Electricity: surcharge exemption: industrial process heat recovery.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law, except as provided, requires certain uneconomic costs to be applied to each customer based on the amount of electricity purchased by that customer from an electrical corporation or alternate supplier of electricity, subject to changes in usage occurring in the normal course of business. Under existing law, changes in usage occurring in the normal course of business are those resulting from, among other things, the enhancement or increased efficiency of equipment. This bill would specify that the enhancement or increased efficiency of equipment occurring in the normal course of business includes industrial process heat recovery technology that meets prescribed requirements. The bill would prohibit nonbypassable or departing load surcharges from applying to a reduction in kilowatthours of electricity that an electrical corporation customer consumes from the electrical grid in a metered interval due to industrial process heat recovery technology, up to a cap established by the commission, that meets those prescribed requirements. The bill would also require the commission, in implementing that exemption from the surcharges, to minimize the cost impacts to all nonparticipating customers that are directly attributable to the nonbypassable or departing load charges of customers using industrial process heat recovery technology, as provided. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act, or of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill would be part of the act, and a violation 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.