BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 185
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   July 2, 2003

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                              Darrell Steinberg, Chair

                     SB 185 (Sher) - As Amended:  June 19, 2003 

          Policy Committee:                              Utilities and  
          Commerce     Vote:                            12-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill,  as proposed to be amended  , updates existing  
          requirements for retail sellers of electricity to disclose to  
          end-use customers and the California Energy Commission (CEC) the  
          sources, by fuel type, of their electricity portfolio.   
          Specifically, this bill:

          1)Requires retail sellers to disclose to customers their actual  
            purchases by source and repeals the provision allowing sellers  
            to report statewide averages.  (This repeal would thus require  
            all sellers to report their electricity portfolio annually to  
            the CEC.)

          2)Changes the reporting interval from quarterly to twice yearly.  


          3)Conforms the definition of a renewable electricity resource to  
            that established by SB 1078 (Sher)-Chapter 516, Statutes of  
            2002, and repeals the requirement that renewable resources be  
            separately identified according to fuel type in the report to  
            customers and the CEC.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Negligible costs to the CEC.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Purpose  .  SB 1305 (Sher)-Chapter 796, Statues of 1997,  
            required retail sellers of electricity to provide customers  
            with information on the sources of their electricity.  SB 1305  








                                                                  SB 185
                                                                  Page  2

            resulted in the periodic insertion of the "Power Content  
            Label" into a consumer's utility bill to indicate the  
            percentages of various types of renewable, coal, large  
            hydroelectric, and natural gas resources in the retail  
            seller's portfolio.  However, SB 1305 allowed retail sellers  
            making no specific product claims to report only system  
            averages rather than their actual portfolio.  SB 185 is  
            intended to update and revise SB 1305 to reflect recent  
            changes in the electricity market, including the enactment  
            last year of the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) under SB  
            1078. 

           2)Proposed Author's Amendment  .  The amendment changes the  
            reporting interval from biennially to twice yearly to correct  
            a drafting error in the most recent amendments.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081