Resource adequacy: Electricity Supply Strategic Reliability Reserve Program.

Existing law establishes the Electricity Supply Strategic Reliability Reserve Program and requires the Department of Water Resources to implement projects, purchases, and contracts related to the procurement of electrical resources, as provided. If the department determines, on or before June 30, 2027, that resources procured through the program were used in a given month to meet a load-serving entity's or a local publicly owned electric utility's identified reliability need, existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) or the Executive Director of the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to annually assess a capacity payment on each load-serving entity or each local publicly owned electric utility, respectively, that during that same month failed to meet its system resource adequacy requirements or minimum planning reserve margin, as applicable. Existing law requires the PUC or the Energy Commission to determine a capacity payment unit cost in kilowatt per month for load-serving entities or local publicly owned electric utilities, respectively, that is based on the monthly cost of the resources procured using the moneys from the program, as provided. This bill would require the PUC and the Energy Commission, in determining the capacity payment unit cost, to consider mitigating factors. Existing law authorizes the department to establish a schedule and mechanism for a local publicly owned electric utility to voluntarily obtain from the department eligible energy resources to be acquired by the department through its central procurement function. Existing law requires the local publicly owned electric utility, if it voluntarily participates, to commit to the imposition of a nonbypassable charge on its ratepayers sufficient to fund its participation, as specified. This bill would additionally authorize the local publicly owned electric utility to commit to an alternative mechanism to fund its voluntary participation. If the local publicly owned electric utility commits to the imposition of a nonbypassable charge, the bill would prohibit the department from adding any cost in excess of the cost of the local publicly owned electric utility's participation to the nonbypassable charge. Existing law requires each local publicly owned electric utility serving end-use customers to prudently plan for and procure resources that are adequate to meet its planning reserve margin and peak demand and operating reserves sufficient to provide reliable electric service to its customers. Existing law requires a local publicly owned electric utility, upon request, to provide the Energy Commission with any information the Energy Commission determines necessary to evaluate the progress made by the local publicly owned electric utility in meeting that requirement. This bill would require the Energy Commission to coordinate its request with other entities seeking related information to reduce the overall response burden to the local publicly owned electric utilities.