Energy: California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program: local publicly owned electric utilities.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities, as defined, are under the direction of their governing boards. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires the PUC to establish a renewables portfolio standard requiring all retail sellers, as defined, to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, so that the total kilowatthours of those products sold to their retail end-use customers achieve 25% of retail sales by December 31, 2016, 33% by December 31, 2020, 40% by December 31, 2024, 45% by December 31, 2027, and 50% by December 31, 2030. The program additionally requires each local publicly owned electric utility to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources to achieve the procurement requirements established by the program. Existing law requires local publicly owned electric utilities to adopt procurement requirements, but authorizes them to adopt conditions allowing for delaying timely compliance and cost limitations for procurement expenditures, as specified. If the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires more than 50% of retail sales of electricity to come from eligible renewable energy resources, this bill would authorize a local publicly owned electric utility, which has a gas-fired powerplant on which public debt is owed and that is operating at less than 20% of capacity, with Energy Commission approval, to adjust its renewable energy procurement targets by a specified amount if additional conditions are met. The bill would require a local publicly owned electric utility intending to act pursuant to that authorization to notify the Energy Commission by April 1, 2019, of that intention.