Electrical restructuring: electrical resource adequacy: renewable energy resources.

(1) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. Existing law, enacted as part of electrical restructuring, requires the commission to authorize and facilitate direct transactions between electricity suppliers and retail end-use customers and gives the right to end-use customers to aggregate their electrical loads on a voluntary basis by positive written declaration. Other law, enacted during the energy crisis of 2000–01, authorized the Department of Water Resources, until January 1, 2003, to enter into contracts for the purchase of electricity, and to sell electricity to retail end-use customers at not more than the department's acquisition costs and to recover those costs through the issuance of bonds to be repaid by ratepayers. That law suspended the right of retail end-use customers, other than community choice aggregators and a qualifying direct transaction customer, as defined, to acquire service through a direct transaction until the Department of Water Resources no longer supplies electricity under that law. Existing law continues the suspension of direct transactions except as expressly authorized, until the Legislature, by statute, repeals the suspension or otherwise authorizes direct transactions. Existing law requires the commission to authorize direct transactions subject to a reopening schedule that will phase in over a period of not less than 3 years and not more than 5 years, and is subject to an annual maximum allowable total kilowatthour limit established, as specified, for each electrical corporation. Existing law requires that the commission ensure that any person, corporation, or other entity that is authorized to provide electric service within the service territory of an electrical corporation (other providers) are subject to the same requirements that are applicable to the state's 3 largest electrical corporations under any programs or rules adopted by the commission to implement specified resource adequacy provisions, the California renewables portfolio standard program, and the requirements for the electricity sector adopted by the State Air Resources Board pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. This bill would repeal a requirement, adopted as part of electrical restructuring, that requires the commission to authorize and facilitate direct transactions between electricity suppliers and retail end-use customers and that gives the right to end-use customers to aggregate their electrical loads on a voluntary basis by positive written declaration. The bill would require every other provider of electric service to annually report to the commission a list of each retail end-use customer to whom it provided electric service during the year, along with the address at which electric service was provided. The bill, beginning January 1, 2013, would prohibit other providers from providing electric service to any customer or customer address that was not listed in its annual report for the previous year. 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 would be a part of the act and because a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. (2) Existing law authorizes the commission to consider establishment of a centralized resource adequacy mechanism in establishing resource adequacy requirements applicable to all load-serving entities and places certain conditions upon the establishment of a centralized resource adequacy mechanism if the commission determines to utilize that option. This bill would prohibit the commission from authorizing the establishment of a centralized resource adequacy mechanism and would repeal the conditions placed upon use of that option. (3) Existing law creates the California renewables portfolio standard program (RPS program) to increase the amount of electricity generated per year from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined. The RPS program requires the commission to establish the quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, to be procured by each retail seller, as defined, for specified compliance periods, sufficient to ensure that the procurement of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources achieves 20% of retail sales for the period of January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2013, inclusive, 25% of retail sales by December 31, 2016, and 33% of retail sales by December 31, 2020, and in all subsequent years. Existing law authorizes a retail seller to enter into a combination of long- and short-term contracts for electricity and associated renewable energy credits and authorizes the commission to authorize a retail seller to enter into a contract of less than 10 years' duration if the commission has established, for each retail seller, minimum quantities of eligible renewable energy resources to be procured through those contracts. This bill would require that the minimum quantity of eligible renewable energy resources to be procured through contracts of at least 10 years' duration established by the commission for each retail seller be not less than 50% of the retail sales used to meet that retail seller's renewable energy resources requirements for each compliance period. (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. (5) The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. Governor Schwarzenegger issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 6, 2010. Governor Brown issued a proclamation on January 20, 2011, declaring and reaffirming that a fiscal emergency exists and stating that his proclamation supersedes the earlier proclamation for purposes of that constitutional provision. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared and reaffirmed by the Governor by proclamation issued on January 20, 2011, pursuant to the California Constitution.