Electricity: multifamily housing local solar program.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Under existing law, the Green Tariff Shared Renewables Program requires an electrical corporation with 100,000 or more customers in California to file with the commission an application requesting approval of a tariff to implement a program enabling ratepayers to participate directly in offsite electrical generation facilities that use eligible renewable energy resources. Existing law requires the commission, by June 30, 2017, to authorize, through the Multifamily Affordable Housing Solar Roofs Program, the awarding of monetary incentives for qualifying solar energy systems that are installed on qualified multifamily affordable housing properties through December 31, 2030. This bill would require the commission, on or before January 1, 2024, to establish a new multifamily housing local solar program that would require each electrical corporation with more than 100,000 service connections in California to construct, or contract for the construction of, a solar and storage system on or near qualified multifamily housing, as specified. The bill would require those electrical corporations to export electricity from those solar and storage systems and use the resulting revenues to offset the costs of providing monthly bill credits to the participating low-income customers, pay the costs of constructing and operating the system, and pay the costs of administering the program, and would prohibit those electrical corporations from shifting those costs to, or recovering those costs from, nonparticipating customers. The bill would require the commission, when the installed capacity of the program reaches 500 megawatts or as of January 1, 2026, whichever occurs first, to evaluate the program and other voluntary customer renewable energy programs, and would require the commission to report to the Legislature the results of the evaluation on or before July 1, 2026, as provided. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2027. Under existing law, a violation of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a violation of a commission action implementing this bill's requirements would be a crime, the 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.