(1) Existing law vests the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) with various responsibilities for developing and implementing the state’s energy policies.

This bill would require the Energy Commission to select a research institute, as defined, to conduct a comparative analysis of the benefits and challenges of transitioning the electrical corporations to a public entity, nonprofit public benefit corporation, or mutual benefit corporation in order to identify a recommended model, as provided. The bill would require the research institute to complete the analysis on or before January 1, 2029, and, upon completion, to submit the analysis to the Legislature and the Energy Commission. The bill would require the Energy Commission to make a draft of the analysis available to the public for comment before submitting the final draft to the Legislature, and would limit the cost of conducting the analysis to $5,000,000.

This bill would require the research institute to conduct the first phase of the comparative analysis and to submit an interim report, on or before December 31, 2026, to the Energy Commission on threshold legal issues, as provided. The bill would require the Energy Commission to convene a group of state attorneys from the legal departments of state agencies that regulate electrical corporations to advise the research institute on the first phase of the comparative analysis, as specified.

This bill would, upon completion of the analysis by the research institute, require the Energy Commission to present the analysis at a publicly noticed business meeting on or before September 30, 2029.

(2) Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations, while local publicly owned utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law prohibits an electrical corporation, gas corporation, or water corporation from terminating a customer’s residential service for nonpayment of a delinquent account in certain circumstances, including, among other circumstances, unless the corporation first gives notice to the customer of the delinquency and impending termination, during the pendency of an investigation by the corporation of the customer’s dispute or complaint, or when the customer has been granted an extension of the period for payment of a bill.

This bill would require a utility, including an electrical corporation, local publicly owned electric utility, gas corporation, and local publicly owned gas utility, to quarterly each electrical corporation and gas corporation, on or before March 1, 2026, and each local publically owned electric utility, on or before March 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, to post specified information concerning termination terminations of service due to nonpayment on their respective internet websites, as provided.