BILL NUMBER: AB 1421 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 8, 1999
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 25, 1999
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 26, 1999
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 15, 1999
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 8, 1999
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Wright
FEBRUARY 26, 1999
An act to amend Section 331 of, to add Sections 328.1 and
328.2 to, and to repeal and add Sections 328 and 365.5 of, the
An act to amend Section 365.5 of, to add Sections
328.1, 328.2, and 374.5 to, and to repeal and add Section 328 of, the
Public Utilities Code, relating to public utilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1421, as amended, R. Wright. Gas and electric service.
(1) Existing law permits the Public Utilities Commission to
investigate the restructuring of natural gas services, as specified,
but prohibits the commission, prior to January 1, 2000, from enacting
any gas industry restructuring decisions and from enforcing any
natural gas restructuring decisions for core customers as considered
in Rulemaking 98-01-011 enacted after July 1, 1998, but prior to
August 25, 1998.
This bill would repeal that provision, and, instead, would require
the commission to require each gas corporation to provide bundled
basic gas service, as defined, to all core customers in its service
territory unless the customer chooses or contracts to have natural
gas purchased and supplied by another entity. The bill would specify
that a public utility gas corporation shall continue to be the
exclusive provider of revenue cycle services, as defined, in its
service territory, except as specified, and would require the
commission to require the distribution rate to continue to include
after-meter services, as defined. The bill would make related
legislative findings and declarations.
(2) Existing law relating to electrical restructuring states that
nothing in those provisions prevents the commission from exercising
its authority to investigate a process for the certification and
regulation of the rates, charges, terms, and conditions of default
service, and if the commission determines that a process for the
certification and regulation of default service is in the public
interest, existing law requires the commission to submit its findings
and recommendations to the Legislature for approval.
This bill would repeal that provision, and, instead,
require the commission to require each electrical corporation to
provide bundled basic electric service, as defined, to all customers
in its service territory unless the customer makes a positive
declaration in accordance with specified existing law to receive
electric power through a direct transaction with another electric
service provider. The bill would authorize an electric power
supplier, if a customer makes a positive declaration to receive
electric power through a direct transaction with an electric power
supplier, to also provide metering, billing, and collection service
for that customer, but if a positive declaration is not made, would
require metering, billing, and collection service to be provided by
the existing public utility electrical corporation
state that nothing in the electrical restructuring provisions of
existing law prevents the commission from considering additional or
modified unbundling of electric distribution services and would
require the commission to report its findings and recommendations on
that subject to the Legislature, as specified.
The bill would require electrical corporations serving certain
agricultural customers to conduct research to determine the typical
simultaneous peak load of those customers and report the results of
the research to the customers and the commission not later than a
specified date. The bill would require the commission to consider
the results of the research when setting future electric distribution
rates for those customers .
(3) Because a violation by a public utility of a requirement of
the commission is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated
local program by creating new crimes.
(4) 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 328 of the Public Utilities Code is repealed.
SEC. 2. Section 328 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
328. The Legislature finds and declares both of the following:
(a) In order to ensure that all core customers of a gas
corporation continue to receive safe basic gas service in a
competitive market, each existing gas corporation should continue to
provide this essential service.
(b) No customer should have to pay separate fees for utilizing
services that protect public or customer safety.
SEC. 3. Section 328.1 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
328.1. As used in this section chapter
, the following terms have the following meanings:
(a) "Basic gas service" includes transmission, storage for
reliability of service, and distribution of natural gas, purchasing
natural gas on behalf of a customer, revenue cycle services, and
after-meter services.
(b) "Revenue cycle services" means metering services, billing the
customer, collection, and related customer services.
(c) "After-meter services" includes, but is not limited to, leak
investigation, inspecting customer piping and appliances, carbon
monoxide investigation, pilot relighting, and high bill
investigation.
(d) "Metering services" includes, but is not limited to, gas meter
installation, meter maintenance, meter testing, collecting and
processing consumption data, and all related services associated with
the meter.
SEC. 4. Section 328.2 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
328.2. The commission shall require each gas corporation to
provide bundled basic gas service to all core customers in its
service territory unless the customer chooses or contracts to have
natural gas purchased and supplied by another entity. A public
utility gas corporation shall continue to be the exclusive provider
of revenue cycle services to all customers in its service territory,
except that an entity purchasing and supplying natural gas under the
commission's existing core aggregation program may perform
billing and collection services for its customers under the
same terms as currently authorized by the commission, and except that
a supplier of natural gas to noncore customers may perform billing
and collection for natural gas supply for its customers. The gas
corporation shall continue to calculate its charges for services
provided by that corporation. If the commission establishes credits
to be provided by the gas corporation to core aggregation or noncore
customers who obtain billing or collection services from entities
other than the gas corporation, the credit shall be equal to the
billing and collection services costs actually avoided by the gas
corporation . The commission shall require the distribution
rate to continue to include after-meter services.
