Gas corporations: renewable gas procurement.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including gas corporations. Existing law requires the commission, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, to consider adopting specific biomethane procurement targets or goals for each gas corporation, as specified. Existing law requires that the commission, before establishing biomethane procurement targets or goals, find that the targets or goals are cost-effective means of achieving the reductions in emissions of short-lived climate pollutants and other greenhouse gases forecast pursuant to specified laws and that the targets or goals comply with all applicable state and federal laws. Existing law authorizes the commission to establish rules and to fix the rates and charges for all public utilities, subject to control by the Legislature, and requires that the rates and charges of a public utility be just and reasonable. Existing law requires the commission and the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to undertake specified actions to advance the state's clean energy and pollution reduction objectives, including, where feasible, cost effective, and consistent with other state policy objectives, increasing the use of large- and small-scale energy storage with a variety of technologies, including green electrolytic hydrogen, as defined. This bill would require the commission to open a new proceeding, or a new phase of an existing proceeding, to consider establishing procurement goals for renewable hydrogen, as defined, and consider requiring each gas corporation and core transport agent to annually procure a proportionate share of renewable hydrogen to meet those goals. The bill would require the commission to make specified findings before establishing renewable hydrogen procurement targets or goals. The bill would also require the commission to evaluate whether authorizing a gas corporation to recover in its rate base expenses incurred from investments in infrastructure to interconnect facilities producing biomethane, renewable hydrogen, or both, is just and reasonable, 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 a specified reason.