AB 2515: Electrical and gas corporations.

Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. With certain exceptions, whenever any electrical, gas, heat, telephone, water, or sewer system corporation files an application to change any rate for the services or commodities furnished by it, existing law requires that the corporation furnish its customers notice of its application to the commission for approval of the new rate. The notice is required to state the amount of the proposed rate change expressed in both dollar and percentage terms for the entire rate change and for each customer class.

This bill would specifically require electrical and gas corporations to include in those rate change applications and the customer notice estimated cumulative and annual rate and bill impacts on each customer class served by the corporation.

Existing law prohibits any street railroad corporation, gas corporation, electrical corporation, telegraph corporation, telephone corporation, water corporation, or sewer system corporation from beginning the construction of, among other things, a line, plant, or system, or of any extension thereof, without having first obtained from the commission a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity require or will require that construction.

This bill would require an electrical or gas corporation to include in an application, other than a general rate case application, to authorize an investment greater than $50,000,000 an estimate of the total revenues to be collected from ratepayers over the life of the investment, including a separate itemization of the amount of profits and taxes in the total revenues.

Existing law requires the commission to submit various reports to the Legislature, legislative committees, and the Governor, as specified.

This bill would require the commission to annually report in writing to the Legislature information pertaining to pending and previously approved changes to the revenue requirements of electrical and gas corporations. The bill would require the report to include, separately for each electrical and gas corporation, information regarding pending requests for a change to a corporations revenue requirement, and commission decisions and resolutions made within the previous 5 years that affected a corporations revenue requirement. The bill would require the commission to make the report publicly available in written form upon written request by a member of the public and on the commissions Internet Web site.

Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.

Because the provisions of this bill are within the act, these provisions would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime.

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.