AB 1538: Clean Energy Reliability Program.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over load-serving entities, which include electrical corporations, electric service providers, and community choice aggregators. Existing law requires the commission, in consultation with the Independent System Operator, to establish resource adequacy requirements for all load-serving entities. Existing law requires the commission, in establishing those resource adequacy requirements, to ensure the reliability of electrical service in California while advancing, to the extent possible, the states goals for clean energy, reducing air pollution, and reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.

This bill would establish the Clean Energy Reliability Program, to be administered by the commission, upon appropriation, to provide incentive payments to qualifying load-serving entities that use eligible resources, as defined, to exceed their clean energy capacity requirements or targets, within or at the end of a given compliance period, as those requirements and compliance periods are determined through a specified commission rulemaking or its successor. exceed procurement targets for eligible resources established by the commission, as specified. The bill would require a load-serving entity to remit incentive payments to its customers as a bill credit or use the payment in a manner determined by the commission to reduce ratepayer costs arising from the additional procurement of eligible resources. The bill would require a load-serving entity to meet specified conditions to be eligible for an incentive payment.

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 its provisions would be part of the act and a violation of a commission action implementing its requirements would therefore 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.