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 would require the commission, on or before December 31, 2027, to establish a grid utilization metric that calculates electrical load as a percentage of rated capacity, as specified. The bill would require each large electrical corporation, each calendar quarter, to submit a publicly available report to the commission with the results of the large electrical corporation’s grid utilization metric calculations, as specified. The bill would require the commission to annually establish a minimum value for the grid utilization metric within each large electrical corporation’s distribution grid, and would require that the grid utilization metric minimum value increase annually, as provided. The bill would require the commission to establish financial performance-based incentives or disincentives correlated with achieving the grid utilization metric minimum value, as specified, and would require each large electrical corporation, on or before July 31, 2028, to propose grid utilization programs to achieve the grid utilization metric minimum value, as specified.

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 the above-described provisions would be part of the act and a violation of a commission action implementing the bill’s requirements would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.