Electrical transmission facilities: certificates of public convenience and necessity.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. The Public Utilities Act prohibits any electrical corporation from beginning the construction of a line, plant, or system, or of any extension thereof, without having first obtained from the commission a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity require or will require its construction, except that the extension, expansion, upgrade, or other modification of an existing electrical transmission facility, including transmission lines and substations, does not require a certificate of public convenience and necessity. Existing law requires the commission, in considering an application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity for an electric transmission facility, to consider cost‑effective alternatives to transmission facilities that meet the need for an efficient, reliable, and affordable supply of electricity, including demand-side alternatives such as targeted energy efficiency, ultraclean distributed generation, as defined, and other demand reduction resources. This bill would repeal the latter provision requiring the commission to consider cost-effective alternatives to transmission facilities, as specified.