BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1055
Page 1
Date of Hearing: September 12, 2001
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Carole Migden, Chairwoman
SB 1055 (Morrow) - As Amended: August 23, 2001
Policy Committee: Utilities and
Commerce Vote: 13-0
Urgency: Yes State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), when
establishing priorities among types or categories of electrical
or gas customers for exemption from rotating blackouts, to:
1)Include as a consideration a determination of unacceptable
jeopardy or imminent danger to public health and safety.
2)Consider the effect on nonpriority customers of providing a
high priority to some customers.
FISCAL EFFECT
Negligible costs to the PUC.
COMMENTS
1)Background . Three months ago, the PUC issued a decision
revising the list of "essential customers" who are exempt from
rotating outages (D.01-05-089). 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.
2)Category "M" Exemptions. In D.01-05-089, in addition to
establishing a revised list of essential customers, the PUC
also created a new class of "essential use" business
customers, referred to as Category M exemptions. In order to
qualify for the Category M exemption, an applicant must
demonstrate that including them in a rotating outage would
SB 1055
Page 2
present unacceptable jeopardy, or imminent danger, to public
health and safety. The PUC reviewed applications from 568
skilled nursing facilities but only granted exemptions to 88
facilities due to the commission's requirement that the
investor-owned utilities maintain at least 40% of the
electrical load in order to maintain reliability of the
electric grid. California has 1,200 skilled nursing
facilities. Exempting all of these facilities from rotating
outages would, according to the PUC, reduce by 6,000 MW the
amount of load available for rotating outages and reduce the
load available to only 38% of total load.
3)PUC Draft Decision to Investigate Exempting Skilled Nursing
Facilities . In a recent draft decision, the PUC decided to
further investigate the feasibility of exempting all skilled
nursing facilities from rotating outages. PUC noted that
patients in skilled nursing facilities are particularly
vulnerable, and that it may be worth considering lowering the
40% load requirement in light of changes in technology and
risk assessment. SB 1055 requires the PUC to consider the
negative health effects that can be caused by rotating
outages, and codifies the PUC's Category M exemption standard
with regard to rotating outage exemptions.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)319-2081