Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to fix the rates and charges for public utilities and requires those rates and charges to be just and reasonable.

This bill would require the commission to prioritize the gathering, analysis, and independent verification of utility data used to justify general rate case proposals to ensure the cost-effective use of ratepayer funds for capital investments in electrical distribution and transmission grid infrastructure and the operation and maintenance of that infrastructure.

This bill would require the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to create the Data Access Governance Committee, with specified membership, and would require the committee, on or before January 1, 2027, to provide initial recommendations on prescribed topics to the Energy Commission and the PUC, as specified. The bill would authorize the Energy Commission to work with certain gas corporations, electrical corporations, and local publicly owned utilities that provide gas or electrical service to enact cost-effective energy utility data programs, as specified. The bill would create, and would require the PUC and the Energy Commission to administer and enforce, the Customer Energy Utility Data Bill of Rights, with specified protections and customer rights.

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 requirements of this bill would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.In addition, to the extent the bill would impose new requirements on local publicly owned 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