Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including gas corporations. Existing law requires the commission to adopt policies and programs that promote the in-state production and distribution of biomethane, as defined, and that facilitate the development of a variety of sources of in-state biomethane. Existing law requires the commission to adopt pipeline access rules that ensure that each gas corporation provides nondiscriminatory open access to its gas pipeline system to any party for the purposes of physically interconnecting with the gas pipeline system and effectuating the delivery of gas.

This bill would authorize the commission to consider providing the option to all gas corporations to engage in competitive bidding and direct investment in ratepayer financed biomethane collection equipment and would require that any ratepayer financed processes authorized by the commission take into account the value of the collected biomethane delivered to ratepayers and seek to return equivalent value to ratepayers over the life of any authorized project.