California Assembly Bill AB66 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 66AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 12, 2013 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 25, 2013 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 11, 2013 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 8, 2013 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 14, 2013 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Muratsuchi (Coauthors: Senators Hill and Pavley) JANUARY 7, 2013 An act to add Section 2774.1 to the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 66, as amended, Muratsuchi. Electricity: system reliability. Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. The Public Utilities Act authorizes the commission to ascertain and fix just and reasonable standards, classifications, regulations, practices, measurements, or service to be furnished, imposed, observed, and followed by specified public utilities, including all electrical corporations. If the commission finds after a hearing that the rules, practices, equipment, appliances, facilities, or service of any public utility, or of the methods of manufacture, distribution, transmission, storage, or supply employed by the public utility, are unjust, unreasonable, unsafe, improper, inadequate, or insufficient, the act requires that the commission determine and, by order or rule, fix the rules, practices, equipment, appliances, facilities, service, or methods to be observed, furnished, constructed, enforced, or employed. 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. This bill would require the commission to require an electrical corporation  to  include in annual reliability reports  ,  required by  a  specified  decisions   decision  of the  commissions   commission,  that are due after July 1, 2014, information on  system   the  reliability  of service to end use customers  that identifies the frequency and duration of interruptions in services and  list   indicates  areas with both the most frequent and longest outages, using geographic regions determined by the commission. The bill would require the commission to use the information to require cost-effective remediation of reliability deficiencies if the report, or more than one report, identifies repeated deficiencies in the same geographic region. The bill would require the electrical corporations to  conspicuously  post their annual reports on their Internet Web site. Because a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program by expanding the definition of a 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. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 2774.1 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read: 2774.1. (a) (1) The commission shall require an electrical corporation  to  include in an annual reliability report  ,  required pursuant to  Decisions 96-09-045 and 04-10-034, information on system reliability   Decision 96-09-045, information on the reliability of service to end use customers  that identifies, but is not limited to, the frequency and duration of interruptions in services. This information shall  list   indicate  areas with both the most frequent and longest outages, using geographic regions determined by the commission.  The commission, in consultation with the electrical corporation   , shall ensure that the geographical boundaries of regions do not split up circuits.  The information shall be sufficiently aggregated to both maintain electrical system security, and be of use and relevance to affected customers of the electrical corporation. (2) Before July 1, 2014, the commission shall determine the geographic regions for the purposes of paragraph (1). (3) The requirements of paragraph (1) shall apply to annual reports due after July 1, 2014. (4) The electrical corporation shall  conspicuously  post on its Internet Web site the annual report required pursuant to  Decisions 96-09-045 and 04-10-034   Decision 96-09-045  . (b)  (1)    The commission shall use the information contained in an electrical corporation's annual reliability report to require cost-effective remediation of reliability deficiencies if the report, or more than one report, identifies repeated deficiencies in the same geographic region as determined by the commission pursuant to paragraph  (3)  (1)  of subdivision (a). In requiring cost-effective remediation, the commission  shall   may consult with the electrical corporation and  consider mitigating factors that may impede an electrical corporation from implementing required cost-effective remediation, including, but not limited to, local permitting matters or other events or conditions or public policy considerations that may present higher priority safety or reliability issues.  (2) The commission shall determine the procedures for using the information contained in the electrical corporation's annual reliability report to require remediation of reliability deficiencies and shall continue to exercise its discretion as to how to remediate those deficiencies.   (3) The commission may suspend an electrical corporation's remediation of reliability deficiencies if the commission finds that expenditures by the electrical corporation for those purposes are not justified or reasonable or that the remediation measures undertaken by the electrical corporation are not effective at improving safety and reliability.  (c) (1) The commission may order an electrical corporation to make more frequent trend analyses of regional service reliability and to make those analyses publicly available. (2) The information made publicly available shall provide sufficient confidentiality for purposes of protecting electrical system security. (3) The commission may make those analyses publicly available. SEC. 2.  (a)    It is the intent of the Legislature in adding Section 2774.1 to the Public Utilities Code, that the required system reliability information be included in the annual report required by the Public Utilities Commission in Decision 96-09-045 (September 4, 1996), while preserving the discretion of the commission to modify an electrical corporation's reporting requirements.  (b) It is the further intent of the Legislature that the existing reporting limits be revised to accomplish both of the following:   (1) To require an annual reliability report to include and differentiate both sustained outages and momentary outages, as defined by the commission.   (2) That the geographic boundaries used in an annual reliability report not split up circuits, but will still use boundaries that are understandable to the general public.  SEC. 3. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.