Cal. PUC § 398.6 — California Code / Code puc / Division 1 / Part 1 / Chapter 2.3 / Article 14 / Section 398.6
Section 398.6
Status: in_force

(a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) “Avoided greenhouse gas emissions” means greenhouse gas emissions associated with hourly purchases of electricity from specified sources that are in excess of the retail supplier’s loss-adjusted load for that hour to the extent that the excess electricity reduced the emissions of greenhouse gases associated with electricity from unspecified sources during that hour.

(2) “Electricity source type” means the fuel, source of energy, or electricity product, as described in subdivision (h) of Section 398.4.

(3) “Load-serving entity” has the same meaning as defined in Section 380.

(4) “Loss-adjusted load” means the total amount of electricity, measured at the utility-scale generation source, that a retail supplier requires in order to provide for retail sales after electrical losses in transmission and distribution.

(b) Beginning January 1, 2028, every retail supplier that offers an electricity product for sale to retail customers in the state shall annually report to the Energy Commission all of the following information:

(1) The retail supplier’s sources of electricity used to serve loss-adjusted load for each hour during the previous calendar year.

(2) To the extent feasible, the emissions of greenhouse gases associated with each of those sources of electricity. In calculating those emissions of greenhouse gases, the retail supplier shall not include or consider any avoided greenhouse gas emissions.

(3) An annual total of greenhouse gas emissions and an annual average greenhouse gas emissions intensity, calculated as the annual total greenhouse gas emissions divided by the retail supplier’s annual total loss-adjusted load.

(4) An annual total of avoided greenhouse gas emissions.

(c) On or before July 1, 2024, the Energy Commission shall adopt rules, through an open process, subject to public comment, and adopted by a vote of the Energy Commission, to implement the requirements of this section.

(d) The Energy Commission shall share the information collected pursuant to subdivision (b) with the commission, the State Air Resources Board, and the system operator, to the extent needed, for purposes of the following:

(1) Evaluating load-serving entities’ integrated resource plans pursuant to Section 454.52, as determined and deemed necessary by the Public Utilities Commission.

(2) The State Air Resources Board’s regulations for the mandatory reporting of the emissions of greenhouse gases.

(3) Estimating hourly greenhouse gas emission factors for electricity from unspecified sources, to the extent feasible.

(e) The Energy Commission shall annually publish on its internet website an aggregated summary of the data reported by each retail supplier pursuant to this section, which may include all of the following:

(1) Electricity from specified sources expressed as a percentage of annual loss-adjusted load that is derived from each electricity source type.

(2) Electricity from unspecified sources expressed as a percentage of annual loss-adjusted load.

(3) The total emissions of greenhouse gases associated with all electricity used to serve loss-adjusted load. In calculating those emissions of greenhouse gases, any avoided greenhouse gas emissions shall not be included or considered.

(4) The average greenhouse gas emissions intensity of all electricity used to serve loss-adjusted load.

(5) The total avoided greenhouse gas emissions.

(f) In order to ensure that a retail supplier can obtain the information necessary to comply with the requirements of this section and to protect the confidentiality of market sensitive data, all of the following shall be required:

(1) All sellers of electricity from generation facilities shall timely provide each purchaser of the facility’s electricity that is subject to the reporting requirement in subdivision (b) with the purchaser’s hourly share of electricity that is scheduled into a California balancing authority and the emissions of greenhouse gases associated with that electricity.

(2) All sellers of electricity from energy storage facilities shall timely provide each purchaser of the facility’s exported electricity that is subject to the reporting requirement in subdivision (b) with the purchaser’s hourly share of exported electricity and the hourly electricity consumed by the energy storage facility in prior hours sufficient to provide the exported electricity after taking into account round-trip losses within the energy storage facility. If the purchaser of the facility’s exported electricity is not responsible for providing the electricity consumed by the energy storage facility in prior hours, the seller of electricity from the energy storage facility shall also provide the purchaser with the electricity source type and the emissions of greenhouse gases associated with the electricity consumed by the energy storage facility in prior hours.

(3) An entity allocating electricity from specified sources shall timely provide each retail supplier to whom a share of the electricity is allocated with the retail supplier’s hourly share of electricity from each specified source and the emissions of greenhouse gases associated with that electricity.

(4) The recipients of hourly data pursuant to this subdivision shall maintain the confidentiality of the data received and use it solely for the purpose of meeting the requirements of this section.

(5) The recipients of hourly data pursuant to this subdivision shall share the hourly data as necessary, and under the same confidentiality requirements, with subsequent purchasers of the electricity from specified sources.

(g) (1) The commission shall review the total annual emissions of greenhouse gases and the annual average greenhouse gas emissions intensity reported for each load-serving entity pursuant to this section and may assess whether those emissions of greenhouse gases, combined with the load-serving entity’s procurement plans for subsequent years, demonstrate adequate progress toward achieving the load-serving entity’s greenhouse gas emissions targets established pursuant to Section 454.52. The commission shall provide its findings for each community choice aggregator to the community choice aggregator’s governing board.

(2) The governing board of each local publicly owned electric utility shall review the total annual emissions of greenhouse gases and the annual average greenhouse gas emissions intensity reported for each local publicly owned electric utility pursuant to this section and may assess whether those emissions of greenhouse gases, combined with the local publicly owned electric utility’s procurement plans for subsequent years, demonstrate adequate progress toward achieving the local publicly owned electric utility’s greenhouse gas emissions targets established pursuant to Section 9621. A local publicly owned electric utility may use existing board processes to facilitate this paragraph.

(h) Information submitted to the Energy Commission pursuant to this section that is a trade secret, as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 3426.1 of the Civil Code, shall not be released except in an aggregated form such that trade secrets cannot be discerned.

(i) It is the intent of the Legislature that the reporting, evaluation, and progress assessment requirements of this section shall not constitute a new electricity procurement obligation for load-serving entities or for local publicly owned electric utilities.

(j) The requirements of this section shall not apply to the following types of retail suppliers:

(1) Load-serving entities that are not subject to the requirements of Section 454.52.

(2) Local publicly owned electric utilities that are not subject to the requirements of Section 9621.

(k) In developing the rules and procedures specified in this section, the Energy Commission shall seek to minimize the reporting burden and the cost of reporting that it imposes on retail suppliers.

(l) The Energy Commission may modify or adjust the requirements of this section for any electrical corporation with 60,000 or fewer customer accounts in the state or any retail supplier with an annual electrical demand of less than 1,000 gigawatthours, if the Energy Commission finds that the costs to comply with the requirements of this section unduly burden the electrical corporation or retail supplier.

(m) The Energy Commission may delay when retail suppliers shall begin reporting pursuant to this section if the Energy Commission determines that it is infeasible or unreasonably costly for retail suppliers to obtain the necessary data or develop the necessary reporting tools within the timeframe established in subdivision (b).

(n) The Energy Commission may verify environmental and procurement claims made by retail suppliers.

(o) This section shall not apply to generators providing electric service onsite, under an over-the-fence transaction as described in Section 218, or to an affiliate or affiliates, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 372.