BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 1169
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:  May 8, 2003

                    ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON UTILITIES AND COMMERCE
                                 Sarah Reyes, Chair
                    AB 1169 (Bermudez) - As Amended:  May 1, 2003
           
          SUBJECT  :  Aggregation:  Magnolia Power Project.

           SUMMARY  :  Allows municipal entities involved in the Magnolia  
          Power Plant project to provide electric power to local public  
          agencies located within or contiguous to a project city's  
          jurisdiction.

           EXISTING LAW  permits cities participating in the Magnolia Power  
          Project to serve as a community aggregator on behalf of all  
          retail end-use customers within its jurisdiction once the  
          project has been constructed and is otherwise capable of  
          beginning deliveries of electricity to the existing project  
          participants.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Unknown.

           COMMENTS  :  The Magnolia Power Project is sponsored by the  
          Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA), a consortium  
          of municipalities and an irrigation district established by a  
          Joint Powers Agreement to develop, construct, and operate  
          electric generation projects.  The facility is a 250-megawatt  
          (MW) natural gas-fired power plant with a peaking capacity of  
          328 MW.  The California Energy Commission (CEC) approved the  
          application for certification, and issued a certificate to  
          construct and operate the facility on March 5, 2003.

          The participating member cities in this project (Anaheim,  
          Burbank, Cerritos, Colton, Glendale, and Pasadena) are  
          developing the project to meet new demand in their respective  
          service territories.  The project will be located in the City of  
          Burbank at the existing site of the Magnolia Power Station,  
          which is owned and operated by the Burbank Water and Power  
          Department.  The City of Burbank is the Project Manager and  
          Operator.  SCPPA will lease the site from the Burbank and in  
          turn, the Burbank will provide utility services related to  
          construction, operation, and maintenance of the project.

          Last year, the Governor signed into law AB 80 (Havice), Chapter  
          837, Statutes of 2002.  The legislation authorizes the cities  








                                                                  AB 1169
                                                                  Page  2

          participating in the Magnolia Power Project to act as community  
          aggregators and provide direct access service to their  
          residents.

           This bill  would expand the ability of a city participating in  
          the Magnolia Project to provide direct access electric service  
          to local public agencies that either have their principal place  
          of business within a project city or in a location immediately  
          contiguous to the city.  The City of Cerritos seeks  
          authorization to provide electric service to ABC Unified School  
          District, as well as some local lighted park facilities that  
          serve the local Cerritos area. 

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          City of Cerritos (Sponsor)

           Opposition 
           
          None on file. 
           

          Analysis Prepared by  :    Paul Donahue / U. & C. / (916) 319-2083