(a) As used in this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) “Department” means the Department of Water Resources with respect to its power program described in Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 80100) of Division 27 of the Water Code.
(2) “Existing project participant” means a city with rights and obligations to the Magnolia Power Project under the Magnolia Power Project Planning Agreement, dated May 1, 2001.
(3) “Magnolia Power Project” means a proposed natural gas-fired electric generating facility to be located at an existing site in Burbank and for which an application for certification has been filed with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act (Docket No. 00-SIT-1) and deemed data adequate pursuant to the expedited six-month licensing process established under Section 25550 of the Public Resources Code.
(b) Notwithstanding Section 80110 of the Water Code or Commission Decision 01-09-060, if the Magnolia Power Project has been constructed and is otherwise capable of beginning deliveries of electricity to the existing project participants, an existing project participant may serve as a community aggregator on behalf of all retail end-use customers within its jurisdiction.
(c) Subdivision (b) shall not become operative until both of the following occur:
(1) The commission implements a cost-recovery mechanism, consistent with subdivision (d), that is applicable to customers that elected to purchase electricity from an alternate provider between February 1, 2001, and the effective date of the act adding this section.
(2) The commission submits a report certifying its satisfaction of paragraph (1) to the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee, or its successor, and the Assembly Committee on Utilities and Commerce, or its successor.
(d) (1) It is the intent of the Legislature that each retail end-use customer that has purchased power from an electrical corporation on or after February 1, 2001, should bear a fair share of the department’s power purchase costs, as well as power purchase contract obligations incurred as of January 1, 2003, that are recoverable from electrical corporation customers in commission-approved rates. It is the further intent of the Legislature to prevent any shifting of recoverable costs between customers.
(2) The Legislature finds and declares that the provisions in this subdivision are consistent with the requirements of Section 360.5 and Division 27 (commencing with Section 80000) of the Water Code, and are therefore declaratory of existing law.
(e) A retail end-use customer purchasing power from a community aggregator pursuant to subdivision (b) shall reimburse the department for all of the following:
(1) A charge equivalent to the charge which would otherwise be imposed on the customer by the commission to recover bond related costs pursuant to an agreement between the commission and the Department of Water Resources pursuant to Section 80110 of the Water Code, that charge shall be payable until all obligations of the Department of Water Resources pursuant to Division 27 of the Water Code are fully paid or otherwise discharged.
(2) The costs of the department, equal to the share of the department’s estimated net unavoidable power purchase contract costs attributable to the customer, as determined by the commission, for the period commencing with the customer’s purchases of electricity from a community aggregator, through the expiration of all then existing power purchase contracts entered into by the department.
(f) A retail end-use customer purchasing power from a community aggregator pursuant to subdivision (b) shall reimburse the electrical corporation that previously served the customer for all of the following:
(1) The electrical corporation’s unrecovered past undercollections, including all financing costs attributable to that customer, that the commission lawfully determines may be recovered in rates.
(2) The costs of the electrical corporation recoverable in commission-approved rates, equal to the share of the electrical corporation’s estimated net unavoidable power purchase contract costs attributable to the customer, as determined by the commission, for the period commencing with the customer’s purchases of electricity from the community aggregator, through the expiration of all then existing power purchase contracts entered into by the electrical corporation.
(g) (1) A charge or cost imposed pursuant to subdivision (e), and all revenues received to pay the charge or cost, shall be the property of the Department of Water Resources. A charge or cost imposed pursuant to subdivision (f), and all revenues received to pay the charge or cost, shall be the property of the particular electrical corporation. The commission shall establish mechanisms, including agreements with, or orders with respect to, electrical corporations necessary to assure that the revenues received to pay a charge or cost payable pursuant to this section are promptly remitted to the party entitled to those revenues.
(2) A charge or cost imposed pursuant to this section shall be nonbypassable.
(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 837, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2003.)