216.

 (a) “Public utility” includes every common carrier, toll bridge corporation, pipeline corporation, gas corporation, electrical corporation, telephone corporation, telegraph corporation, water corporation, sewer system corporation, and heat corporation, where the service is performed for, or the commodity is delivered to, the public or any portion thereof.

(b) Whenever any common carrier, toll bridge corporation, pipeline corporation, gas corporation, electrical corporation, telephone corporation, telegraph corporation, water corporation, sewer system corporation, or heat corporation performs a service for, or delivers a commodity to, the public or any portion thereof for which any compensation or payment whatsoever is received, that common carrier, toll bridge corporation, pipeline corporation, gas corporation, electrical corporation, telephone corporation, telegraph corporation, water corporation, sewer system corporation, or heat corporation, is a public utility subject to the jurisdiction, control, and regulation of the commission and the provisions of this part.

(c) When any person or corporation performs any service for, or delivers any commodity to, any person, private corporation, municipality, or other political subdivision of the state, that in turn either directly or indirectly, mediately or immediately, performs that service for, or delivers that commodity to, the public or any portion thereof, that person or corporation is a public utility subject to the jurisdiction, control, and regulation of the commission and the provisions of this part.

(d) Ownership or operation of a facility that employs cogeneration technology or produces power from other than a conventional power source or the ownership or operation of a facility which employs landfill gas technology does not make a corporation or person a public utility within the meaning of this section solely because of the ownership or operation of that facility.

(e) Any corporation or person engaged directly or indirectly in developing, producing, transmitting, distributing, delivering, or selling any form of heat derived from geothermal or solar resources or from cogeneration technology to any privately owned or publicly owned public utility, or to the public or any portion thereof, is not a public utility within the meaning of this section solely by reason of engaging in any of those activities.

(f) The ownership or operation of a facility that sells compressed natural gas at retail to the public for use only as a motor vehicle fuel, and the selling of compressed natural gas at retail from that facility to the public for use only as a motor vehicle fuel, does not make the corporation or person a public utility within the meaning of this section solely because of that ownership, operation, or sale.

(g) Ownership or operation of a facility that has been certified by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as an exempt wholesale generator pursuant to Section 32 of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 (Chapter 2C (commencing with Section 79) of Title 15 of the United States Code) does not make a corporation or person a public utility within the meaning of this section, solely due to the ownership or operation of that facility.

(h) The ownership, control, operation, or management of an electric plant used for direct transactions or participation directly or indirectly in direct transactions, as permitted by subdivision (b) of Section 365, sales into the Power Exchange referred to in Section 365, or the use or sale as permitted under subdivisions (b) to (d), inclusive, of Section 218, shall not make a corporation or person a public utility within the meaning of this section solely because of that ownership, participation, or sale.

331.

 The definitions set forth in this section shall govern the construction of this chapter.

(a) “Aggregator” means any marketer, broker, public agency, city, county, or special district, that combines the loads of multiple end-use customers in facilitating the sale and purchase of electric energy, transmission, and other services on behalf of these customers.

(b) “Broker” means an entity that arranges the sale and purchase of electric energy, transmission, and other services between buyers and sellers, but does not take title to any of the power sold.

(c) “Direct transaction” means a contract between any one or more electric generators, marketers, or brokers of electric power and one or more retail customers providing for the purchase and sale of electric power or any ancillary services.

(d) “Fire wall” means the line of demarcation separating residential and small commercial customers from all other customers as described in subdivision (e) of Section 367.

(e) “Marketer” means any entity that buys electric energy, transmission, and other services from traditional utilities and other suppliers, and then resells those services at wholesale or to an end-use customer.

(f) “Microcogeneration facility” means a cogeneration facility of less than one megawatt.

(g) “Restructuring trusts trust” means the two tax-exempt public benefit trusts trust established by Decision 96-08-038 of the Public Utilities Commission to provide for the design and development of the hardware and software systems for the Power Exchange and the Independent System Operator, respectively, and that may undertake other activities, as needed, as ordered by the commission.

(h) “Small commercial customer” means a customer that has a maximum peak demand of less than 20 kilowatts.

335.

 In order to ensure that the interests of the people of California are served, a five-member Electricity Oversight Board is hereby created as provided in Section 336. For purposes of this chapter, any reference to the Oversight Board shall mean the Electricity Oversight Board. Its functions shall be all of the following:

(a) To oversee the Independent System Operator and the Power Exchange.

(b) To determine the composition and terms of service and to exercise the exclusive right to decline to confirm the appointments of specific members of the governing board of the Power Exchange.

(c)To serve as an appeal board for majority decisions of the Independent System Operator governing board, as they relate to matters subject to exclusive state jurisdiction, as specified in Section 339.

(c) To investigate any matter related to the wholesale market for electricity to ensure that the interests of California’s citizens and consumers are served, protected, and represented in relation to the availability of electric transmission and generation and related costs, during periods of peak demand.

339.

 (a) The Oversight Board is the appeal board for majority decisions of the Independent System Operator governing board relating to matters that are identified in subdivision (b) as they pertain to the Independent System Operator.

(b) The following matters are subject to California’s exclusive jurisdiction:

(1) Selections by California of governing board members, as described in Sections 335, 337, and 338 and 337.

(2) Matters pertaining to retail electric service or retail sales of electric energy.

(3) Ensuring that the purposes and functions of the Independent System Operator and Power Exchange are consistent with the purposes and functions of California nonprofit public benefit corporations, including duties of care and conflict of interest standards for directors of the corporations.

(4) State functions assigned to the Independent System Operator and Power Exchange under state law.

(5) Open meeting standards and meeting notice requirements.

(6) Appointment of advisory representatives representing state interests.

(7) Public access to corporate records.

(8) The amendment of bylaws relevant to these matters.

(c) Only members of the Independent System Operator governing board may appeal a majority decision of the Independent System Operator related to any of the matters specified in subdivision (b) to the Oversight Board.

340.

 The Oversight Board shall take the steps that are necessary to ensure the earliest possible incorporation of the Independent System Operator and the Power Exchange as separately as an incorporated public benefit, nonprofit corporations corporation under the Corporations Code.

341.2.

 The Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (Article 9 (commencing with Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code) applies to meetings of the Oversight Board. In addition to the allowances of that act, the Oversight Board may hold a closed session to consider the appointment of one or more candidates to the governing board of the Power Exchange, deliberate on matters involving the removal of a member of the governing board of the Power Exchange, or to consider a matter based on information that has received a grant of confidential status pursuant to regulations of the Oversight Board, provided that any action taken on such a matter shall be taken by vote in an open session.

341.5.

 (a) The Independent System Operator and Power Exchange bylaws shall contain provisions that identify those matters specified in subdivision (b) of Section 339 as matters within state jurisdiction. The bylaws shall also contain provisions which state that California’s bylaws approval function with respect to the matters specified in subdivision (b) of Section 339 shall not preclude the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from taking any action necessary to address undue discrimination or other violations of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C.A. Sec. 791a et seq.) or to exercise any other commission responsibility under the Federal Power Act. In taking any such action, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission shall give due respect to California’s jurisdictional interests in the functions of the Independent System Operator and Power Exchange and to attempt to accommodate state interests to the extent those interests are not inconsistent with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s statutory responsibilities. The bylaws shall state that any future agreement regarding the apportionment of the Independent System Operator and Power Exchange board appointment function among participating states associated with the expansion of the Independent System Operator and Power Exchange into a multistate entities entity shall be filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission pursuant to Section 205 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C.A. Sec. 824d).

(b) Any necessary bylaw changes to implement the provisions of Section 335, 337, 338, 339, or subdivision (a) of this section, or changes required pursuant to an agreement as contemplated by subdivision (a) of this section with a participating state for a regional organization, shall be effective upon approval of the respective governing boards and the Oversight Board and acceptance for filing by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

359.

 (a) It is the intent of the Legislature to provide for the evolution of the Independent System Operator and the Power Exchange into a regional organizations organization to promote the development of regional electricity transmission markets in the western states and to improve the access of consumers served by the Independent System Operator and the Power Exchange to those markets.

(b) The preferred means by which the voluntary evolution described in subdivision (a) should occur is through the adoption of a regional compact or other comparable agreement among cooperating party states, the retail customers of which states would reside within the geographic territories served by the Independent System Operator and the Power Exchange.

(c) The agreement described in subdivision (b) should provide for all of the following:

(1) An equitable process for the appointment or confirmation by party states of members of the governing boards of the Independent System Operator and the Power Exchange.

(2) A respecification of the size, structure, representation, eligible membership, nominating procedures, and member terms of service of the governing boards of the Independent System Operator and the Power Exchange.

(3) Mechanisms by which each party state, jointly or separately, can oversee effectively the actions of the Independent System Operator and the Power Exchange as those actions relate to the assurance of electricity system reliability within the party state and to matters that affect electricity sales to the retail customers of the party state or otherwise affect the general welfare of the electricity consumers and the general public of the party state.

(4) The adherence by publicly owned and investor-owned utilities located in party states to enforceable standards and protocols to protect the reliability of the interconnected regional transmission and distribution systems.

361.

 The commission shall ensure that any funds secured by the restructuring trusts trust established for the purposes of developing the Independent System Operator and the Power Exchange shall be placed at the disposal of the Independent System Operator and the Power Exchange respectively.