of the agency shall not be the debts, liabilities, and obligations, either jointly or severally, of the members of the agency. The commission shall not, as a condition of registration or otherwise, require an agency’s members to voluntarily assume the debts, liabilities, and obligations of the agency to the electrical corporation unless the commission finds that the agreement by the agency’s members is the only reasonable means by which the agency may establish its creditworthiness under the electrical corporation’s tariff to pay charges to the electrical corporation under the tariff.
(13) Following adoption of aggregation through the ordinance described in paragraph (12), the program shall allow any retail customer to opt out and to continue to be served as a bundled service customer by the existing electrical corporation, or its successor in interest. Delivery services shall be provided at the same rates, terms, and conditions, as approved by the commission, for community choice aggregation customers and customers that have entered into a direct transaction where applicable, as determined by the commission. Once enrolled in the aggregated entity, any ratepayer that chooses to opt out within 60 days or two billing cycles of the date of enrollment may do so without penalty and shall be entitled to receive default service pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a). Customers that return to the electrical corporation for procurement services shall be subject to the same terms and conditions as are applicable to other returning direct access customers from the same class, as determined by the commission, as authorized by the commission pursuant to this code or any other provision of law, except that those customers shall be subject to no more than a 12-month stay requirement with the electrical corporation. Any reentry fees to be imposed after the opt-out period specified in this paragraph, shall be approved by the commission and shall reflect the cost of reentry. The commission shall exclude any amounts previously determined and paid pursuant to subdivisions (d), (e), and (f) from the cost of reentry.
(14) Nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing any city or any community choice retail load aggregator to restrict the ability of retail electricity customers to obtain or receive service from any authorized electric service provider in a manner consistent with law.
(15) (A) The community choice aggregator shall fully inform participating customers at least twice within two calendar months, or 60 days, in advance of the date of commencing automatic enrollment. Notifications may occur concurrently with billing cycles. Following enrollment, the aggregated entity shall fully inform participating customers for not less than two consecutive billing cycles. Notification may include, but is not limited to, direct mailings to customers, or inserts in water, sewer, or other utility bills. Any notification shall inform customers of both of the following:
(i) That they are to be automatically enrolled and that the customer has the right to opt out of the community choice aggregator without penalty.
(ii) The terms and conditions of the services offered.
(B) The community choice aggregator may request the commission to approve and order the electrical corporation to provide the notification required in subparagraph (A). If the commission orders the electrical corporation to send one or more of the notifications required pursuant to subparagraph (A) in the electrical corporation’s normally scheduled monthly billing process, the electrical corporation shall be entitled to recover from the community choice aggregator all reasonable incremental costs it incurs related to the notification or notifications. The electrical corporation shall fully cooperate with the community choice aggregator in determining the feasibility and costs associated with using the electrical corporation’s normally scheduled monthly billing process to provide one or more of the notifications required pursuant to subparagraph (A).
(C) Each notification shall also include a mechanism by which a ratepayer may opt out of community choice aggregated service. The opt out may take the form of a self-addressed return postcard indicating the customer’s election to remain with, or return to, electrical energy service provided by the electrical corporation, or another straightforward means by which the customer may elect to derive electrical energy service through the electrical corporation providing service in the area.
(16) A community choice aggregator shall have an operating service agreement with the electrical corporation prior to furnishing electric service to consumers within its jurisdiction. The service agreement shall include performance standards that govern the business and operational relationship between the community choice aggregator and the electrical corporation. The commission shall ensure that any service agreement between the community choice aggregator and the electrical corporation includes equitable responsibilities and remedies for all parties. The parties may negotiate specific terms of the service agreement, provided the service agreement is consistent with this chapter.
(17) The community choice aggregator shall register with the commission, which may require additional information to ensure compliance with basic consumer protection rules and other procedural matters.
(18) Once the community choice aggregator’s contract is signed, the community choice aggregator shall notify the applicable electrical corporation that community choice service will commence within 30 days.
(19) Once notified of a community choice aggregator program, the electrical corporation shall transfer all applicable accounts to the new supplier within a 30-day period from the date of the close of their normally scheduled monthly metering and billing process.
(20) An electrical corporation shall recover from the community choice aggregator any costs reasonably attributable to the community choice aggregator, as determined by the commission, of implementing this section, including, but not limited to, all business and information system changes, except for transaction-based costs as described in this paragraph. Any costs not reasonably attributable to a community choice aggregator shall be recovered from ratepayers, as determined by the commission. All reasonable transaction-based costs of notices, billing, metering, collections, and customer communications or other services provided to an aggregator or its customers shall be recovered from the aggregator or its customers on terms and at rates to be approved by the commission.
(21) At the request and expense of any community choice aggregator, electrical corporations shall install, maintain, and calibrate metering devices at mutually agreeable locations within or adjacent to the community aggregator’s political boundaries. The electrical corporation shall read the metering devices and provide the data collected to the community aggregator at the aggregator’s expense. To the extent that the community aggregator requests a metering location that would require alteration or modification of a circuit, the electrical corporation shall only be required to alter or modify a circuit if such alteration or modification does not compromise the safety, reliability, or operational flexibility of the electrical corporation’s facilities. All costs incurred to modify circuits pursuant to this paragraph, shall be borne by the community aggregator.
