Electricity: demand response.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires each load-serving entity, defined as including electrical corporations, electric service providers, and community choice aggregators, to maintain physical generating capacity and electrical demand response adequate to meet its electrical demand requirements. Existing law requires the commission to establish rules for how and when backup generation may be used within a demand response program and to establish reporting and data collection requirements to verify compliance with those rules. Pursuant to existing law, the commission has authorized the state's 3 largest electrical corporations to offer reliability-based demand response programs, including the base interruptible program, which is available to qualifying nonresidential customers of an electrical corporation. This bill would require that the base interruptible program be available to qualifying commercial and industrial customers regardless of the load-serving entity that is that customer's supplier of electricity. The bill would require that the minimum incentive levels for program participation for the 2023 calendar year be those applicable within the service territory of each electrical corporation during 2018, adjusted for inflation using a price index determined by the commission to be appropriate. Beginning January 1, 2024, the bill would authorize the commission to approve increased or decreased incentive levels for program participation if the commission determines that those incentives are reasonably necessary to ensure continued participation by eligible customers, to ensure continued delivery of resource adequacy, and to ensure expected ratepayer benefits. Because the bill would require actions by those load-serving entities that are community choice aggregators, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the commission, except as provided, to implement a pilot economic demand response program, to be administered by the large electrical corporations, in which base interruptible program participants may elect to participate, to operate for a 3-year period, as specified. 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. 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 specified reasons.