Electricity: fixed charges.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to adopt new, or expand existing, fixed charges, as defined, for the purpose of collecting a reasonable portion of the fixed costs of providing electrical service to residential customers. Under existing law, the commission may authorize fixed charges for any rate schedule applicable to a residential customer account. Existing law requires the commission, no later than July 1, 2024, to authorize a fixed charge for default residential rates. Existing law requires these fixed charges to be established on an income-graduated basis, with no fewer than 3 income thresholds, so that low-income ratepayers in each baseline territory would realize a lower average monthly bill without making any changes in usage. This bill would prohibit modifications to the amount of the income-graduated fixed charge from exceeding changes in inflation, as provided. The bill would make the provisions authorizing the income-graduated fixed charge inoperative on July 1, 2028. The bill, commencing July 1, 2028, would instead permit the commission to authorize fixed charges that, as of January 1, 2015, do not exceed $5 per residential customer account per month for low-income customers enrolled in the California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) program and that do not exceed $10 per residential customer account per month for customers not enrolled in the CARE program. The bill would authorize these maximum allowable fixed charges to be adjusted by no more than the annual percentage increase in the Consumer Price Index for the prior calendar year, beginning January 1, 2016. The bill would require the commission to adopt any modification to an existing fixed charge for the collection of a reasonable portion of the fixed costs of providing electrical service to residential customers in a stand-alone proceeding. The bill would prohibit a fixed charge from resulting in an increase to an electrical corporation's revenue requirement. The bill would require the commission, on or before July 1, 2027, but no sooner than 2 years after the adoption of the income-graduated fixed charge, to submit a public report to the relevant policy committees of both houses of the Legislature on the electrical corporations' implementation of the income-graduated fixed charge and other cost-saving options, 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 therefore a violation of the bill's requirements or of a commission action implementing its 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.