Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable.
This bill, the Ratepayer and Technological Innovation Protection Act, would require the commission, on or before December 31, 2026, to establish or modify a special electrical corporation tariff for transmission and distribution service to eligible customers, as defined, that, among other things, minimizes cost shifts to customers on other rate schedules. The bill would require the commission to determine whether existing rate designs applicable to large load customers meet the requirements of the tariff described above and to direct an electrical corporation to file new or modified rate applications within 12 months of a commission decision implementing the tariff if the electrical corporation's existing rate designs are found to not meet those requirements.
This bill would require the commission to assess the extent to which electrical corporation costs associated with new loads from data centers result in cost shifts to other electrical corporation customers, as provided, and would require the commission, on or before January 1, 2027, to submit the assessment to the relevant policy committees of the Legislature and to publicly post a copy of the assessment on the commission's internet website.
Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
Because a violation of a commission action implementing this bill's 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 a specified reason.