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SB-1326 Electricity: fixed charges.(2023-2024)

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Date Published: 02/16/2024 02:00 PM
SB1326:v99#DOCUMENT


CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 1326

Introduced by Senator Jones
(Coauthors: Senators Dahle, Grove, Nguyen, Niello, Ochoa Bogh, Seyarto, and Wilk)

February 16, 2024

An act to amend Sections 739.9 and 2827.1 of the Public Utilities Code, and to repeal Section 14 of Chapter 61 of the Statutes of 2022, relating to electricity, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 1326, as introduced, Jones. Electricity: fixed charges.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to adopt new, or expand existing, fixed charges, as defined, for the purpose of collecting a reasonable portion of the fixed costs of providing electrical service to residential customers. Under existing law, the commission may authorize fixed charges for any rate schedule applicable to a residential customer account, and is required, no later than July 1, 2024, to authorize a fixed charge for default residential rates. Existing law requires these fixed charges to be established on an income-graduated basis, with no fewer than 3 income thresholds, so that low-income ratepayers in each baseline territory would realize a lower average monthly bill without making any changes in usage.
Existing law requires the PUC to continue the California Alternative Rates for Energy (CARE) program to provide assistance to low-income electric and gas customers with annual household incomes that are no greater than 200% of the federal poverty guideline levels, as specified.
This bill would require the PUC to require each electrical corporation to offer default rates to residential customers with at least 2 usage tiers, as provided. The bill would eliminate the requirement that the fixed charges be established on an income-graduated basis as described above, repeal related findings and declarations of the Legislature, and authorize the commission to instead authorize fixed charges that, as of January 1, 2015, do not exceed $10 per residential customer account per month for customers not enrolled in the CARE program and $5 per residential customer account per month for customers enrolled in the CARE program. The bill would authorize the maximum allowable fixed charge to be adjusted by no more than the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for the prior calendar year, as specified.
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 certain provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and a violation of a commission action implementing the above-described 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.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

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


SECTION 1.

 This bill shall be known, and may be cited, as the Cost of Living Reduction Act.

SEC. 2.

 Section 739.9 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:

739.9.
 (a) “Fixed charge” means any fixed customer charge, basic service fee, demand differentiated basic service fee, demand charge, or other charge not based on the volume of electricity consumed.
(b) Increases to electrical rates and charges in rate design proceedings, including any reduction in the California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) program discount, shall be reasonable and subject to a reasonable phase-in schedule relative to the rates and charges in effect before January 1, 2014.
(c) Except as provided in subdivision (c) of Section 745, the commission shall require each electrical corporation to offer default rates to residential customers with at least two usage tiers. The first tier shall include electricity usage of no less than the baseline quantity established pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (d) of Section 739.

(c)

(d) Consistent with the requirements of Section 739, the commission may modify the seasonal definitions and applicable percentage of average consumption for one or more climatic zones.

(d)

(e) The commission may adopt new, or expand existing, fixed charges for the purpose of collecting a reasonable portion of the fixed costs of providing electrical service to residential customers. The commission shall ensure that any approved charges do all of the following:
(1) Reasonably reflect an appropriate portion of the different costs of serving small and large customers.
(2) Not unreasonably impair incentives for conservation, energy efficiency, conservation and beneficial electrification and greenhouse gas emissions reduction. energy efficiency.
(3)  Are set at levels that do not Not overburden low-income customers.

(e)(1)For the purposes of this section and Section 739.1, the commission may authorize fixed charges for any rate schedule applicable to a residential customer account. The fixed charge shall be established on an income-graduated basis with no fewer than three income thresholds so that a low-income ratepayer in each baseline territory would realize a lower average monthly bill without making any changes in usage. The commission shall, no later than July 1, 2024, authorize a fixed charge for default residential rates.

(2)For purposes of this subdivision, “income-graduated” means that low-income customers pay a smaller fixed charge than high-income customers.

(f)Notwithstanding the requirements of subdivision (d) of Section 739 and Section 739.7, the commission shall not apply the composite tier method to the treatment of any revenues resulting from any fixed charge adopted pursuant to this section.

(f) For purposes of this section and Section 739.1, the commission may, beginning January 1, 2015, authorize fixed charges that do not exceed ten dollars ($10) per residential customer account per month for customers not enrolled in the CARE program and five dollars ($5) per residential customer account per month for customers enrolled in the CARE program. Beginning January 1, 2016, the maximum allowable fixed charge may be adjusted by no more than the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for the prior calendar year. This subdivision applies to any default rate schedule, at least one optional tiered rate schedule, and at least one optional time variant rate schedule.
(g) This section does not require the commission to approve any new or expanded fixed charge.
(h) The commission may consider whether minimum bills are appropriate as a substitute for any fixed charges.

SEC. 3.