(d) (1) It is the intent of the Legislature that each retail end-use customer that has purchased power from an electrical corporation on or after February 1, 2001, should bear a fair share of the Department of Water Resources’ electricity purchase costs, as well as electricity purchase contract obligations incurred as of the effective date of the act adding this section, that are recoverable from electrical corporation customers in commission-approved rates. It is further the intent of the Legislature to prevent any shifting of recoverable costs between customers.
(2) The Legislature finds and declares that this subdivision is consistent with the requirements of Division 27 (commencing with Section 80000) of the Water Code and Section 360.5, and is therefore declaratory of existing law.
(e) A retail end-use customer that purchases electricity from a community choice aggregator pursuant to this section shall pay both of the following:
(1) A charge equivalent to the charges that would otherwise be imposed on the customer by the commission to recover bond related costs pursuant to any agreement between the commission and the Department of Water Resources pursuant to Section 80110 of the Water Code, which charge shall be payable until any obligations of the Department of Water Resources pursuant to Division 27 (commencing with Section 80000) of the Water Code are fully paid or otherwise discharged.
(2) Any additional costs of the Department of Water Resources, equal to the customer’s proportionate share of the Department of Water Resources’ estimated net unavoidable electricity purchase contract costs as determined by the commission, for the period commencing with the customer’s purchases of electricity from the community choice aggregator, through the expiration of all then existing electricity purchase contracts entered into by the Department of Water Resources.
(f) A retail end-use customer purchasing electricity from a community choice aggregator pursuant to this section shall reimburse the electrical corporation that previously served the customer for all of the following:
(1) The electrical corporation’s unrecovered past undercollections for electricity purchases, including any financing costs, attributable to that customer, that the commission lawfully determines may be recovered in rates.
(2) Any additional costs of the electrical corporation recoverable in commission-approved rates, equal to the share of the electrical corporation’s estimated net unavoidable electricity purchase contract costs attributable to the customer, as determined by the commission, for the period commencing with the customer’s purchases of electricity from the community choice aggregator, through the expiration of all then existing electricity purchase contracts entered into by the electrical corporation.
(g) Estimated net unavoidable electricity costs paid by the customers of a community choice aggregator shall be reduced by the value of any benefits that remain with bundled service customers, unless the customers of the community choice aggregator are allocated a fair and equitable share of those benefits.
(h) (1) Any charges imposed pursuant to subdivision (e) shall be the property of the Department of Water Resources. Any charges imposed pursuant to subdivision (f) shall be the property of the electrical corporation. The commission shall establish mechanisms, including agreements with, or orders with respect to, electrical corporations necessary to ensure that charges payable pursuant to this section shall be promptly remitted to the party entitled to payment.
(2) Charges imposed pursuant to subdivisions (d), (e), and (f) shall be nonbypassable.
(i) The commission shall authorize community choice aggregation only if the commission imposes a cost-recovery mechanism pursuant to subdivisions (d), (e), (f), and (h). Except as provided by this subdivision, this section shall not alter the suspension by the commission of direct purchases of electricity from alternate providers other than by community choice aggregators, pursuant to Section 365.1.
(j) (1) The commission shall not authorize community choice aggregation until it implements a cost-recovery mechanism, consistent with subdivisions (d), (e), and (f), that is applicable to customers that elected to purchase electricity from an alternate provider between February 1, 2001, and January 1, 2003.
(2) The commission shall not authorize community choice aggregation until it has adopted rules for implementing community choice aggregation.
(k) (1) Except for nonbypassable charges imposed by the commission pursuant to subdivisions (d), (e), (f), and (h), and programs authorized by the commission to provide broader statewide or regional benefits to all customers, electric service customers of a community choice aggregator shall not be required to pay nonbypassable charges for goods, services, or programs that do not benefit either, or where applicable, both, the customer and the community choice aggregator serving the customer.
(2) The commission, Energy Commission, electrical corporation, or third-party administrator shall administer any program funded through a nonbypassable charge on a nondiscriminatory basis so that the electric service customers of a community choice aggregator may participate in the program on an equal basis with the customers of an electrical corporation.
(3) Nothing in this subdivision is intended to modify, or prohibit the use of, charges funding programs for the benefit of low-income customers.
(l) (1) An electrical corporation shall not terminate the services of a community choice aggregator unless authorized by a vote of the full commission. The commission shall ensure that prior to authorizing a termination of service, that the community choice aggregator has been provided adequate notice and a reasonable opportunity to be heard regarding any electrical corporation contentions in support of termination. If the contentions made by the electrical corporation in favor of termination include factual claims, the community choice aggregator shall be afforded an opportunity to address those claims in an evidentiary hearing.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), if the Independent System Operator has transferred the community choice aggregator’s scheduling coordination responsibilities to the incumbent electrical corporation, an administrative law judge or assigned commissioner, after providing the aggregator with notice and an opportunity to respond, may suspend the aggregator’s service to customers pending a full vote of the commission.
(m) Any meeting of an entity authorized to be a community choice aggregator, as defined in Section 331.1, for the purpose of developing, implementing, or administering a program of community choice aggregation shall be conducted in the manner prescribed by the Ralph M. Brown Act (Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 54950) of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5 of the Government Code).

