AB 841

Bill Subjects

Abstract

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. Existing law requires the PUC, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and the State Air Resources Board, to direct electrical corporations to file applications for programs and investments to accelerate widespread transportation electrification to reduce dependence on petroleum, meet air quality standards, achieve the goals set forth in the Charge Ahead California Initiative, and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and to 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. That law requires that the programs proposed by electrical corporations seek to minimize overall costs and maximize overall benefits. The PUC is required to approve, or modify and approve, programs and investments in transportation electrification, including those that deploy charging infrastructure, through a reasonable cost recovery mechanism, if they are consistent with the above-described purposes, do not unfairly compete with nonutility enterprises, include performance accountability measures, and are in the interests of ratepayers. This bill would require not less than 35% of the investments pursuant to these provisions to be in underserved communities, as defined. Existing law authorizes the PUC to fix the rates and charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law requires the PUC, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , the State Air Resources Board (state board) , electrical corporations, and the motor vehicle industry, to evaluate policies to develop infrastructure sufficient to overcome any barriers to the widespread deployment and use of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles and, by July 1, 2011, to adopt rules that address specified issues. Existing law requires the PUC, in cooperation with the Energy Commission, the state board, air quality management districts and air pollution control districts, electrical and gas corporations, and the motor vehicle industry, to evaluate and implement policies to promote the development of equipment and infrastructure needed to facilitate the use of electric power and natural gas to fuel low-emission vehicles. The PUC is required to ensure that its policies authorizing utilities to develop equipment and infrastructure needed for electric-powered and natural gas-fueled low-emission vehicles ensure that the costs and expenses of those programs are not passed through to electric or gas ratepayers unless the PUC finds and determines that those programs are in the ratepayers' interest, as specified. Pursuant to these requirements, the PUC has issued various decisions adopting, then extending, an interim policy that allows certain costs incurred as a result of the adoption of home-based electric vehicle charging for basic charging arrangements to be treated as a common facility cost of an electrical corporation, to be recovered from all residential ratepayers. This bill would require that the PUC, in supervising the alternative-fueled vehicle program, or vehicle electrification program, of an electrical corporation, to apply the interim policy and would declare the intent of the Legislature that the interim policy be the policy applied by the PUC, but would authorize the PUC to revise the policy after the completion of the electrical corporation's general rate case cycle in effect on January 1, 2021, if a determination is made that a change in the policy is necessary to ensure just and reasonable rates for ratepayers. Existing law, enacted as part of the Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015, requires the PUC, in consultation with the Energy Commission and state board, to direct electrical corporations to file applications for programs and investments to accelerate widespread transportation electrification, as defined, to achieve specified results. The PUC is required to approve, or modify and approve, programs and investments in transportation electrification, including those that deploy charging infrastructure, through a reasonable cost recovery mechanism, if they meet specified requirements. This bill would require the PUC, on or before March 1, 2021, to issue decisions concerning 2 specific pending transportation electrification infrastructure applications. The bill would require each electrical corporation, by February 28, 2021, to file an advice letter and would require the PUC to approve, by June 30, 2021, a new tariff or rule that authorizes each electrical corporation to design and deploy all electrical distribution infrastructure on the utility side of the customer meter for all customers installing a separately metered infrastructure to support charging stations, and provide for cost recovery, as specified. The bill would, except as provided, require the PUC, the Energy Commission, and the state board, for work performed on and after January 1, 2022, pursuant to a decision made by those state entities, to require all electric vehicle charging infrastructure and equipment located on the customer side of the electric meter that is funded or authorized, in whole or in part, by those state entities to be installed by a contractor with the appropriate license classification, as determined by the Contractors' State License Board, and at least one electrician on each crew, at any given time, who holds an Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program certification or to require projects funded or authorized, in whole or in part, by those state entities, that install a charging port supplying 25 kilowatts or more to a vehicle have at least 25% of the total electricians working on the crew for the project, at any given time, who hold Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program certification. The bill would require, no later than May 1, 2021, and periodically thereafter, the Energy Commission, in consultation with the PUC, to conduct joint public workshops to determine if the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program curriculum and testing should be supplemented to include updated or additional topics necessary to ensure safe installation of charging infrastructure, as provided. The bill would require the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program to offer Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program courses in an online format that would remain available through December 31, 2024. Existing law requires the PUC to review and accept, modify, or reject a procurement plan for each electrical corporation in accordance with specified elements, incentive mechanisms, and objectives. Existing law requires the PUC, in consultation with the Energy Commission, to identify all potentially achievable cost-effective electricity efficiency savings and to establish efficiency targets for electrical corporations to achieve pursuant to their procurement plan. Existing law requires the PUC, in consultation with the Energy Commission, to identify all potentially achievable cost-effective natural gas efficiency savings and to establish efficiency targets for gas corporations to achieve and requires that a gas corporation first meet its unmet resource needs through all available gas efficiency and demand reduction resources that are cost effective, reliable, and feasible. Pursuant to these requirements electrical corporations and gas corporations have filed, and the PUC approved, various plans to undertake various actions to promote energy efficiency that are administered by the utilities or third-party administrators, either individually, regionally, or statewide, as defined. This bill would require the PUC to require those electrical corporations with 250,000 customer accounts in the state, and those gas corporations with 400,000 or more customer accounts in the state, to establish the joint School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program within each of its energy efficiency portfolios that consist of: (1) the School Reopening Ventilation and Energy Efficiency Verification and Repair Program to provide grants to local educational agencies to reopen schools with functional ventilation systems that are tested, adjusted, and, if necessary or cost effective, repaired, upgraded or replaced to increase efficiency and performance, and (2) the School Noncompliant Plumbing Fixture and Appliance Program to provide grants to local educational agencies to replace noncompliant plumbing fixtures and appliances that fail to meet water efficiency standards and waste potable water and the energy used to convey that water, with water-conserving plumbing fixtures and appliances. The bill would require those large electrical and gas corporations to file a joint advice letter by February 1, 2021, to fund a joint School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program as part of each of their energy efficiency portfolios. The bill would require that the School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program be a joint program among all the participating utilities, be consistent across the utility territories, and be designed, administered, and implemented by the Energy Commission as the program administrator. The bill would require the PUC to approve the advice letter by March 1, 2021. The bill would require the PUC to require those large electrical corporations and gas corporations to allocate a specific portion of their energy efficiency budget for program years 2021, 2022, and 2023 to fund the School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program, as specified. The bill would require all allocated funds to be spent or returned to the electrical corporation or gas corporation by December 1, 2026. The bill would require the Energy Commission, in collaboration with those large electrical and gas corporations, to develop and administer the School Reopening Ventilation and Energy Efficiency Verification and Repair Program and the School Noncompliant Plumbing Fixture and Appliance Program as components of the School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program. The bill would require that not less than 25% of projects funded by those programs be in underserved communities, as defined, and require that those programs prioritize underserved communities by ensuring that all schools that are in an underserved community are offered the opportunity to apply for and receive grants before those schools that are not in an underserved community. The bill would additionally require that the School Reopening Ventilation and Energy Efficiency Verification and Repair Program prioritize schools with a boundary that is within 500 feet of the edge of the closest traffic lane of a freeway or other busy traffic corridor, as defined, or within 1,000 feet of a facility holding a specified permit issued pursuant to the federal Clean Air Act. The bill would require the Energy Commission to ensure that moneys from each utility for the School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program are used, to the maximum extent feasible, for projects located in the service territory of that utility from which the moneys are received. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2027. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of an order or decision of the PUC implementing the bill's requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. 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.