Electrical corporations and gas corporations: rates and charges.

(1) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law requires the commission to designate a baseline quantity of electricity and gas necessary for a significant portion of the reasonable energy needs of the average residential customer and to establish a higher energy allowance above the baseline for residential customers dependent on life-support equipment. For these purposes, "baseline quantity" is defined as a quantity of electricity or gas allocated by the commission for residential customers based on from 50% to 60% of average residential consumption of these commodities, except that, for residential gas customers and for all-electric residential customers, the baseline quantity is required to be established at from 60% to 70% of average residential consumption during the winter heating season. This bill would require the commission to make efforts to minimize bill volatility for residential customers, explicitly authorizing the commission to do this by modifying the length of baseline seasons or defining additional baseline seasons. Existing law requires the commission to ensure that errors in estimates of demand elasticity or sales do not result in material overcollection or undercollection of rates and charges by an electrical corporation. For each gas corporation and electrical corporation that, for some portion of residential customers, employs every-other-month meter reading and estimates bills for months when the customer's meter is not read, the bill would require the commission to direct the gas corporation or electrical corporation to include in its tariffs the methodology it employs to estimate bills for those months during which the meter is not read. 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) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 739 of the Public Utilities Code proposed by AB 1292 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1292 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (3) 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.