Electrical corporations: rates: dynamic rate option.

Plain English Breakdown

The official summary does not provide details on specific conditions the PUC must meet when reviewing cost recovery requests or how it ensures equal treatment of bundled and unbundled customers.

Electric Companies: Dynamic Rate Options

The bill requires large electric companies to offer customers dynamic rate options if they upgrade their smart meter systems.

What This Bill Does

• Requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to make large electrical corporations offer at least one optional dynamic rate option to all customers after upgrading their smart meters and billing systems, no later than one year after the upgraded system is placed into service.

Who It Names or Affects

• Large electrical corporations
• Electric utility customers

Terms To Know

Dynamic rate option

A pricing plan that changes electricity prices based on the time of day or other factors.

Smart meter infrastructure

Advanced meters used by electric companies to monitor and manage electricity usage more efficiently.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify what happens if a large electrical corporation does not upgrade its smart meter system.
• It is unclear how many customers will choose the dynamic rate option once it becomes available.

Official Summary Text

AB 1787, as amended, Schultz.
Electrical corporations: rates:
optional
dynamic rate
tariff.
option.
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. Existing law requires each electrical corporation to identify a separate rate component to fund certain programs that enhance system reliability and provide in-state benefits. Existing law requires that the rate component be a nonbypassable element of the local distribution service.
This bill would require the commission to require a large electrical corporation, if the commission approves the large electrical corporation’s request to upgrade its smart meter infrastructure
and related information management and billing systems
relative to infrastructure in place on January 1, 2026, to offer all its customers at least one
optional
dynamic rate
tariff
option
no later than
when
one year after
the upgraded smart meter infrastructure is anticipated to be placed into service, as specified. The bill would require the commission to ensure, in reviewing a request of a large electrical corporation to recover costs associated with upgrading its smart meter
infrastructure and related information management and billing systems,
infrastructure,
that specified conditions are met. The bill would require the commission to ensure, among other things, the large electrical corporation makes the same time-varying distribution rates available to both bundled customers and unbundled customers
located in the same geographic area, as specified.
Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
Because the above provisions would be part of the act and 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.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF