Energy: electrical and gas corporations: general rate cases.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source does not specify enforcement mechanisms or penalties for non-compliance, leaving this information uncertain.

Energy Rules for Electric and Gas Companies

The law requires electric and gas companies to give the Public Utilities Commission more information about their costs, profits, and plans when they ask to change rates.

What This Bill Does

• Requires electric and gas corporations to provide detailed financial information to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) during rate case reviews.
• Includes past authorized and actual returns on investment for the last ten years in the reports.
• Incorporates distribution capacity projects, including forecasts from previous general rate cases.

Who It Names or Affects

• Electric and gas corporations
• The Public Utilities Commission (PUC)

Terms To Know

Public Utilities Commission (PUC)

A government agency that regulates public utilities to ensure fair rates and services for customers.

Rate case

A legal proceeding where a utility company requests permission from the PUC to change its rates or charges.

Limits and Unknowns

• Does not specify when the new requirements will take effect.
• The bill does not provide details on how the PUC will enforce these rules.
• It is unclear what specific penalties electric and gas companies might face for non-compliance.

Official Summary Text

AB 1017, Boerner.
Energy: electrical and gas corporations: general rate cases.
Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to fix the rates and charges for public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations, and requires the rates and charges to be just and reasonable. Existing law requires the commission, following the approval of a general rate case of an electrical corporation or gas corporation, to review which costs, if any, differed from the general rate case forecasts and to adjust the revenue requirements in the subsequent general rate case based on the actual past costs in the corporation records.
This bill would require an electrical corporation or gas corporation, as a part of its general rate case, to provide to the commission certain information, including, among other things, the authorized and actual rate of return and return on equity for the past
10 years and projects related to the corporation’s distribution capacity that include the forecast submitted in the prior general rate case of the corporation.
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
provisions of this bill would be a part of the act, and because a violation of a commission action implementing the 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.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF