BILL NUMBER: SB 659	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Soto

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2003

   An act to amend Section 739 of the Public Utilities Code, relating
to public utilities.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 659, as introduced, Soto.  Electrical corporations:  rates.
   (1) Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission, at
least until December 31, 2003, to require that all electrical
corporation charges for residential electric customers are
volumetric, and to prohibit any electrical corporation from imposing
any charges on residential consumption that are independent of
consumption unless the charges are in place prior to April 12, 2001.

   This bill would remove the December 31, 2003, date restriction on
that volumetric charge requirement, thereby making its operation
indefinite.  Because existing law makes a violation of a rule or
order of the commission a crime, this bill 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 739 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
   739.  (a) The commission shall designate a baseline quantity of
gas and electricity which is necessary to supply a significant
portion of the reasonable energy needs of the average residential
customer.  In estimating those quantities, the commission shall take
into account differentials in energy needs between customers whose
residential energy needs are currently supplied by electricity alone
or by both electricity and gas.  The commission shall develop a
separate baseline quantity for all-electric residential customers.
For these purposes, "all-electric residential customers" are
residential customers having electrical service only or whose space
heating is provided by electricity, or both.  The commission shall
also take into account differentials in energy use by climatic zone
and season.
   (b) (1) The commission shall establish a standard limited
allowance which shall be in addition to the baseline quantity of gas
and electricity for residential customers dependent on life-support
equipment, including, but not limited to, emphysema and pulmonary
patients.  A residential customer dependent on life-support equipment
shall be given a higher energy allocation than the average
residential customer.
   (2) "Life-support equipment" means that equipment which utilizes
mechanical or artificial means to sustain, restore, or supplant a
vital function, or mechanical equipment which is relied upon for
mobility both within and outside of buildings.  "Life-support
equipment," as used in this subdivision, includes all of the
following:  all types of respirators, iron lungs, hemodialysis
machines, suction machines, electric nerve stimulators, pressure pads
and pumps, aerosol tents, electrostatic and ultrasonic nebulizers,
compressors, IPPB machines, and motorized wheelchairs.
   (3) The limited additional allowance shall also be made available
to paraplegic and quadriplegic persons in consideration of the
increased heating and cooling needs of those persons.
   (4) The limited additional allowance shall also be made available
to multiple sclerosis patients in consideration of the increased
heating and cooling needs of those persons.
   (5) The limited additional allowance shall also be made available
to scleroderma patients in consideration of the increased heating
needs of those persons.
   (6) The limited allowance shall also be made available to persons
who are being treated for a life-threatening illness or have a
compromised immune system, provided that a licensed physician and
surgeon or a person licensed pursuant to the Osteopathic Initiative
Act certifies in writing to the utility that the additional heating
or cooling allowance, or both, made available pursuant to this
subdivision is medically necessary to sustain the life of the person
or prevent deterioration of the person's medical condition.
   (c) (1) The commission shall require that every electrical and gas
corporation file a schedule of rates and charges providing baseline
rates. The baseline rates shall apply to the first or lowest block of
an increasing block rate structure which shall be the baseline
quantity.  In establishing these rates, the commission shall avoid
excessive rate increases for residential customers, and shall
establish an appropriate gradual differential between the rates for
the respective blocks of usage.
   (2) In establishing residential electric and gas rates, including
baseline rates, the commission shall assure that the rates are
sufficient to enable the electrical corporation or gas corporation to
recover a just and reasonable amount of revenue from residential
customers as a class, while observing the principle that electricity
and gas services are necessities, for which a low affordable rate is
desirable and while observing the principle that conservation is
desirable in order to maintain an affordable bill.
   (3)  At least until December 31, 2003, the  
The  commission shall require that all charges for residential
electric customers are volumetric, and shall prohibit any electrical
corporation from imposing any charges on residential consumption that
are independent of consumption, unless those charges are in place
prior to  the effective date of the act that added this
paragraph   April 12, 2001  .
   (d) As used in this section:
   (1) "Baseline quantity" means a quantity of electricity or gas for
residential customers to be established by the commission based on
from 50 to 60 percent of average residential consumption of these
commodities, except that, for residential gas customers and for
all-electric residential customers, the baseline quantity shall be
established at from 60 to 70 percent of average residential
consumption during the winter heating season.  In establishing the
baseline quantities, the commission shall take into account climatic
and seasonal variations in consumption and the availability of gas
service.  The commission shall review and revise baseline quantities
as average consumption patterns change in order to maintain these
ratios.
   (2) "Residential customer" means those customers receiving
electrical or gas service pursuant to a domestic rate schedule and
excludes industrial, commercial, and every other category of
customer.
   (e) Wholesale electrical or gas purchases, and the rates charged
therefor, are exempt from this section.
   (f) Nothing contained in this section  shall 
 may  be construed to prohibit experimentation with
alternative gas or electrical rate schedules for the purpose of
achieving energy conservation.
  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.