SB 1486

Bill Subjects

Abstract

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical and gas corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law, until January 1, 2021, required the commission, no later than July 1, 2017, to open a proceeding to determine the feasibility of minimizing or eliminating use of the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility located in the County of Los Angeles while still maintaining energy and electric reliability for the region. This bill would require the commission, as part of that proceeding, to continue to consider minimizing or closing the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility while maintaining reliability and affordability for customers, and to annually submit a report on its findings and any efforts to reduce customer energy demand in the Los Angeles Basin through investments in clean hydrogen projects to the relevant policy committees of the Legislature. The bill would require the commission to undertake an analysis of potential alternatives to the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility that includes using multiple planning horizons and determining if each potential alternative would satisfy specified objectives, as provided. Existing law requires a local publicly owned electric utility providing electric service to 250,000 or more customers within the Los Angeles Basin to maximize the use of demand response, renewable energy resources, and energy efficiency to reduce demand in the area where electrical reliability has been impacted as a result of reductions in gas storage capacity and gas deliverability resulting from the well failure at the Aliso Canyon facility. Existing law requires each local publicly owned electric utility serving end-use customers to prudently plan for and procure resources that are adequate to meet its planning reserve margin and peak demand and operating reserves, sufficient to provide reliable electric service to its customers. This bill would require the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, a local publicly owned electric utility, to establish a local reliability plan, taking into consideration 2- to 3-day extreme weather events, to provide modeling, scenarios, and analysis to evaluate the local reliability needs to maintain electrical service to the customers it serves. The bill would authorize the department, working with the Independent System Operator, to use resource sharing, building electrification programs, and firm zero-carbon energy resources in the Los Angeles Basin to achieve local reliability. To the extent this bill would mandate that the department provide a new program or higher level of service, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because certain of the above provisions would be a part of the act and because 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 specified reasons.