Microgrid incentive program.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source does not specify what happens if there are no more areas needing support after allocating unspent funds.

Microgrid Incentive Program

The bill requires the Public Utilities Commission to track and allocate funds from electrical corporations' Microgrid Incentive Programs, prioritizing vulnerable communities and critical infrastructure impacted by power outages.

What This Bill Does

• Requires each electrical corporation to report on their Microgrid Incentive Program fund status by January 15, 2026.
• Directs the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to review these reports and allocate unspent funds to areas that have experienced two or more power outages, prioritizing vulnerable communities and critical infrastructure.

Who It Names or Affects

• Large electrical corporations in California
• Vulnerable populations impacted by grid outages

Terms To Know

Microgrid Incentive Program

A program funded by large electrical companies to support the development of clean energy microgrids for vulnerable communities.

Deenergization events

Power outages that occur due to planned or unplanned deactivation of electricity supply.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how the PUC will use unallocated funds if there are no more areas needing support.
• It is unclear what happens if electrical companies do not comply with reporting requirements.

Official Summary Text

SB 453, as amended, Stern.
Microgrid incentive program.
(2)
Existing
Existing
law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and the Independent System Operator, to take specified actions by December 1, 2020, to facilitate the commercialization of microgrids for distribution customers of large electrical corporations, including, among other actions, by, without shifting costs between ratepayers, developing methods to reduce barriers for microgrid deployment.
Under existing law, the PUC requires certain large electrical corporations to jointly develop a Microgrid Incentive Program to fund clean energy microgrids to support the critical needs of vulnerable populations impacted by a grid outage.
This bill would require the PUC to require each electrical corporation to provide to the commission, on or before January 15, 2026, the status of any awarded or unallocated funds collected for the Microgrid Incentive Program. The bill would require the commission, after reviewing that information, if it determines additional
actions
actions, using funds collected on or before January 1, 2026,
are needed, to consider the use of a third-party administrator and to ensure that unallocated funds are allocated to areas that have experienced 2 or
more deenergization events, prioritizing vulnerable communities, including access and functional needs populations, and prioritizing customers that operate critical community infrastructure that supports resiliency during a deenergization event.
The bill would require, if there are remaining unallocated funds on January 1, 2027, that those funds to be returned to ratepayers.
(3)
Under
Under
existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime.
Because a violation of a PUC 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