California Act to Amend Section 739 of the Public Utilities Code

Senate Bill No. 693

CHAPTER 443

An act to amend Section 739 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to public utilities.

[Approved by Governor September 25, 1991. Filed with

Secretary of State September 26, 1991.]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 693, Rosenthal. Public utilities: electric and gas rates.

Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to establish a program of assistance to low-income electric and gas customers, the cost of which shall not be borne solely by any single class of customer. This bill would require that the commission's program of assistance to low-income electric and gas customers, as soon as practicable, include nonprofit group living facilities specified by the commission, if the commission makes specified findings.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 739 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:

739. (a) The commission shall designate a baseline quantity of gas and electricity which is necessary to supply a significant portion of the reasonable energy needs of the average residential customer. In estimating those quantities, the commission shall take into account differentials in energy needs between customers whose residential energy needs are currently supplied by electricity alone or by both electricity and gas. The commission shall develop a separate baseline quantity for all-electric residential customers. For these purposes, .1 all-electric residential customers" are residential customers having electrical service only or whose space heating is provided by electricity, or both. The commission shall also take into account differentials in energy use by climatic zone and season.

(b) (1) The commission shall establish a standard limited allowance which shall be in addition to the baseline quantity of gas and electricity for residential customers dependent on life-support equipment, including, but not limited to, emphysema and pulmonary patients. A residential customer dependent on life-support equipment shall be given a higher energy allocation than the average residential customer.

(2) "Life-support equipment" means that equipment which utilizes mechanical or artificial means to sustain, restore, or supplant a vital function, or mechanical equipment which is relied upon for mobility both within and outside of buildings. "Life-support equipment," as used in this subdivision, includes all of the following: all types of respirators, iron lungs, hemodialysis machines, suction machines, electric nerve stimulators, pressure pads and pumps, aerosol tents, electrostatic and ultrasonic nebulizers, compressors, IPPB machines, and motorized wheelchairs.

(3) The limited additional allowance shall also be made available to paraplegic and quadriplegic persons in consideration of the increased heating and cooling needs of those persons.

(4) The limited additional allowance shall also be made available to multiple sclerosis patients in consideration of the increased heating and cooling needs of those persons.

(5) The limited additional allowance shall also be made available to scleroderma patients in consideration of the increased heating needs of those persons.

(c) (1) The commission shall require that every electrical and gas corporation file a schedule of rates and charges providing baseline rates. The baseline rates shall apply to the first or lowest block of an increasing block rate structure which shall be the baseline quantity and shall be established for the residential consumption of gas and electricity. In establishing these rates, the commission shall avoid excessive rate increases for residential customers, and shall establish an appropriate gradual differential between the rates for the respective blocks of usage.

(2) In establishing residential electric and gas rates, including baseline rates, the commission shall assure that the rates are sufficient to enable the electrical corporation or gas corporation to recover a just and reasonable amount of revenue from residential customers as a class, while observing the principle that electricity and gas services are necessities, for which a low affordable rate is desirable.

(d) As used in this section:

(1) "Baseline quantity" means a quantity of electricity or gas for residential customers to be established by the commission based on from 50 to 60 percent of average residential consumption of these commodities, except that, for residential gas customers and for all-electric residential customers, the baseline quantity shall be established at from 60 to 70 percent of average residential consumption during the winter heating season. In establishing the baseline quantities, the commission shall take into account climatic and seasonal variations in consumption and the availability of gas service. The commission shall review and revise baseline quantities as average consumption patterns change in order to maintain these ratios.

(2) "Residential customer" means those customers receiving electrical or gas service pursuant to a domestic rate schedule and excludes industrial, commercial, and every other category of customer.

(e) Wholesale electrical or gas purchases, and the rates charged therefor, are exempt from this section.

(f) Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to prohibit experimentation with alternative gas or electrical rate schedules for the purpose of achieving energy conservation.

(g) (1) The commission shall establish a program of assistance to low-income electric and gas customers, the cost of which shall not be borne solely by any single class of customer.

(2) The commission's program of assistance to low-income electric and gas customers shall, as soon as practicable, include nonprofit group living facilities specified by the commission, if the commission finds that the residents in these facilities substantially meet the commission's low-income eligibility requirements and there is a feasible process for certifying that the assistance shall be used for the direct benefit, such as improved quality of care or improved food service, of the low-income residents in the facilities.

Page Last Updated: January 27, 2010