SB 1117

Bill Subjects

Abstract

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. Existing law contains various provisions relative to the responsibilities of a gas or electrical corporation and master-meter customer when gas or electrical service is provided by a master-meter customer to users who are tenants of a mobilehome park, apartment building, or similar residential complex, including a requirement that the master-meter customer charge each user at the same rate that would be applicable if the user were receiving gas or electricity directly from the gas corporation or electric corporation. This bill would replace "electrical corporation" with "load-serving entity," defined as including electrical corporations, community choice aggregators, and electric service providers, in many of these provisions relative to the responsibilities of an electrical corporation and master-meter customer when electrical service is provided by a master-meter customer to users who are tenants of a mobilehome park, apartment building, or similar residential complex. Existing law requires master-meter customers that receive a rebate for electrical or gas service to distribute the rebate to, or credit the rebate to the account of, current users served by the master-meter customer, as specified. The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to approve a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020 and to ensure that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the 1990 level by 2030. The state board is authorized to include market-based compliance mechanisms to comply with the regulations. The implementing regulations adopted by the state board provide for the direct allocation of greenhouse gas allowances to electric utilities, including electrical corporations, pursuant to a market-based compliance mechanism. With respect to greenhouse gas allowances directly allocated to electrical corporations, existing law authorizes the commission to allocate 15% of the revenues generated by the sale of the allowances for clean energy and energy efficiency projects established pursuant to statute that are administered by electrical corporations and requires the commission to direct that the balance of the revenues be credited directly to the residential, small business, and emissions-intensive trade-exposed retail customers of the electrical corporations, as specified. This bill would expressly provide that the above-described requirement for the distribution of rebates received by master-meter customers includes the credits received by those customers from revenues generated by the sale of the direct allocation of greenhouse gas allowances to an electrical corporation.