BILL NUMBER: SBX1 27 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 24, 2001
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 28, 2001
INTRODUCED BY Senator Bowen
JANUARY 31, 2001
An act to amend Section 80110 of, and to add Section 80111 to, the
Water Code, relating to electric power, and declaring the urgency
thereof, to take effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 27, as amended, Bowen. Department of Water Resources: power.
(1) Existing law authorizes the Department of Water Resources to
enter into contracts for the purchase of electric power, to sell
power to retail end use customers and, with certain exceptions, to
local publicly owned electric utilities at not more than the
department's acquisition costs. Existing law specifies that the
department retains title to all power sold by it to the retail end
use customers. After the passage of a specified period of time,
existing law suspends the right of retail end use customers to
acquire service from other providers until the department no longer
supplies power under these provisions.
This bill would delete the provision that suspends the right of
retail end use customers to acquire service from other providers
until the department no longer supplies power under these provisions
after the passage of a specified period of time. The bill would make
various clarifying, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.
The bill would specify that the right of a retail end use customer
who has not purchased power from an electrical corporation, as
defined, on or after January 17, 2001, to purchase power from an
alternate provider, as defined, may not be limited by these
provisions. The bill would authorize the Public Utilities Commission
to limit the right of a retail end use customer who purchases power
from an electrical corporation to purchase power from an alternate
provider , as specified, but only to the extent the
commission determines is necessary, however,
except that a customer may elect service from an alternate
provider at any time, upon payment of a fee, as specified,
to the department , as specified, of any uncollected
amounts equivalent to the department's net unavoidable cost of power
procurement . The bill would authorize the department, in
certain circumstances, to impose a specified fee if a retail end use
customer previously served by an alternate provider acquires service
from an electrical corporation. The bill would require the
commission to notify each customer of an electrical corporation of
the conditions of purchasing power from an alternate provider within
90 days of the effective date of these provisions. Because a
violation of an order of the commission is a crime under existing
provisions of law, the bill would create a state-mandated local
program by expanding the definition of a crime.
(2) 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.
(3) The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature, in enacting this
act, to establish a policy to govern the circumstances under which
retail end use customers may choose to acquire service from energy
providers other than the Department of Water Resources. The goal of
that policy is to provide retail end use customers the greatest
possible flexibility in procuring power while preventing any negative
consequences for those customers who continue to be served by the
Department of Water Resources.
SEC. 2. Section 80110 of the Water Code is amended to read:
80110. The department shall retain title to all power sold by it
to the retail end use customers. The department shall be entitled to
recover, as a revenue requirement, amounts and at the times
necessary to enable it to comply with Section 80134, and shall advise
the commission of those revenue requirements as the department
determines to be appropriate. Such revenue requirements may also
include any advances made to the department hereunder or hereafter
for purposes of this division, or from the Department of Water
Resources Electric Power Fund, and General Fund moneys expended by
the department pursuant to the Governor's Emergency Proclamation
dated January 17, 2001. For purposes of this division and except as
otherwise provided in this section, the Public Utilities Commission's
authority, as set forth in the first paragraph of Section 451 of the
Public Utilities Code, shall apply, except any just and reasonable
review under Section 451 shall be conducted and determined by the
department to ensure that the department's charges, in the aggregate,
do not exceed the revenue requirements of the department. The
commission, under the first paragraph of Section 451 of the Public
Utilities Code, may enter into an agreement with the department with
respect to charges for purposes of this division, and that agreement
shall have the force and effect of a financing order adopted in
accordance with Article 5.5 (commencing with Section 840) of Chapter
4 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code. In no case
may the commission increase the electricity charges in effect on the
date that the act that adds this section becomes effective for
residential customers for existing baseline quantities or usage by
those customers of up to 130 percent of existing baseline quantities,
until such time as the department has recovered the costs of power
it has procured for the retail end use customers as provided in this
division. The department shall have the same rights to enforce and
collect the payment by retail end use customers for power sold by the
department as do other providers of power to such customers.
SEC. 3. Section 80111 is added to the Water Code, to read:
80111. (a) As used in this section, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(1) "Electrical corporation" means an electrical corporation, as
defined in Section 218 of the Public Utilities Code, serving the
customers for which the department is procuring power pursuant to
this division.
(2) "Alternate provider" means an entity, other than an electrical
corporation, supplying electrical power within the service territory
of an electrical corporation.
(b) The right of a retail end use customer who has not purchased
power from an electrical corporation on or after January 17, 2001, to
purchase power from an alternate provider may not be limited by this
section.
(c) The commission may limit the right of a retail end use
customer who purchases power from an electrical corporation to
purchase power from an alternate provider pursuant to this
section, but only to the extent the commission determines is
necessary to ensure satisfaction of any power purchase obligation or
bond obligation incurred by the department under this division to
procure power to serve that customer.
(d) Notwithstanding subdivision (c), a customer may elect service
from an alternate provider at any time, upon payment of a
fee to the department of any uncollected amounts
equivalent to the department's net unavoidable cost of power
procurement, including any financing costs, attributable to that
customer, as determined by the department. The department's net
unavoidable cost shall be calculated as the difference, if any,
between the department's total actual procurement costs and the rates
collected by the department from the customer during the term of
service. Any amounts due pursuant to this section for the purchase
of power may be payable in installments over a term coincident with
the term of bonds issued to finance the purchase of such power.
(e) If a retail end use customer previously served by an alternate
provider acquires service from an electrical corporation, the
department may impose a fee equivalent to any unavoidable costs
imposed on the department's portfolio attributable to the load of
that customer, if the fee is necessary to avoid imposing costs on
other customers of the electrical corporation, or on the state.
(f) Within 90 days of the effective date of this section, the
commission shall require each electrical corporation customer to be
notified of conditions for purchasing power from an alternate
provider imposed by this section.
SEC. 4. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIIIB 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 XIIIB of the California Constitution.
SEC. 5. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to establish, at the earliest possible time, a policy to
govern the circumstances under which retail end use customers may
choose to acquire service from energy providers other than the
Department of Water Services, it is necessary that this act take
effect immediately.