SEC. 6.

 Section 380 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:

380.
 (a) The commission, in consultation with the Independent System Operator, shall establish resource adequacy requirements for all load-serving entities.
(b) In establishing resource adequacy requirements, the commission shall achieve all of the following objectives:
(1) Facilitate development of new generating capacity and retention of existing generating capacity that is economic and needed.
(2) Equitably allocate the cost of generating capacity and prevent shifting of costs between customer classes.
(3) Minimize enforcement requirements and costs.
(4) Maximize the ability of community choice aggregators to determine the generation resources used to serve their customers.
(c) Each load-serving entity shall maintain physical generating capacity adequate to meet its load requirements, including, but not limited to, peak demand and planning and operating reserves. The generating capacity shall be deliverable to locations and at times as may be necessary to provide reliable electric service.
(d) Each load-serving entity shall, at a minimum, meet the most recent minimum planning reserve and reliability criteria approved by the Board of Trustees of the Western Systems Coordinating Council or the Western Electricity Coordinating Council.
(e) The commission shall implement and enforce the resource adequacy requirements established in accordance with this section in a nondiscriminatory manner. Each load-serving entity shall be subject to the same requirements for resource adequacy and the renewables portfolio standard program that are applicable to electrical corporations pursuant to this section, or otherwise required by law, or by order or decision of the commission. The commission shall exercise its enforcement powers to ensure compliance by all load-serving entities.
(f) The commission shall require sufficient information, including, but not limited to, anticipated load, actual load, and measures undertaken by a load-serving entity to ensure resource adequacy, to be reported to enable the commission to determine compliance with the resource adequacy requirements established by the commission.
(g) An electrical corporation’s costs of meeting resource adequacy requirements, including, but not limited to, the costs associated with system reliability and local area reliability, that are determined to be reasonable by the commission, or are otherwise recoverable under a procurement plan approved by the commission pursuant to Section 454.5, shall be fully recoverable from those customers on whose behalf the costs are incurred, as determined by the commission, at the time the commitment to incur the cost is made, on a fully nonbypassable basis, as determined by the commission. The commission shall exclude any amounts authorized to be recovered pursuant to Section 366.2 when authorizing the amount of costs to be recovered from customers of a community choice aggregator or from customers that purchase electricity through a direct transaction pursuant to this subdivision.
(h) The commission shall determine and authorize the most efficient and equitable means for achieving all of the following:
(1) Meeting the objectives of this section.
(2) Ensuring that investment is made in new generating capacity.
(3) Ensuring that existing generating capacity that is economic is retained.
(4) Ensuring that the cost of generating capacity is allocated equitably.
(5) Ensuring that community choice aggregators can determine the generation resources used to serve their customers.
(i) In making the determination pursuant to subdivision (h), the commission may consider a centralized resource adequacy mechanism among other options.
(j) For purposes of this section, “load-serving entity” means an electrical corporation, electric service provider, or community choice aggregator. “Load-serving entity” does not include any of the following:
(1) A local publicly owned electric utility.
(2) The State Water Resources Development System commonly known as the State Water Project.
(3)  Customer generation located on the customer’s site or providing electric service through arrangements authorized by Section 218, if the customer generation, or the load it serves, meets one of the following criteria:
(A) It takes standby service from the electrical corporation on a commission-approved rate schedule that provides for adequate backup planning and operating reserves for the standby customer class.
(B) It is not physically interconnected to the electric transmission or distribution grid, so that, if the customer generation fails, backup electricity is not supplied from the electricity grid.
(C) There is physical assurance that the load served by the customer generation will be curtailed concurrently and commensurately with an outage of the customer generation.

