BILL ANALYSIS
SB 68 X2
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Date of Hearing: July 18, 2001
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Carole Migden, Chairwoman
SB 68 X2 (Battin) - As Amended: June 7, 2001
Policy Committee: EnergyVote:16-0
Urgency: Yes State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to make
a determination of the potential effect of extreme temperatures
on the health and safety of residential customers when
establishing priorities among the categories of electricity
customers. To accomplish this end, the PUC would be required to:
1)Take into account the potential health, safety, and
reliability effects on other customers resulting from
potentially more frequent and longer blackouts.
2)Provide additional outage exemptions only when the temperature
is extreme.
3)Consider whether alternatives to a complete exemption from
rolling blackouts, such as a reduced outage duration or an
outage at a different time of day, are appropriate.
4)Consult with medical experts.
FISCAL EFFECT
According to the PUC, to make the determinations proposed by
this measure would create a one-time cost of up to $500,000.
This figure appears high. Two full-time positions and related
expenses to conduct the research and make recommendations would
cost no more than $250,000.
COMMENTS
SB 68 X2
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1)Rationale . The author contends that additional protection is
warranted for individuals susceptible to heat-related
infirmities.
2)Current law requires the PUC to establish priorities among
customers of every electric and gas corporation, and to
determine which customers and uses provide the most important
public benefit and serve the greatest public need,
categorizing those customers and uses in descending priority.
3)Background Regarding Blackout Exemptions . Last month, the PUC
issued a decision revising the list of essential customers
exempt from rotating outages. The list includes essential
public services such as police, fire, hospitals, government
agencies essential to the national defense, and specified
customers who agree to reduce their usage during rotating
outages. The PUC also has a process that enables customers to
request to be added to the list of essential customers.
The electric grid is divided into distribution circuits. When
an essential customer is exempted from a rotating blackout,
every other customer on that circuit is exempted as well.
There are about 1,700 essential customers in the PG&E service
area, with an additional two million customers exempt from
rotating outages because they are located in the same circuit
as an essential customer. Southern California Edison and San
Diego Gas and Electric also have a large number of "free
riders" within their respective service territories.
Statewide, approximately 50 percent of the load is exempt from
rolling blackouts.
This bill requires the PUC to consider, when establishing
priorities in a rotating blackout, the potential effect of
extreme temperatures on the health and safety of residential
customers. The PUC would not be required to exempt these
customers, but simply to consider the effect on the health and
safety of customers who live in extreme temperatures.
4)Opposition/Concerns . The PUC has a process for accommodating
special needs, balancing these needs against overall grid
reliability and equity among customers. This bill asks the
Legislature to essentially override PUC policy and require the
agency to review policies and exemptions or special
accommodations, when it has already done so in light of system
SB 68 X2
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constraints.
Southern California Edison writes, "This legislation will
leave fewer customers subject to outages and will therefore
increase both the frequency and the duration of outages for
customers that are not exempt. Further, we believe this
legislation reduces system reliability and increases the
likelihood of an electric distribution grid failure."
Analysis Prepared by : Geoff Long / APPR. / (916)319-2081