BILL ANALYSIS
Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
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| |28(Migden) |
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|Hearing Date: 9/6/01 |Amended: 8/21/01 |
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|Consultant: Lisa Matocq |Policy Vote: E, U & C 7-0 |
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 28xx expands the authority of the
Electricity Oversight Board (EOB), as specified, and
establishes reporting procedures for electric generation
and transmission facilities related to their availability.
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2001-02 2002-03
2003-04 Fund
EOB Potentially $575-750* annually until 1-1-03
General
PUC Probably minor and offset by fee revenues
Special**
*The 2001 Budget Act contains $750,000 for similar purpose.
**Public Utilities' Reimbursement Account (PURA)
STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE. Current law establishes
the EOB to, among other things, oversee the Independent
System Operator (ISO). The ISO maintains a schedule of
facilities' outages for planned maintenance. This bill:
until January 1, 2003, or when a specified event occurs,
whichever is earlier, (1) requires the EOB to adopt, by
March 1, 2002, protocols for transmission and generation
equipment outages for maintenance and other reasons, (2)
requires generating facilities over 10 megawatts to
report monthly to the ISO any periods of unavailability
or reduced capacity, and requires the ISO to forward that
information to the EOB, and (3) requires municipal
utilities to, among other things, report actual and
planned outages,
authorizes the EOB to investigate matters related to the
wholesale electricity market in order to ensure
availability during peak demand,
requires the EOB to report to the Legislature quarterly
on these provisions,
and makes related changes.
The Governor's Executive Order D-23-01 directs the ISO to,
among other things, obtain records of unplanned outages
from generators daily, and prepare a coordinated outage
plan. The 2001 Budget Act includes $750,000 for EOB to
undertake specific activities regarding transmission and
generation equipment outages, contingent upon enactment of
legislation authorizing such activities. The provision
authorizing the EOB to investigate certain matters is not
subject to the 1-1-03 sunset, therefore costs in outyears
are unknown, but probably not significant. PURA revenues
are derived from an annual fee charged to public utilities.
Therefore, any increased costs to the PUC should be
recovered in fee revenues. Increased costs to municipal
utilities are unknown, but probably not substantial and
probably recoverable in rates. The provisions of this bill
are contingent upon enactment of SB 39xx (Speier), pending
in the Assembly, which authorizes the PUC to develop
inspection, maintenance, and operating procedures for
generators to ensure reliability.