SEC. 7.

 Section 381.1 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:

381.1.
 (a) No later than July 15, 2003, the commission shall establish policies and procedures by which any party, including, but not limited to, a local entity that establishes a community choice aggregation program, may apply to become administrators for cost-effective energy efficiency and conservation programs established pursuant to Section 381. In determining whether to approve an application to become administrators and subject to an aggregator’s right to elect to become an administrator pursuant to subdivision (f), the commission shall consider the value of program continuity and planning certainty and the value of allowing competitive opportunities for potentially new administrators. The commission shall weigh the benefits of the party’s proposed program to ensure that the program meets the following objectives:
(1) Is consistent with the goals of the existing programs established pursuant to Section 381.
(2) Advances the public interest in maximizing cost-effective electricity savings and related benefits.
(3) Accommodates the need for broader statewide or regional programs.
(b) All audit and reporting requirements established by the commission pursuant to Section 381 and other statutes shall apply to the parties chosen as administrators under this section.
(c) If a community choice aggregator is not the administrator of energy efficiency and conservation programs for which its customers are eligible, the commission shall require the administrator of cost-effective energy efficiency and conservation programs to direct a proportional share of its approved energy efficiency program activities for which the community choice aggregator’s customers are eligible, to the community choice aggregator’s territory without regard to customer class. To the extent that energy efficiency and conservation programs are targeted to specific locations to avoid or defer transmission or distribution system upgrades, the targeted expenditures shall continue irrespective of whether the loads in those locations are served by an aggregator or by an electrical corporation. The commission shall also direct the administrator to work with the community choice aggregator, to provide advance information where appropriate about the likely impacts of energy efficiency programs and to accommodate any unique community program needs by placing more, or less, emphasis on particular approved programs to the extent that these special shifts in emphasis in no way diminish the effectiveness of broader statewide or regional programs. If the community choice aggregator proposes energy efficiency programs other than programs already approved for implementation in its territory, it shall do so under established commission policies and procedures. The commission may order an adjustment to the share of energy efficiency program activities directed to a community aggregator’s territory if necessary to ensure an equitable and cost-effective allocation of energy efficiency program activities.
(d) The commission shall establish an impartial process for making the determination of whether a third party, including a community choice aggregator, may become administrators for cost-effective energy efficiency and conservation programs pursuant to subdivision (a), and shall not delegate or otherwise transfer the commission’s authority to make this determination for a community choice aggregator to an electrical corporation.
(e) The impartial process established by the commission shall allow a registered community choice aggregator to elect to become the administrator of funds collected from the aggregator’s electric service customers and collected through a nonbypassable charge authorized by the commission, for cost-effective energy efficiency and conservation programs, except those funds collected for broader statewide and regional programs authorized by the commission.
(f) A community choice aggregator electing to become an administrator shall submit a plan, approved by its governing board, to the commission for the administration of cost-effective energy efficiency and conservation programs for the aggregator’s electric service customers that includes funding requirements, a program description, a cost-effectiveness analysis, and the duration of the program. The commission shall certify that the plan submitted does all of the following:
(1) Is consistent with the goals of the programs established pursuant to this section and Section 399.4.
(2) Advances the public interest in maximizing cost-effective electricity savings and related benefits.
(3) Accommodates the need for broader statewide or regional programs.
(4) Includes audit and reporting requirements consistent with the audit and reporting requirements established by the commission pursuant to this section.
(5) Includes evaluation, measurement, and verification protocols established by the community choice aggregator.
(6) Includes performance metrics regarding the community choice aggregator’s achievement of the objectives listed in paragraphs (1) to (5), inclusive, and in any previous plan.
(g) If the commission does not certify the plan for the administration of cost-effective energy efficiency and conservation programs submitted by a community choice aggregator pursuant to subdivision (f), the community choice aggregator electing to administer these programs may submit an amended plan to the commission for certification. No moneys may be released to a community choice aggregator unless the commission certifies the plan pursuant to subdivision (f).

SEC. 8.

