Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities and electrical cooperatives are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law requires the commission, in consultation with the Independent System Operator, to establish resource adequacy requirements for all load-serving entities, defined to include electrical corporations, community choice aggregators, and electric service providers. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires the commission to establish a renewables portfolio standard requiring all retail suppliers, defined as including electrical corporations, community choice aggregators, and electric service providers, to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined,
so that the total kilowatthours of those products sold to their retail end-use customers achieves 33% of retail sales by December 31, 2020, 44% by December 31, 2024, 52% by December 31, 2027, and 60% by December 31, 2030.
This bill would require the commission, or the governing board of a local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative, to require an energy supplier, defined as an electrical corporation, local publicly owned electric utility, electric service provider, community choice aggregator, or electrical cooperative, administering a decarbonization upgrade program or initiative, to record, no later than 10 days after funding a decarbonization upgrade, a notice of decarbonization charge, as defined, with the county recorder of the county where the property subject to the decarbonization charge is located. The bill would require an energy supplier, within 10 days of full cost recovery of the outstanding charges related to the recorded notice of
decarbonization charge, to record a notice of the full cost recovery and removal of the decarbonization charge with the county recorder of the county where the property subject to the decarbonization charge is located. The bill also would require an energy supplier, within 10 days of a decision by the energy supplier to cease collection of the charge, to record a notice of removal of the decarbonization charge with the county recorder of the county where the property subject to the decarbonization charge is located. If the subscriber’s property is not owner-occupied, the bill would require the energy supplier to incorporate in a written agreement between the energy supplier and the property owner related to installation of a decarbonization upgrade, a requirement that the property owner shall cause the obligation to pay the decarbonization charge to appear in the terms through which the property owner leases or licenses the property for occupancy.
Under existing
law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
Because a violation of an order by the commission implementing the above provisions would be a crime, this 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 specified reasons.