On March 22, 2023, the Assigned Commissioner issued an Amended Scoping Memo and Statutory Deadline Extension which amends the scope of issues in the Initial Scoping Memo, updates the procedural schedule, and extends the statutory deadline to November 27, 2023. The Amended Scoping Memo introduces new issues pursuant to Governor Gavin Newsom's approval of Assembly Bill ("AB") 2143, which beginning on January 1, 2024, requires large customer-sited renewable electrical generation facilities, and any associated battery storage, that enrolls in tariffs designed for these projects (e.g., net energy metering or net billing tariffs) to provide, at a minimum, prevailing wages to all construction workers and apprentices, unless the project falls under specific categories. A future ruling in this proceeding will address the new issues in this Amended Scoping Memo. Otherwise, this Amended Scoping Memo reaffirms the Initial Scoping Memo’s determinations of category, need for hearing, and designation of presiding officer.
On September 29, 2022, California Governor Gavin Newsom approved AB 2143, which beginning on January 1, 2024, requires large customer-sited renewable electrical generation facilities, and any associated battery storage, that enrolls in tariffs designed for these projects (e.g., net energy metering or net billing tariffs) to provide, at a minimum, prevailing wages to all construction workers and apprentices, unless the project is:
(1) a residential facility that will have a maximum generating capacity of 15 kilowatts (kW) or less of electricity that will be installed on a single-family home,
(2) a project that is already a public work under existing law, or
(3) a facility that serves only a modular home, a modular home community, or multiunit housing that has two or fewer stories.
The contractor is required to maintain and verify payroll records and biannually, on July 1st and December 31st of each year, submit to the Commission digital copies of the certified payroll records for projects subject to this statute. The statute states that if a willful wage violation has been enforced against a contractor of an eligible and interconnected project, then the project will lose service to its standard contract or tariff that is offered pursuant to Section 2827 or 2827.1.
AB 2143 requires the Commission to direct each large electrical corporation to include these requirements in any standard contract or tariff offered pursuant to Pub. Util. Code Section 2827 or Section 2827.1 (tariffs designed for customer-sited renewable generation facilities). The Commission shall also retain the submitted certified payroll records as public records for five years. AB 2143 also requires the Commission to provide an annual report to the legislature and publish the report on the Commission website. The report shall describe the “progress made to grow the use of distributed energy resources among residential customers in disadvantaged communities and in low-income households.” Along with the report, the Commission shall provide an aggregated list, by census tract and ZIP code, of all renewable electrical generation facilities, as defined in Section 2827, that began to receive service pursuant to a tariff designed for customer-sited renewable generation facilities during the preceding calendar year, including but not limited to, median household income, home ownership, and racial composition, as applicable.
The genesis for the Amended Scoping Memo is the implementation of AB 2143, described above. Accordingly, the list of issues in this Amended Scoping Memo is as follows:
1. What guiding principles (including those related to AB 327 (2013, Perea), equity, environmental goals, and social justice) should the Commission adopt to assist in the development and evaluation of a successor to the current net energy metering tariff? (Resolved)
2. What information from the Net Energy Metering 2.0 Lookback Study should inform the successor and how should the Commission apply those findings in its consideration? (Resolved)
3. What method should the Commission use to analyze the program elements identified in Issue 4 and the resulting proposals, while ensuring the proposals comply with the guiding principles? (Resolved)
4. What program elements or specific features should the Commission include in a successor to the current net energy metering tariff? (Resolved)
5. Which of the analyzed proposals should the Commission adopt as a successor to the current net energy metering tariff and why? What should the timeline be for implementation? (Resolved)
6. Other issues that may arise related to current net energy metering tariffs and subtariffs, which include but are not limited to the virtual net energy metering tariffs, net energy metering aggregation tariff, the Renewable Energy Self-Generation Bill Credit Transfer program, and the net energy metering fuel cell tariff. (Yet To Be Resolved)
7. What additional or enhanced consumer protections for customers taking service under net energy metering and/or the successor to the current net energy metering tariff should be adopted by the Commission? (Yet To Be Resolved)
8. What actions does the Commission need to adopt to implement AB 2143. (New Issue Yet To Be Resolved)
