California Assembly Bill AB1739 Introduced / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 1739INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Waldron FEBRUARY 1, 2016 An act to amend Section 2827.3 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1739, as introduced, Waldron. Net energy metering. Existing law requires all electric utilities to develop a standard contract or tariff providing for net energy metering, and to make this contract available to eligible customer generators, upon request, except as provided. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to complete a study by October 1, 2013, to determine who benefits from, and who bears the economic burden, if any, of the net energy metering program, and to determine the extent to which each class of ratepayers and each region of the state receiving service under the net energy metering program is paying the full cost of the services provided to them by electrical corporations, and the extent to which those customers pay their share of the costs of public purpose programs. Existing law requires the commission to report the results of the study to the Legislature within 30 days of its completion. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to this provision. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 2827.3 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read: 2827.3. (a) By October 1, 2013, the commission shall complete a study to determine who benefits from, and who bears the economic burden, if any, of, the net energy metering program authorized pursuant to Section 2827, and to determine the extent to which each class of ratepayers and each region of the state receiving service under the net energy metering program is paying the full cost of the services provided to them by electrical corporations, and the extent to which those customers pay their share of the costs of public purpose programs. In evaluating program costs and benefits for purposes of the study, the commission shall consider all electricity generated by renewable electric generating systems, including the electricity used onsite to reduce a customer's consumption of electricity that otherwise would be supplied through the electrical grid, as well as the electrical output that is being fed back to the electrical grid for which the customer receives credit or net surplus electricity compensation under net energy metering. The study shall quantify the costs and benefits of net energy metering to participants and nonparticipants and shall further disaggregate the results by utility, customer class, and household income groups within the residential class. The study shall further gather and present data on the income distribution of residential net energy metering participants. In order to assess the costs and benefits at various levels of net energy metering implementation, the study shall be conducted using multiple net energy metering penetration scenarios, including, at a minimum, the capacity needed to reach the solar photovoltaic goals of the California Solar Initiative pursuant to Section 25780 of the Public Resources Code, and the estimated net energy metering capacity under the 5-percent minimum requirement of paragraphs (1) and (4) of subdivision (c) of Section 2827. (b) (1) The commission shall report the results of the study to the Legislature within 30 days of  its   the study's  completion. (2) The report shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code. (3) Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this section is repealed on July 1, 2017.