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SB-1148 Electrical service: master meters.(2023-2024)

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Date Published: 04/04/2024 09:00 PM
SB1148:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Senate  April 04, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 1148

Introduced by Senators Blakespear and Wahab

February 14, 2024

An act to amend Section 780.5 of, and to add Section 780.7 to, the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 1148, as amended, Blakespear. Electrical service: multifamily dwellings and local government buildings. master meters.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. Existing law requires the commission to require every residential unit in an apartment house or similar multiunit residential structure, condominium, or mobilehome park issued a building permit on or after July 1, 1982, with certain exceptions, to be individually metered for electrical and gas service.
This bill would add an exception from the requirement that every residential unit be individually metered for electrical service for a multifamily dwelling that includes a microgrid, site, as defined, that includes deployment of an electrical generation and energy storage facility and that meets specified requirements, including, among other things, that deployment of the electrical generation and energy storage facility is capable of providing backup electricity to the multifamily site using renewable energy resources, that the owner of the multifamily site does not increase rent in association with the costs of the deployment’s components or lease agreement, that each tenant’s electricity costs are less than what the tenant would have paid without the deployment of the microgrid, that the multifamily dwelling uses electricity generated from renewable energy resources, that all construction workers employed in the construction of the dwelling are paid at least the general prevailing rate of wages, as specified, and that the owner of the dwelling bills tenants using one of 3 specified methods. effective fully bundled rate would have been if billed by the relevant load-serving entity, and that the owner bills the nonresidential meters and residential tenants for electricity usage directly, as measured by private submeters installed by the owner for each individual unit at the site, as specified.
The bill would require the commission to authorize the use of a master meter in any building owned or operated by a local government. government, institution of higher education, private school, or religious institution.
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 the bill’s provisions would be part of the act and a violation of a commission action implementing the bill’s requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
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.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Increasing energy consumers’ resilience to grid outages, which threaten public health and safety, particularly for low-income and medically vulnerable populations, is a high priority.
(b) In the context of the state’s concurrent priority to achieve net-zero carbon emissions, ensuring energy and other associated costs remain affordable for low-income residents is a high priority.
(c) Reform of the individual unit metering requirement for multiunit facilities will further both of these priorities.

SECTION 1.SEC. 2.

 Section 780.5 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:

780.5.
 (a) Except For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) “Load-serving entity” has the same meaning as defined in Section 380.
(2) “Multifamily dwelling” has the same meaning as defined in Section 65863.4 of the Government Code.
(3) “Multifamily site” means adjacent or contiguous properties that are solely owned and collectively have at least one multifamily dwelling on them.
(b) Except as provided in subdivision (b), (c), the commission shall require every residential unit in an apartment house or similar multiunit residential structure, condominium, and mobilehome park for which a building permit has been obtained on or after July 1, 1982, to be individually metered for electrical and gas service.

(b)

(c) All of the following are not required to be individually metered for electrical and gas service:
(1) Dormitory or other housing accommodations provided by any postsecondary educational institution for its students or employees.
(2) Farmworker housing.
(3) With respect to gas service, residential units that are not equipped with gas appliances requiring venting or are equipped with only vented decorative appliances or that receive the majority of energy used for water or space heating from a solar energy system or through cogeneration technology.
(4) (A) With respect to electrical service, a multifamily dwelling site that includes a microgrid, as defined in Section 8370, deployment of an electrical generation and energy storage facility and that meets all of the following requirements:

(A)Each tenant’s electricity costs are less than what the tenant would have otherwise paid for the use of the electricity without the deployment of the microgrid.

(B)If the multifamily dwelling includes 20 or more residential units, the dwelling electrically isolates from the electrical distribution grid during the daily peak period, from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., and serves all electrical loads with onsite generation.

(C)The multifamily dwelling uses electricity generated from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined in Section 399.12.

(D)All construction workers employed in the construction of the multifamily dwelling are paid at least the general prevailing rate of per diem wages for the type of work and geographic area, as determined by the Director of Industrial Relations under Sections 1773 and 1773.9 of the Labor Code, except that apprentices registered in programs approved by the Chief of the Division of Apprenticeship Standards may be paid at least the applicable apprentice prevailing rate.

(E)The owner of the multifamily dwelling bills residential tenants for electricity use by doing one of the following:

(i)Charging each tenant for the tenant’s direct electricity usage, as measured by private submeters installed for each individual unit in the dwelling.

(ii)Incorporating the cost of electricity within the rent charged for each individual unit, if the amount included within the rent is equal for all tenants and does not vary with electricity usage.

(iii)Charging each tenant based on the total square footage for each individual unit, except that the rate charged shall retain incentives for conservation and efficiency so that a tenant with relatively efficient electricity usage shall pay less than a tenant who has relatively inefficient electricity usage and resides in a unit of the same size.

(i) The deployment of the electrical generation and energy storage facility is capable of providing backup electricity to the multifamily site using a California renewable energy resource and meets the requisite criteria for a renewable electrical generation facility described in Section 25741 of the Public Resources Code.
(ii) Electricity used at the multifamily site that is not imported from the distribution grid is generated from an onsite California renewable energy resource.
(iii) Work on the deployment of the electrical generation and energy storage facility is performed consistent with the requirements of Section 769.2.
(iv) The owner of the multifamily site does not increase rent in association with the costs of the deployment’s components or lease agreement.
(v) Each tenant’s electricity costs under the deployment of the electrical generation and energy storage facility are less than what the effective fully bundled rate would have been if billed by the relevant load-serving entity, and the following requirements are also met:
(I) The owner of the multifamily site, or the owner of the electrical generation and energy storage facility deployed on the multifamily site, bills the multifamily site’s nonresidential meters and residential tenants for electricity usage directly, as measured by private submeters installed by the owner for each individual unit at the multifamily site. The electricity price per kilowatt-hour (kWh) billed to tenants based on submeter readings is no more than the effective average per kWh rate that would have been billed by the relevant load-serving entity, including charges for delivery, demand, energy, and all other components of the electricity bill. The private billing reflects time-of-use price demarcations.
(II) The private submeter installed for each individual unit at the multifamily site measures electricity usage and time of use, which is billed at the appropriate retail tariff, ensuring that low-income households continue to receive the benefits of subsidies associated with the California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) program and the Family Electric Rate Assistance (FERA) program.
(III) Electricity imported from the distribution grid is measured in aggregate at the master meter to determine the full amount of electricity that is billed at the appropriate retail rate for electricity.
(IV) Electricity from the deployment of the electrical generation and energy storage facility and associated costs is allocated to each tenant at the multifamily site on a pro rata basis.
(V) An annual reconciliation is provided to tenants of the multifamily site once per year, showing their savings compared to the costs they would have incurred from normal retail billing by the load-serving entity.
(B) A mixed-use development that meets the other requirements of subparagraph (A) may deploy private submeters at nonresidential meters.
(C) The deployment of a master meter pursuant to this paragraph does not affect the eligibility of a multifamily site to receive service pursuant to a contract or tariff developed under Section 2827 or 2827.1.

SEC. 2.SEC. 3.

 Section 780.7 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:

780.7.
 (a) The commission shall authorize the use of a master meter in any building facility owned or operated by a local government. government, institution of higher education, private school, or religious institution, as that term is defined in Section 65913.16 of the Government Code.
(b) The deployment of a master meter pursuant to this section does not affect the eligibility of the facility to receive service pursuant to a contract or tariff developed under Section 2827 or 2827.1.

SEC. 3.SEC. 4.

 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.