SB 410

Bill Subjects

Abstract

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, in collaboration with the State Air Resources Board, the PUC, and other relevant stakeholders, to annually gather from state agencies, as provided, specified entities' fleet data for on-road and off-road vehicles in the medium- and heavy-duty sectors and share that data with electrical corporations to help inform electrical grid planning efforts, as specified. Existing law requires electrical corporations, as part of their distribution planning processes, to consider that produced fleet data, and other available data, to facilitate the readiness of their distribution systems to support the state's anticipated level of electric vehicle charging, as specified. This bill, the Powering Up Californians Act, would require the PUC to establish, on or before September 30, 2024, reasonable average and maximum target energization time periods, as defined, and certain reporting requirements so that electrical corporation performance can be tracked and improved, as provided. The bill would require the PUC to require the electrical corporation to take any remedial actions necessary to achieve the PUC's targets and would require all reports to be publicly available, among other reporting requirements. The bill would require, as part of each report and in each general rate case application, each electrical corporation to include a detailed analysis of its current qualified staffing level and future required qualified staffing level for each job classification, as specified, among other requirements related to staffing and apprentice training. The bill would, among other requirements placed on electrical corporations, require an electrical corporation to consider, in its annual distribution planning process, certain standards, plans, regulations, policies, and requirements. The bill would require the commission to ensure that electrical corporations have sufficient and timely recovery of costs, as specified. If requested by the electrical corporation, the bill would require the commission to authorize the use of a one-way balancing account mechanism or other mechanism that, among other things, authorizes electrical corporations to track costs for energization projects that exceed those included in the electrical corporation's annual authorized revenue requirement for energization, as specified. Under the Public Utilities Act, a violation of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is 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.