BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                              1
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                SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
                            MARTHA M. ESCUTIA, CHAIRWOMAN
          

          AB 200 -  Leslie                                  Hearing Date:   
          June 21, 2005              A
          As Introduced: January 31, 2005              Non-FISCAL       B
                                                                        
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                                      DESCRIPTION
           
           Existing law  , the "Renewables Portfolio Standard" (RPS),  
          requires each investor-owned utility (IOU) to increase its  
          existing level of renewable energy resources by one percent of  
          sales per year until renewable energy resources account for 20  
          percent of its portfolio, with a deadline of 2017 for achieving  
          20 percent.  With certain exceptions, renewable energy resources  
          must be located within California to count toward RPS  
          compliance.

           This bill  permits an IOU serving fewer than 60,000 customers in  
          California that also serves customers in another state (i.e.  
          PacifiCorp and Sierra Pacific Power) to count its out-of-state  
          renewable resources toward its RPS compliance.  
           
                                      BACKGROUND
           
          The RPS requires IOUs and certain other retail energy providers,  
          collectively referred to as "retail sellers," to buy renewable  
          electricity to the extent Public Goods Charge funds are  
          available to pay for any costs exceeding a market price set by  
          the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

          Each IOU is required to increase its renewable procurement each  
          year by at least one percent of total sales, so that 20 percent  
          of its sales are renewable energy resources by December 31,  
          2017.  With some exceptions, renewable energy resources must be  
          located in California to be counted toward an IOU's RPS  
          requirements.

          There are two IOUs based in other states, but who have small  











          service areas in California and are subject to CPUC regulation  
          and the RPS law for their California operations.  Sierra Pacific  
          Power is an electric utility which serves most of northern  
          Nevada and a small part of California around Lake Tahoe.   
          PacificCorp is an Oregon-based electric utility which serves Del  
          Norte and Siskiyou Counties in Northern California.

          According to the author, PacifiCorp and Sierra Pacific need  
          flexibility in meeting RPS requirements because they procure a  
          pool of resources for all of their customers and do not procure  
          specific resources for their California customers.  This bill  
          allows PacifiCorp and Sierra Pacific to count renewable  
          resources in all of their service territory towards the RPS  
          provided the resources meet other applicable criteria and aren't  
          counted for another state's RPS.







































                                       COMMENTS

          Same provisions approved by this committee twice before.    
          Provisions identical to this bill have been approved by this  
          committee as a part of larger RPS bills - last session in SB  
          1478 (Sher) and this session in SB 107 (Simitian).  SB 1478 was  
          vetoed for reasons unrelated to these provisions.  SB 107 is  
          pending in the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee.

                                    ASSEMBLY VOTES
           
          Assembly Floor                     (78-0)
          Assembly Utility and Commerce Committee                         
          (9-0)

                                       POSITIONS
           
           Sponsor:
           
          PacifiCorp
          Sierra Pacific Power Company

           Support:
           
          None on file

           Oppose:
           
          None on file



























          Lawrence Lingbloom 
          AB 200 Analysis
          Hearing Date:  June 21, 2005