AB 2159

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) The Joint Exercise of Powers Act authorizes the legislative or other governing bodies of 2 or more public agencies to jointly exercise by agreement any power common to the contracting parties, as specified. Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. Existing law authorizes a community choice aggregator, as defined, to aggregate the electrical load of interested electricity consumers within its boundaries and requires a community choice aggregator to file an implementation plan with the Public Utilities Commission. Existing law authorizes any group of cities, counties, or cities and counties whose governing boards have so elected to combine the loads of their programs as a community choice aggregator through the formation of a joint powers agency established pursuant to the Joint Exercise of Powers Act. Existing law authorizes any group of cities, counties, or cities and counties whose governing boards have so elected to combine the electrical loads of their community choice aggregation programs through the formation of a joint powers agency established pursuant to the Joint Exercise of Powers Act. This bill would authorize the board of supervisors of a city and county, by ordinance, to elect to enter into an agreement pursuant to the Joint Exercise of Powers Act to implement a community choice aggregation program with one or more public agencies through a public entity that is separate from the parties to the agreement. This bill would additionally authorize the board of supervisors of a city and county, by resolution, to elect to request another public agency that has elected to implement a community choice aggregation program to be the community choice aggregator for the city and county. (2) Existing law requires an electrical corporation to cooperate fully with any community choice aggregator that investigates, pursues, or implements community choice aggregation programs, including providing appropriate billing and electrical load data, which includes electrical consumption data. Electrical or gas consumption data is defined as data about a customer's electrical or natural gas usage that is made available as part of an advanced metering infrastructure, and includes the name, account number, or residence of the customer. Existing law prohibits an electrical corporation or gas corporation from sharing, disclosing, or otherwise making accessible to any 3rd party a customer's electrical or gas consumption data, except as specified, and requires those utilities to use reasonable security procedures and practices to protect a customer's unencrypted electrical and gas consumption data from unauthorized access, destruction, use, modification, or disclosure. Existing law does not preclude an electrical corporation or gas corporation from disclosing electrical or gas consumption data as required or permitted under state or federal law or by an order of the Public Utilities Commission. This bill would require an electrical corporation to provide electrical consumption data to community choice aggregators pursuant to their above-described duty to cooperate, subject to any reasonable security procedures and practices to protect the personal information from unauthorized access, destruction, use, modification, or disclosure ordered by the commission or agreed upon between the electrical corporation and the community choice aggregator. (3) The existing definition of an electrical corporation excludes a corporation or person employing cogeneration, as defined, technology or producing electricity from other than a conventional power source for either of the following purposes: (1) its own use or the use of its tenants, or (2) the use of or sale to not more than 2 other corporations or persons solely for use on the real property on which the electricity is generated or on real property immediately adjacent thereto, subject to certain exceptions and conditions. The 2nd purpose is commonly known as an over-the-fence transaction. This bill would expand the over-the-fence transaction exception to the definition of an electrical corporation by repealing the limitation on the number of other corporations or persons that may use or be sold the electricity.