BILL NUMBER: AB 425 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 16, 2003
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 3, 2003
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 29, 2003
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 30, 2003
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Richman
FEBRUARY 14, 2003
An act to amend Section 743.1 of the Public Utilities Code,
relating to public utilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 425, as amended, Richman. Electric service: rates:
interruptible programs.
(1) The Public Utilities Act authorizes the Public Utilities
Commission to establish rates for public utilities regulated by the
commission, including electrical corporations. The act requires
electrical corporations to continue the availability to qualified
heavy industrial customers, until March 31, 2002, of optional
interruptible or curtailable service wherein the heavy industrial
customer is charged a rate that reflects a pricing incentive for
electing to operate under the optional or curtailable service.
This bill would instead require an electrical corporation to
continue the availability to qualified customers, as defined, of
optional interruptible or curtailable service until January 1,
2009 , and would require the effective rate for that service to
reflect a cost-based pricing incentive be
cost-effective compared to other resource options . The bill
would require a customer electing to operate under the interruptible
or curtailable service option to comply with the commitment to shed
load in excess of the customer's firm service level within the time
period provided for in the tariff, if called upon to do so by the
electrical corporation. The bill would require the commission to
establish a penalty for noncompliance. The bill would require an
electrical corporation to remove from the rate option any customer
who , upon 2 consecutive requests from the electrical
corporation, voluntarily elects not to comply substantially
with its commitment to shed load any two
requests to shed load in any 12-month period . The bill would
require an electrical corporation to eliminate by a certain date any
incentive not described above that is included in an optional
interruptible or curtailable service rate of that electrical
corporation as of January 1, 2004. The bill would require the
commission to require each electrical corporation to adopt and
implement a plan for certification by a participating customer of the
manner in which the participating customer will comply with the
terms of the interruptible or curtailable service option.
Because a violation of the act is a crime, this bill, by
continuing to require electrical corporations to offer optional
interruptible or curtailable service and by imposing new
requirements, would change the definition of a crime, thereby
imposing a state-mandated local program.
(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.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 743.1 of the Public Utilities Code is amended
to read:
743.1. (a) Electrical corporations shall continue the
availability to qualified customers of optional interruptible or
curtailable service until January 1, 2009 . The effective
rate for interruptible or curtailable service to qualified customers
shall reflect a cost-based pricing incentive for electing
to operate under the interruptible or curtailable service option.
be cost-effective compared to other resource options.
(b) A customer electing to operate under the interruptible or
curtailable service option shall comply with the commitment to shed
load in excess of the customer's firm service level within the time
period provided for in the tariff, if called upon to do so by the
electrical corporation. The commission shall establish a
noncompliance penalty of at least nine dollars and thirty
cents ($9.30) per kilowatthour for excess power taken. The
commission may subsequently adopt a different
higher noncompliance penalty, if the commission makes a
determination that the penalty level is insufficient to ensure
compliance with the program. In addition to the noncompliance
penalty, the electrical corporation shall remove from the rate option
any customer who , upon two consecutive requests from the
electrical corporation, voluntarily elects not to comply
substantially with its commitment to shed load
any two requests to shed load in any 12-month period .
(c) The commission shall require an electrical corporation to
eliminate any incentive not authorized pursuant to subdivision (a)
that is included in an optional interruptible or curtailable service
rate of that electrical corporation as of January 1, 2004, before the
earlier of the following dates:
(1) January 1, 2005.
(2) The date of the next final commission decision in the
allocation of revenue requirement and rate design phase of the
electrical corporation's general rate case proceeding.
(d) In order to further ensure the value of the interruptible or
curtailable service option, the commission shall require each
electrical corporation to adopt and implement plans for certification
by the participating customer of the manner in which a participating
customer will comply with the terms of the interruptible or
curtailable service option.
(e) As used in this section, the term "qualified customers"
includes all customers with demand at, or in excess of, 500
kilowatts. The commission, by order or decision, may exclude from
this definition any category of customer for which firm service is
essential for public health and safety. A prior interruptible
or curtailable service customer with a historical record of
compliance of less than 90 percent, as measured by hours interrupted
divided by hours called, shall be ineligible for interruptible or
curtailable service.
SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B 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 XIII B of the California
Constitution.