The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms in regulating those emissions. The implementing regulations adopted by the state board provide for the direct allocation of greenhouse gas allowances to electrical corporations pursuant to a market-based compliance mechanism.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires the PUC to continue a program of assistance to low-income electric and gas customers with annual
household incomes that are no greater than 200% of the federal poverty guidelines, as specified, which is referred to as the California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) program. Existing law also requires the PUC to continue a program of assistance to residential customers of the states 3 largest electrical corporations consisting of households of 3 or more persons with total household annual gross income levels between 200% and 250% of the federal poverty guideline level, which is referred to as the Family Electric Rate Assistance (FERA) program.
Existing law, except as provided, requires revenues received by an electrical corporation as a result of the direct allocation of greenhouse gas allowances to be credited directly to residential, small business, and emissions-intensive trade-exposed retail customers of the electrical corporation, commonly known as the California Climate Credit.
This bill would exclude
residential customers from receiving the California Climate Credit if they are not enrolled in the CARE or FERA program and their total electricity bills for the previous year were less than $300.
Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act, or of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission, is a crime.
Because the provisions of this bill would be part of the Public Utilities Act, and a violation of a commission action implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
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.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are generally under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law requires each electrical utility, including each electrical corporation, local publicly owned electric utility, electrical cooperative, or other entity that offers electrical service, except as specified, to develop a standard contract or tariff that provides for net energy metering (NEM), which, among other things, compensates each eligible customer-generator, as defined, for the electricity it generated during a preceding 12-month period that exceeds the electricity supplied by the electrical utility through the electrical grid to the eligible customer-generator during that same period, as provided. Existing law requires each
electrical utility to make the contract or tariff available to eligible customer-generators, upon request, on a first-come-first-served basis until the time that the total rated generating capacity used by those eligible customer-generators exceeds 5% of the electrical utilitys aggregate customer peak demand, except as specified. This contract or tariff is commonly known as NEM 1.0.Existing law requires the commission to develop an additional standard contract or tariff, which may include NEM, for eligible customer-generators that are customers of large electrical corporations, as defined. Existing law requires each large electrical corporation to offer this standard contract or tariff to its eligible customer-generators beginning July 1, 2017, or before that date if ordered to do so by the commission because it has reached the above-mentioned 5% NEM 1.0 program limit, and prohibits limiting the amount of generating capacity or the number of
new eligible customer-generators entitled to receive service pursuant to this standard contract or tariff, as specified. This contract or tariff is commonly known as NEM 2.0. Existing law authorizes the commission to revise the standard contract or tariff as appropriate to achieve specified objectives.Pursuant to its authority, the commission adopted Decision 22-12-056 (December 19, 2022), commonly known as the net billing tariff, that creates a successor tariff to the NEM 1.0 and 2.0 tariffs and includes specified elements, including, among other things, retail export compensation rates based on hourly avoided cost calculator values averaged across days in a month, as specified, and an avoided cost calculator plus adder, based on cents per kilowatt-hour exported, available during the first 5 years of the successor tariff, as specified, known as the avoided cost calculator plus glide path.This bill would, on and after January 1, 2026, for a large electrical corporation customer that becomes a new eligible customer-generator by purchasing real property that contains a renewable electrical generation facility upon which a prior eligible customer-generator took service, require the new eligible customer-generator to take service under the then-current applicable tariff adopted by the commission after December 1, 2022, disqualify the new eligible customer-generator from eligibility for the avoided cost calculator plus glide path, as specified, and require the new eligible customer-generator to pay all nonbypassable charges that are applicable to customers that are not eligible customer-generators.This bill would authorize the commission to adopt a new tariff for a new eligible customer-generator that purchased real property that contains a renewable electrical generation facility, and to
require those eligible customer-generators to use that new tariff if it results in a lower cost impact on customers who are not eligible customer-generators than the prior tariff that was applicable to those eligible customer-generators, as provided.Existing law, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases and requires the state board to ensure that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the 1990 level by 2030. The act, until January 1, 2031, authorizes the state board to adopt a regulation establishing a market-based compliance mechanism that meets certain requirements. Pursuant to this authority, the state board adopted the Cap-and-Trade Program that, among other things, makes certain electrical distribution utilities eligible for direct allocation of greenhouse gas
allowances, as specified.Existing law requires the commission to require revenues, including any accrued interest, received by an electrical corporation as a result of the direct allocation of greenhouse gas allowances to electric utilities pursuant to the program, as provided, to be credited directly to the residential, small business, and emissions-intensive trade-exposed retail customers of the electrical corporation.This bill would, beginning January 1, 2026, disqualify eligible customer-generators from receiving this credit.The bill would exempt from its provisions new eligible customer-generators that are public schools or agricultural customers.Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a
crime.Because a violation of a commission action implementing this bills requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.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.
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