Amended  IN  Assembly  June 20, 2024
Amended  IN  Assembly  June 10, 2024
Amended  IN  Assembly  June 20, 2023
Amended  IN  Assembly  June 08, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 284

Introduced by Senator Wiener

February 01, 2023

An act to add Chapter 8.6 (commencing with Section 2849) to Part 2 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 284, as amended, Wiener. Electricity: energization transparency and efficiency: wholesale distribution service.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory jurisdiction over public utilities, including electrical corporations.
This bill would require each electrical corporation to provide distribution planning data, as defined, to development project applicants, energizing entities, as defined, and public entities in a timely and efficient manner. The bill would require the PUC to require each electrical corporation to develop and make publicly available uniform technical standards and requirements for the energization of electrical load on the distribution system and information about its distribution system interconnection queue necessary for the energization of electrical load. The bill would require each electrical corporation that has filed a wholesale distribution tariff with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to offer service under that tariff to the state, an agency, authority, or instrumentality of the state, or a political subdivision to transmit electricity that those public entities consume or sell directly to an ultimate consumer, as provided.
Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime.
Because a violation of a PUC action implementing the bill 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 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.

 Chapter 8.6 (commencing with Section 2849) is added to Part 2 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code, to read:
CHAPTER  8.6. Interconnection and Distribution
Article  1. General Provisions

2849.
 The Legislative Legislature finds and declares both of the following:
(a) Distribution system information, including distribution planning data, should be made available to increase transparency and efficiency in the energization process, promote least cost interconnections of electrical load, increase transparency, and promote effective participation in the distribution planning process. Comparable information for transmission system planning and transmission load interconnections is available publicly or pursuant to nondisclosure agreements.
(b) To promote competition in the electrical distribution system and meet the state’s electrification goals, the state’s three largest electrical corporations that have filed a wholesale distribution tariff with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should remove barriers to accessing their distribution system for the state and its political subdivisions, including local publicly owned electric utilities and municipal electric utilities, to serve their own load and the load of their ultimate consumers and residents.

2849.1.
 For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply:
(a) “Distribution planning data” means the same or equivalent distribution data that an electrical corporation uses to plan the system, including distribution system planning models, all underlying load, including retail load and wholesale load, storage, distribution infrastructure facility data, detailed physical maps, historical, in-progress, and planned distribution capacity projects and facility upgrades, and distribution system planning standards.
(b) “Energization” means the connection of electrical load to the electrical transmission or distribution grid of an electrical corporation.
(c) “Energizing entity” means an entity seeking to connect electrical load to the electrical transmission or distribution grid of an electrical corporation.

Article  2. Energization Transparency and Efficiency

2849.5.
 Electrical corporations shall provide distribution planning data to development project applicants, energizing entities, and public entities in a timely and efficient manner.

2849.6.
 The commission shall require electrical corporations to develop and make publicly available uniform technical standards and requirements for the energization of electrical load on the distribution system.

2849.7.
 The commission shall require each electrical corporation to develop and make publicly available information about its distribution system interconnection queue necessary for the energization of electrical load.

Article  3. Wholesale Distribution Service

2849.10.
 Each electrical corporation that has filed a wholesale distribution tariff with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission shall offer service under that tariff to the State of California, an agency, authority, or instrumentality of the state, or a political subdivision to transmit electricity that those public entities consume or sell directly to an ultimate consumer. This service shall be offered over all the distribution facilities of the electrical corporation. An electrical corporation subject to this requirement shall not exclude any distribution facilities from this obligation, or refuse to install any distribution facilities necessary to transmit electricity directly to the ultimate consumer, whether based on location, voltage level, or other characteristics of the applicable facilities. This obligation shall be in addition to any other requirement to offer service under that tariff that may exist under federal law.

SEC. 2.

 The provisions of this act are severable. If any provision of this act or its application is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.

SEC. 3.

 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.