BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 2869
                                                                  Page  1

          CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
          AB 2869 (Levine)
          As Amended June 30, 2004
          Majority vote
           
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          |ASSEMBLY:  |80-0 |(May 27, 2004)  |SENATE: |39-0 |(July 29,      |
          |           |     |                |        |     |2004)          |
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           Original Committee Reference:   U. & C.  

           SUMMARY  :  Exempts customers of a utility from paying specified  
          charges established by either the board of the local publicly  
          owned electric utility or the California Public Utilities  
          Commission (PUC).

           The Senate amendments  

          1)Make technical clarifying changes consistent with the  
            provisions of this bill as passed by the Assembly.  

          2)Clarifies the scope of customers that would be exempted from  
            paying exit fees ensuring the exemption only applies to  
            customers subject to the exchange agreements between the local  
            public utility and the investor owned utility (IOU).

           AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY  , this bill:

          1)Exempted customers affected by a utility completing a mutually  
            agreeable condemnation process to resolve a fringe area  
            agreement in which there exist a balance of benefit between  
            the customers of the local publicly owned electric utility and  
            electrical corporation.

          2)Specified that the customer exemption applies to payment of  
            severance fees or charges established by either the board of  
            the local publicly owned electric utility or CPUC.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Unknown

           COMMENTS  :  The sponsor of this bill, Los Angeles Department of  
          Water and Power (LADWP), state that this bill is needed to  
          prevent customers who are scheduled to be annexed to their  
          territory from Southern California Edison's (SCE) service  
          territory from paying exit fees.  The reasons for the exemption  







                                                                  AB 2869
                                                                  Page  2

          is that LADWP has an arrangement with Edison (SCE) that goes  
          back to the 1930's to reciprocally serve each other's customers  
          in situations where the lack of existing infrastructure and  
          facilities make such arrangements more economically feasible.   
          The utilities in turn bill each other for the combined total  
          electricity consumption of each others "fringe" customers.  The  
          term "fringe" comes from the fact that these customers are  
          located along the fringes between LADWP and SCE service  
          territories.

          LADWP is scheduled to annex parts of SCE service territory based  
          on a mutual condemnation agreement that will result in some  
          "fringe" customers moving from service with SCE to LADWP.  Since  
          these customers were only serviced by SCE as a result of the  
          reciprocal agreement between the utilities they should be exempt  
          from paying any exit fees agreed to between both utilities.
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Daniel Kim / U. & C. / (916) 319-2083  
          FN: 0006896