SEC. 5. Section 331 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
331. The definitions set forth in this section shall govern the
construction of this chapter.
(a) "Aggregator" means any marketer, broker, public agency, city,
county, or special district, that combines the loads of multiple
end-use customers in facilitating the sale and purchase of electric
energy, transmission, and other services on behalf of these
customers.
(b) "Basic electric service" includes transmission and
distribution of electric power, purchasing electric power on behalf
of a customer, revenue cycle services such as metering customer
usage, billing the customer, and customer services.
(c) "Broker" means an entity that arranges the sale and purchase
of electric energy, transmission, and other services between buyers
and sellers, but does not take title to any of the power sold.
(d) "Direct transaction" means a contract between any one or more
electric generators, marketers, or brokers of electric power and one
or more retail customers providing for the purchase and sale of
electric power or any ancillary services.
(e) "Fire wall" means the line of demarcation separating
residential and small commercial customers from all other customers
as described in subdivision (e) of Section 367.
(f) "Marketer" means any entity that buys electric energy,
transmission, and other services from traditional utilities and other
suppliers, and then resells those services at wholesale or to an
end-use customer.
(g) "Microcogeneration facility" means a cogeneration facility of
less than one megawatt.
(h) "Restructuring trusts" means the two tax-exempt public benefit
trusts established by Decision D. 96-08-038 of the Public Utilities
Commission to provide for design and development of the hardware and
software systems for the Power Exchange and the Independent System
Operator, respectively, and that may undertake other activities, as
needed, as ordered by the commission.
(i) "Small commercial customer" means a customer that has a
maximum peak demand of less than 20 kilowatts.
SEC. 6. Section 365.5 of the Public Utilities Code is repealed.
SEC. 7. Section 365.5 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
365.5. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that in order to
ensure that all customers of an electrical corporation continue to
receive basic electric service in a competitive market, and to
protect good California jobs, each electrical corporation should
continue to provide this essential service utilizing employees of the
corporation.
(b) The commission shall require each electrical corporation to
provide bundled basic electric service to all customers in its
service territory unless the customer makes a positive declaration in
accordance with Section 366 to receive electric power through a
direct transaction with another electric service provider. If a
customer makes a positive declaration to receive electric power
through a direct transaction with an electric power supplier, the
electric power supplier may also provide metering, billing, and
collection service for that customer. If a positive declaration is
not made, metering, billing, and collection service shall be provided
by the existing public utility electrical corporation.
SEC. 8.
SEC. 5. Section 365.5 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
365.5. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that in
regulating electric distribution services, it is important to protect
consumers, particularly low-income and fixed-income consumers,
preserve electric system safety and reliability, conserve energy,
encourage renewable energy generation, and protect good California
jobs. Therefore, if the commission investigates further unbundling
of electric distribution services, it should evaluate carefully the
consequences of that further unbundling, including unbundling revenue
cycle services, and report back to the Legislature before taking
that action.
(b) Nothing in this chapter shall prevent
prevents the commission from exercising its authority to
investigate do all of the following:
(1) Investigate a process for certification and regulation
of the rates, charges, terms, and conditions of default service.
(2) Consider additional or modified unbundling of electric
distribution services. If
If the commission determines that a process for
certification and regulation of default service or additional or
modified unbundling of electric distribution services, including,
but not limited to, departing from the level of revenue cycle
services unbundling and the costing methodology ordered by the
commission in Decisions 97-05-039 and 98-09-070, is in the
public interest, the commission shall submit its findings and
recommendations to the Legislature for approval.
(c) Notwithstanding Section 7550.5 of the Government Code, not
later than September 1, 2000, the commission shall submit to the
Legislature a report regarding the development of retail competition
in the electric industry.
SEC. 6. Section 374.5 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
374.5. Any electrical corporation serving agricultural customers
that have multiple electric meters shall conduct research based on a
statistically valid sample of those customers and meters to determine
the typical simultaneous peak load of those customers. The results
of the research shall be reported to the customers and the commission
not later than July 1, 2001. The commission shall consider the
research results in setting future electric distribution rates for
those customers.
SEC. 7. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIIIB 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 XIIIB of the California Constitution.