California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program: renewable feed-in tariff.

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 to include 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. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard program additionally requires every electrical corporation to file with the commission a standard tariff for electricity purchased from an electric generation facility, as defined, that qualifies for the tariff, is owned and operated by a retail customer of the electrical corporation, and is located within the service territory of, and developed to sell electricity to, the electrical corporation. The commission refers to this requirement as the renewable feed-in tariff. Existing law requires that the tariff provide for payment for every kilowatthour of electricity purchased from an electric generation facility for a period of 10, 15, or 20 years, as authorized by the commission, requires that the payment be the market price determined by the commission using a methodology established by the commission that considers specified matters, and requires the price to include all current and anticipated environmental compliance costs. This bill would authorize the commission, in its discretion, to instead determine payment through competitive solicitations held not less often than biannually by electrical corporations, or by any other mechanism determined by the commission.