BILL NUMBER: SBX2 41 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Speier
MAY 17, 2001
An act to amend Section 739 of the Public Utilities Code, relating
to public utilities, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take
effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 41, as introduced, Speier. Public Utilities Commission: gas
and electricity: baseline quantities.
(1) The Public Utilities Act requires the commission to designate
a baseline quantity, as defined, of gas and electricity which is
necessary to supply a significant portion of the reasonable energy
needs of the average residential customer. The act requires the
commission, in establishing the baseline quantities, to take into
account climatic and seasonal variations in consumption and the
availability of gas service. The act requires the commission to
review and revise baseline quantities, as prescribed.
The bill would require the commission to also take into account
the number of inhabitants located at the site of a residential
customer, and increase baseline quantities accordingly, up to an
unspecified maximum number of inhabitants.
(2) This 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: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 739 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
739. (a) The commission shall designate a baseline quantity of
gas and electricity which is necessary to supply a significant
portion of the reasonable energy needs of the average residential
customer. In estimating those quantities, the commission shall take
into account differentials in energy needs between customers whose
residential energy needs are currently supplied by electricity alone
or by both electricity and gas. The commission shall develop a
separate baseline quantity for all-electric residential customers.
For these purposes, "all-electric residential customers" are
residential customers having electrical service only or whose space
heating is provided by electricity, or both. The commission shall
also take into account differentials in energy use by climatic zone
and season.
(b) (1) The commission shall establish a standard limited
allowance which shall be in addition to the baseline quantity of gas
and electricity for residential customers dependent on life-support
equipment, including, but not limited to, emphysema and pulmonary
patients. A residential customer dependent on life-support equipment
shall be given a higher energy allocation than the average
residential customer.
(2) "Life-support equipment" means that equipment which utilizes
mechanical or artificial means to sustain, restore, or supplant a
vital function, or mechanical equipment which is relied upon for
mobility both within and outside of buildings. "Life-support
equipment," as used in this subdivision, includes all of the
following: all types of respirators, iron lungs, hemodialysis
machines, suction machines, electric nerve stimulators, pressure pads
and pumps, aerosol tents, electrostatic and ultrasonic nebulizers,
compressors, IPPB machines, and motorized wheelchairs.
(3) The limited additional allowance shall also be made available
to paraplegic and quadriplegic persons in consideration of the
increased heating and cooling needs of those persons.
(4) The limited additional allowance shall also be made available
to multiple sclerosis patients in consideration of the increased
heating and cooling needs of those persons.
(5) The limited additional allowance shall also be made available
to scleroderma patients in consideration of the increased heating
needs of those persons.
(6) The limited allowance shall also be made available to persons
who are being treated for a life-threatening illness or have a
compromised immune system, provided that a licensed physician and
surgeon or a person licensed pursuant to the Osteopathic Initiative
Act certifies in writing to the utility that the additional heating
or cooling allowance, or both, made available pursuant to this
subdivision is medically necessary to sustain the life of the person
or pgrevent deterioration of the person's medical condition.
(c) (1) The commission shall require that every electrical and gas
corporation file a schedule of rates and charges providing baseline
rates. The baseline rates shall apply to the first or lowest block
of an increasing block rate structure which shall be the baseline
quantity. In establishing these rates, the commission shall avoid
excessive rate increases for residential customers, and shall
establish an appropriate gradual differential between the rates for
the respective blocks of usage.
(2) In establishing residential electric and gas rates, including
baseline rates, the commission shall assure
ensure that the rates are sufficient to enable the electrical
corporation or gas corporation to recover a just and reasonable
amount of revenue from residential customers as a class, while
observing the principle that electricity and gas services are
necessities, for which a low affordable rate is desirable.
(d) As used in this section the following terms have the
following meanings :
(1) "Baseline quantity" means a quantity of electricity or gas for
residential customers to be established by the commission based on
from 50 to 60 percent of average residential consumption of these
commodities, except that, for residential gas customers and for
all-electric residential customers, the baseline quantity shall be
established at from 60 to 70 percent of average residential
consumption during the winter heating season. In establishing the
baseline quantities, the commission shall take into account climatic
and seasonal variations in consumption and the availability of gas
service. The commission shall review and revise baseline quantities
as average consumption patterns change in order to maintain these
ratios. The commission shall also take into account the number
of inhabitants located at the site of a residential customer, and
increase baseline quantities accordingly, up to a maximum of ____
inhabitants.
(2) "Residential customer" means those customers receiving
electrical or gas service pursuant to a domestic rate schedule and
excludes industrial, commercial, and every other category of
customer.
(e) Wholesale electrical or gas purchases, and the rates charged
therefor, are exempt from this section.
(f) Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to
prohibit experimentation with alternative gas or electrical rate
schedules for the purpose of achieving energy conservation.
SEC. 2. 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 require the Public Utilities Commission, when
determining gas and electricity baseline quantities, to also take
into account the number of inhabitants located at the site of a
residential customer, and increase baseline quantities accordingly,
thereby preserving the public peace, health, and safety, it is
necessary for this act to take effect immediately.