Electricity: procurement by the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires the commission to establish a renewables portfolio standard requiring all retail sellers, defined as including electrical corporations, electric service providers, and community choice aggregators, 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 achieves 25% of retail sales by December 31, 2016, 33% by December 31, 2020, 44% by December 31, 2024, 52% by December 31, 2027, and 60% by December 31, 2030. Existing law establishes a policy of the state that eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources supply 100% of retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers and 100% of electricity procured to serve all state agencies by December 31, 2045. Existing law requires the commission, in consultation with the Independent System Operator, to establish resource adequacy requirements for all load-serving entities, as defined, and requires each load-serving entity to maintain physical generating capacity and electrical demand response adequate to meet its load requirements, including peak demand and planning and operating reserves, deliverable to locations and at times as may be necessary to provide reliable electric service. The California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority Act establishes the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority to advance the state's goals of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases, increasing the deployment of sustainable and renewable energy sources, implementing measures that increase the efficient use of energy, creating high quality employment opportunities, and lessening the state's dependence on fossil fuels. This bill would require the commission to empower the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority to undertake backstop procurement of electricity that would otherwise be performed by an electrical corporation to meet the state resource adequacy, integrated resource planning, and renewable portfolio standard goals not satisfied by retail sellers or load-serving entities. The bill would authorize the authority to undertake backstop procurement consistent with specified objectives and to manage the resale of electricity for its contracted resources. The bill would require the commission to periodically review the need for, and the benefits of, continuing to empower the authority to undertake backstop procurement responsibilities. The bill would provide for the reduction in procurement compliance obligations for load-serving entities and retail sellers for the electricity procured by the authority. The bill would require the authority to develop and submit annual revenue requirements for review, modification, and approval by the commission to recover specified costs, would provide that the authority is entitled to recover revenue requirements approved by the commission for costs incurred on behalf of retail customers of a load-serving entity or retail seller, and would provide that those costs are a direct obligation of the retail end-use customers of load-serving entities or retail sellers or a direct obligation of the load-serving entity or retail seller on whose behalf the procurement was undertaken. The bill would require the commission to approve a method for recovering revenue requirements from retail end-use customers of load-serving entities or retail sellers or from load-serving entities or retail sellers themselves, as specified. Under existing law, a violation of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing the requirements of the bill would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. 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.