BILL ANALYSIS
AB 200
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 4, 2005
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON UTILITIES AND COMMERCE
Lloyd E. Levine, Chair
AB 200 (Leslie) - As Introduced: January 31, 2005
SUBJECT : Renewable energy resources: California Renewable
Portfolio Standard Program.
SUMMARY : Modifies the manor in which an electrical corporation
with fewer than 60,000 customers in California that also serves
customers in other states must meet California's Renewable
Portfolio Standard (RPS). Specifically, this bill :
1) Allows those electrical corporations to meet the
California RPS by using renewable power that is produced
outside of California provided that:
a) The electricity from the renewable facility is
procured on behalf of California customers and is not
used to meet renewable energy requirements in other
states.
b) The California Energy Commission (CEC) verifies that
that the electricity generated by the facility is
eligible to meet the annual procurement target of the
California RPS.
1) Provides that the California Public Utilities Commission
(PUC) shall determine the annual procurement target for
those electrical corporations based on the percentage of
total kilowatt-hours sold in California.
EXISTING LAW :
1) Creates the RPS which requires an electrical corporation
to increase its total procurement of renewable power from
eligible renewable resources by at least 1 percent per year
so that 20 percent of its retail sales are from eligible
renewable energy resources no later than December 31, 2017.
2) Defines eligible renewable resource to only include
specified types of generation that are located within
AB 200
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California, or have their first connection to the Western
Electricity Coordination Council transmission system within
California.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS : According to the author, the purpose of this bill is
to grant two electric utilities, PacificCorp and Sierra Pacific,
more flexibility in meeting the California RPS by allowing them
to count renewable power produced in parts of their service
territory outside of California toward their California RPS
requirements.
1)Who must meet the RPS : All retail sellers of electricity in
California, excluding municipal utilities, are required to
meet the state's RPS. Retail sellers include: electric
corporations, Community Choice Aggregators, and Energy Service
Providers.
In addition to the three largest investor owned utilities (IOUs)
in California - San Diego Gas & Electric( SDG&E), Southern
California Edison (SCE), and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) -
there are also a handful of electric corporations that serve a
small number of California customers. PacifiCorp serves
customers in Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah and also
provide service to less than 60,000 customers in Northern
California near the Oregon boarder. Sierra Pacific mainly
provides electricity to Nevada customers, but also serves some
Californians in the Lake Tahoe and Sierra Nevada region.
Because the RPS applies to all electrical corporations
providing service in California, Sierra Pacific and PacifiCorp
must meet the California RPS on the exact same terms as the
electrical corporation that only serve California customers.
2)What's Sierra Pacific and PacifiCorp's Problem?: In order to
meet the California RPS the renewable power must come from
renewable electricity generation within California or which is
first connected to California transmission grid. One of the
reasons Sierra Pacific and PacifiCorp serve some California
customers is that the geography of their service territories
makes it easier for their California customers to interconnect
with Oregon and Nevada based generation than it would be to
interconnect with PG&E's California based generation. If these
companies were to meet the current requirement that the
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renewable power come from within California, they would be
forced to build the needed renewable resources within a very
small portion of their service territory, even though
resources in other parts of the service territory could be
used to meet that load.
This bill takes into account Sierra Pacific and PacifiCorp's
dilemma by allowing them to include renewable resources that
are first connected to their distribution grid outside of
California to apply toward the California RPS as long as it is
used to meet part of the utilities' California load.
Previous Legislation :
SB 1478 (Sher) in the 2003 - 2004 legislative session made
numerous changes to the RPS and contained the same provisions as
this bill. SB 1478 was vetoed by the Governor for reason
unrelated to these provisions.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
PacifiCorp (Sponsor)
Sierra Pacific Power Company (Sponsor)
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Edward Randolph / U. & C. / (916)
319-2083