 Section 2827.1 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:

2827.1.
 (a) For purposes of this section, “eligible customer-generator,” “large electrical corporation,” and “renewable electrical generation facility” have the same meanings as defined in Section 2827.
(b) Notwithstanding any other law, the commission shall develop a standard contract or tariff, which may include net energy metering, for eligible customer-generators with a renewable electrical generation facility that is a customer of a large electrical corporation no later than December 31, 2015. The commission may develop the standard contract or tariff prior to before December 31, 2015, and may require a large electrical corporation that has reached the net energy metering program limit of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (4) of subdivision (c) of Section 2827 to offer the standard contract or tariff to eligible customer-generators. A large electrical corporation shall offer the standard contract or tariff to an eligible customer-generator beginning July 1, 2017, or prior to before that date if ordered to do so by the commission because it has reached the net energy metering program limit of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (4) of subdivision (c) of Section 2827. The commission may revise the standard contract or tariff as appropriate to achieve the objectives of this section. In developing the standard contract or tariff, the commission shall do all of the following:
(1) Ensure that the standard contract or tariff made available to eligible customer-generators ensures that customer-sited renewable distributed generation continues to grow sustainably and include specific alternatives designed for growth among residential customers in disadvantaged communities.
(2) Establish terms of service and billing rules for eligible customer-generators.
(3) Ensure that the standard contract or tariff made available to eligible customer-generators is based on the costs and benefits of the renewable electrical generation facility.
(4) Ensure that the total benefits of the standard contract or tariff to all customers and the electrical system are approximately equal to the total costs.
(5) Allow projects greater than one megawatt that do not have significant impact on the distribution grid to be built to the size of the onsite load if the projects with a capacity of more than one megawatt are subject to reasonable interconnection charges established pursuant to the commission’s Electric Rule 21 and applicable state and federal requirements.
(6) Establish a transition period during which eligible customer-generators taking service under a net energy metering tariff or contract prior to before July 1, 2017, or until the electrical corporation reaches its net energy metering program limit pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (4) of subdivision (c) of Section 2827, whichever is earlier, shall be eligible to continue service under the previously applicable net energy metering tariff for a length of time to be determined by the commission by March 31, 2014. Any rules adopted by the commission shall consider a reasonable expected payback period based on the year the customer initially took service under the tariff or contract authorized by Section 2827.
(7) The commission shall determine which rates and tariffs are applicable to customer generators only during a rulemaking proceeding. Any fixed charges for residential customer generators that differ from the fixed charges allowed pursuant to subdivision (e) (f) of Section 739.9 shall be authorized only in a rulemaking proceeding involving every large electrical corporation. The commission shall ensure customer generators are provided electric service at rates that are just and reasonable.
(c) Beginning July 1, 2017, or when ordered to do so by the commission because the large electrical corporation has reached its capacity limitation of subparagraph (B) of paragraph (4) of subdivision (c) of Section 2827, all new eligible customer-generators shall be subject to the standard contract or tariff developed by the commission and any rules, terms, and rates developed pursuant to subdivision (b). There shall be no limitation on the amount of generating capacity or number of new eligible customer-generators entitled to receive service pursuant to the standard contract or tariff after July 1, 2017. An eligible customer-generator that has received service under a net energy metering standard contract or tariff pursuant to Section 2827 that is no longer eligible to receive service shall be eligible to receive service pursuant to the standard contract or tariff developed by the commission pursuant to this section.

SEC. 4.

 Section 14 of Chapter 61 of the Statutes of 2022 is repealed.
SEC. 14.

(a)In regards to Section 739.9 of the Public Utilities Code, as amended by this act, the Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(1)The Public Utilities Commission has found that electrical corporation customers are facing two areas of increasing cost pressures: growing electric transmission and distribution infrastructure and operation costs, including wildfire mitigation costs, and equitable recovery of utility fixed costs.

(2)The majority of an electrical corporation’s revenue requirement, including funds for electric generation, transmission and distribution investments, and operations and maintenance work, is recovered from customers by a volumetric rate. However, only a portion of the electrical corporation’s costs directly vary based on how much electricity a customer consumes, while many infrastructure and operational costs do not.

(3)The current default residential customer rate structure in electrical corporation territories leads to a situation in which rates must rise to recover sufficient revenue to support certain fixed utility costs and can lead to year-to-year rate increase volatility, especially with declines in electricity sales that result from greater adoption of distributed energy resources.

(4)The disparity between volumetric revenue recovery and fixed costs that do not vary with electricity consumption also contributes to potential inequities among customers.

(b)In regards to Section 739.9 of the Public Utilities Code, as amended by this act, it is the intent of the Legislature to do both of the following:

(1)Authorize the Public Utilities Commission to establish reasonable fixed charges on default residential customer rates to help stabilize rates and equitably allocate and recover costs among residential customers in each electrical corporation’s service territory.

(2)If the Public Utilities Commission establishes fixed charges on default residential customer rates, ensure that the fixed charges are established to more fairly distribute the burden of supporting the electric system and achieving California’s climate change goals through the fixed charge.

SEC. 5.

 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.

SEC. 6.

 This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
Due to the July 1, 2024, deadline for the Public Utilities Commission to authorize a fixed charge for default residential rates, as described in subdivision (e) of Section 739.9 of the Public Utilities Code, it is necessary for this act to go into immediate effect.