Electricity: community choice aggregation.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. The Public Utilities Act authorizes a community choice aggregator, as defined, to aggregate the electrical load of interested electricity consumers within its boundaries and requires a community choice aggregator to file an implementation plan with the commission and requires that the plan include disclosures of certain information and describe other matter. The act requires a community choice aggregator to register with the commission, which may require additional information to ensure compliance with basic consumer protection rules and other procedural matters. Existing law requires that a city, county, or city and county that elects to implement a community choice aggregation program within its jurisdiction do so by ordinance, but authorizes a city, county, or city and county to request, by affirmative resolution of its governing council or board, that another entity authorized to be a community choice aggregator act as the community choice aggregator on its behalf, in which case, that other entity is responsible for adopting the ordinance to implement the community choice aggregation program on behalf of the requesting city, county, or city and county. This bill would require solicitations of customers by a community choice aggregator contain, and communication by the community choice aggregator to the public or prospective and existing customers to be consistent with, specified information and would require that the implementation plan filed by a community choice aggregator completely describe certain matter required to be disclosed under existing law. The bill would authorize the commission to require that a community choice aggregator, when registering with the commission, provide additional information to ensure compliance with basic consumer protection and other rules and other procedural matters. If a city, county, or city and county requests another entity that is authorized to be a community choice aggregator to act as the community choice aggregator on its behalf, the bill would require that the entity that is to be the community choice aggregator be in a county that is contiguous to the requesting city, county, or city and county. The bill would provide that, beginning January 1, 2015, no entity may enact an ordinance to serve as the community choice aggregator in more than 3-contiguous-counties, but may serve as the community choice aggregator for any city, county, or city and county that is outside a 3-contiguous-county area, for which it adopted an ordinance prior to January 1, 2015. The bill would make other technical, nonsubstantive revisions to the community choice aggregator provisions. The Joint Exercise of Powers Act authorizes the legislative or other governing bodies of 2 or more public agencies to jointly exercise by agreement any power common to the contracting parties, as specified. Existing law authorizes any group of cities, counties, or cities and counties whose governing boards have so elected to combine the loads of their programs as a community choice aggregator through the formation of a joint powers agency established pursuant to the Joint Exercise of Powers Act. This bill would prohibit a joint powers agency formed to provide electric service as a community choice aggregator from exceeding the geographical boundaries of 3-contiguous-counties, but would provide that this limitation does not apply where an ordinance authorizing community choice aggregation outside the 3-contiguous-counties was adopted prior to January 1, 2015. 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 bill would impose requirements regarding a community choice aggregator, a violation of which would be a crime, this 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.