 Section 395.5 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:

395.5.
 (a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) “Nonprofit charitable organization” means any charitable organization described in Section 501(c)(3) of the federal Internal Revenue Code that has as its primary purpose serving the needs of the poor or elderly.
(2) “Electric commodity” means electricity used by the customer or a supply of electricity available for use by the customer, and does not include services associated with the transmission and distribution of electricity.
(b) Notwithstanding Section 80110 of the Water Code, a nonprofit charitable organization may acquire electric commodity service through a direct transaction with an electric service provider if electric commodity service is donated free of charge without compensation.
(c) A nonprofit charitable organization that acquires donated electric commodity service through a direct transaction pursuant to this section shall be responsible for paying all of the following:
(1) Those charges and surcharges that would be imposed upon a retail end-use customer of a community aggregator pursuant to subdivisions (d), (e), (f), and (h) of Section 366.2.
(2) The transmission and distribution charges of an electrical corporation or a local publicly owned electric utility.
(3) A nonbypassable charge imposed pursuant to Article 7 (commencing with Section 381), Article 8 (commencing with Section 385), or Article 15 (commencing with Section 399).
(4) Costs imposed upon a load-serving entity pursuant to Section 380.
(d) Existing direct access rules and all service obligations otherwise applicable to electric service providers shall govern transactions under this section.
(e) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2015, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2015, deletes or extends that date.

SEC. 9.

 Section 396.5 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:

396.5.
 The governing body of a community choice aggregator shall adopt a policy that expressly prohibits the dissemination by the community choice aggregator of any statement relating to the community choice aggregator’s rates or terms and conditions of service that is untrue or misleading, and that is known, or that, by the exercise of reasonable care, should be known, to be untrue or misleading.

SEC. 10.

 Section 707 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:

707.
 (a) Not later than March 1, 2012, the commission shall institute a rulemaking proceeding for the purpose of considering and adopting a code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures, to govern the conduct of the electrical corporations relative to the consideration, formation, and implementation of community choice aggregation programs authorized in Section 366.2. The code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures, shall do all of the following:
(1) Ensure that an electrical corporation does not market against a community choice aggregation program, except through an independent marketing division that is funded exclusively by the electrical corporation’s shareholders and that is functionally and physically separate from the electrical corporation’s ratepayer-funded divisions.
(2) Limit the electrical corporation’s independent marketing division’s use of support services from the electrical corporation’s ratepayer-funded divisions, and ensure that the electrical corporation’s independent marketing division is allocated costs of any permissible support services from the electrical corporation’s ratepayer-funded divisions on a fully allocated embedded cost basis, providing detailed public reports of such use.
(3) Ensure that the electrical corporation’s independent marketing division does not have access to competitively sensitive information.
(4) (A) Incorporate rules that the commission finds to be necessary or convenient in order to facilitate the development of community choice aggregation programs, to foster fair competition, and to protect against cross-subsidization paid by ratepayers.
(B) It is the intent of the Legislature that the rules include, in whole or in part, the rules approved by the commission in Decision 97-12-088 and Decision 08-06-016.
(C) This paragraph does not limit the authority of the commission to adopt rules that it determines are necessary or convenient in addition to those adopted in Decision 97-12-088 and Decision 08-06-016 or to modify any rule adopted in those decisions.
(5) Provide for any other matter that the commission determines to be necessary or advisable to protect a ratepayer’s right to be free from forced speech or to implement that portion of the federal Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 that establishes the federal standard that no electric utility may recover from any person other than the shareholders or other owners of the utility, any direct or indirect expenditure by the electric utility for promotional or political advertising (16 U.S.C. Sec. 2623(b)(5)).
(b) The commission shall ensure that the code of conduct, associated rules, and enforcement procedures are implemented by no later than January 1, 2013.
(c) This section does not limit the authority of the commission to require that any marketing against a community choice aggregation plan shall be conducted by an affiliate of the electrical corporation, or to require that marketing against a community choice aggregator not be conducted by a marketing division of the electrical corporation, subject to affiliate transaction rules to be developed by the commission.

SEC. 11.

 Part 5 (commencing with Section 3260) is added to Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code, to read:

PART 5. GENERAL PROVISIONS

3260.
 Nothing in this division prohibits payments pursuant to an agreement authorized by the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. Sec. 151 et seq.), or payments permitted by the federal Labor Management Cooperation Act of 1978 (29 U.S.C. Secs. 173, 175a, and 186). Nothing in this division restricts any use permitted by federal law of money paid pursuant to these acts.

SEC. 12.

 No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.