Official Summary Text
SB 868, as amended, Wiener.
Electricity: portable solar generation devices.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards.
This bill would exempt a portable solar generation device, as defined, from all interconnection requirements imposed by state law, the commission, electrical corporation rules, or local publicly owned electric utility rules, as specified. The bill would prohibit an electrical corporation or a local publicly owned electric utility from requiring a customer using a portable solar generation device to take specified actions, including, among other things, paying any fee or charge related to the device or the electricity the device feeds into a building’s electrical system. The bill would authorize an electrical
corporation or a local publicly owned electric utility to require a customer using a portable solar generation device to notify the electrical corporation or local publicly owned electric utility, using a simple online registration form, of the address and size of the portable solar generation device, as provided.
Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
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.
Additionally, by imposing new duties on local publicly owned electric utilities, 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 specified reasons.