Cal. Code Regs. tit. 20 § 1391

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 44, November 1, 2024

Section 1391 - Definitions

"Asset-controlling supplier" means any entity that owns or operates interconnected electricity generating facilities or serves as an exclusive marketer for these facilities even though it does not own them, and is assigned a supplier-specific identification number and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions factor by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) for the wholesale electricity procured from its system and imported into California.

"Balancing authority" means the responsible entity that integrates resource plans ahead of time, maintains load-interchange generation balance within a balancing authority area, and supports interconnection frequency in real time.

"Biogenic fuels" means biomass, biowaste, or biomethane from an eligible renewable generator.

"California balancing authority" is a balancing authority with control over a balancing authority area primarily located in California. A California balancing authority is responsible for the operation of the transmission grid within its metered boundaries, which may extend beyond the geographical boundaries of the State of California.

"Carbon dioxide equivalent" or "CO₂e" means the number of units of mass of CO₂ emissions with the same global warming potential as one unit of another GHG when calculated using the individual global warming potentials as specified in the "global warming potential" definition in title 17, California Code of Regulations, section 95102.

"Cogenerator" means a generating unit that produces electric energy and useful thermal energy for industrial, commercial, or heating and cooling purposes, through the sequential or simultaneous use of the original fuel energy and waste heat recovery.

"Custom electricity portfolio" means an electricity portfolio negotiated under private agreement specifically for one non-residential entity that is not offered in the retail supplier's general marketing materials and that has a discrete combination of resource characteristics, including generator locations, fuel types, and emissions rates.

"Delivered electricity" means electricity from a facility or from specified system power of an asset-controlling supplier that has one of the following three characteristics:

(1) has a first point of interconnection within the metered boundaries of a California balancing authority or a first point of interconnection with an electrical distribution system used to serve end users within the metered boundaries of a California balancing authority area;

(2) is scheduled into a California balancing authority without substituting electricity from another source; or

(3) is subject to an agreement between a California balancing authority and the balancing authority in which an eligible renewable energy resource is located, executed before the product is generated, to dynamically transfer electricity from that eligible renewable energy resource into the California balancing authority area.

For purposes of this Article, behind-the-meter generation serving onsite load is not delivered electricity.

For the purposes of this Article, a retail supplier that serves retail customers in California and one or more other states may demonstrate delivery to the balancing authority in which the retail supplier is located for the purposes of satisfying the criteria of "delivered electricity." "E-tag" means an electronic record that contains the details of a transaction to transfer energy from a source point to a sink where the energy is scheduled for transmission across one or more balancing authority area boundaries. For purposes of this definition, "source point" refers to the generation source of the energy, and "sink" refers to the balancing authority in which the electric load is located.

"Electricity from unspecified sources of power" or "unspecified power" means electricity that is not traceable to specific generation sources by any auditable contract trail or equivalent, including a tradable commodity system, that provides commercial verification that the electricity source claimed has been sold once and only once to a retail consumer.

"Electricity portfolio" means the electricity products that a retail supplier offers to sell to consumers in California under terms and conditions specific to an offer or to a tariff. It does not include the provision of electric services on site, sold through an over-the-fence transaction, as defined in Section 218 of the Public Utilities Code, or sold or transferred to an affiliate, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 372 of the Public Utilities Code. For the purposes of this Article, electricity portfolio has the same meaning as "electricity offering" and "electric supply portfolio" as those terms are used in Public Utilities Code section 398.4 and 398.5. An electricity portfolio is distinguishable from other electricity portfolios offered by the same retail supplier if it satisfies any of the following criteria:

(1) Is marketed by the retail supplier as a discrete portfolio;

(2) Has been given a discrete title or name by the retail supplier;

(3) Has been assigned a discrete fee or rate by the retail supplier;

(4) Contains a different proportion of fuel types compared to other portfolios offered by the retail supplier; or

(5) Is marketed or offered by a third party through the retail supplier's marketing materials.

"Eligible firmed-and-shaped product" has the following meanings:

1) when applied to a local publicly owned electric utility, it has the same meaning as the term "Portfolio Content Category 2" as defined in section 3203(b);

2) when applied to an investor-owned utility, community choice aggregator, or an electric service provider, it has the same meaning as the term "Portfolio Content Category 2" as defined on page 3 in the California Public Utilities Commission, Energy Division's Portfolio Content Category Classification Review Process Handbook (October 2017), which is hereby incorporated by reference. For the purposes of this Article, the term shall apply to all products that meet the definitions specified above except for the fact that they are the subject of an agreement executed prior to June 1, 2010.

"Eligible renewable" means electrical generation from a facility that is certified pursuant to the Renewables Portfolio Standard Program (Article 16 (commencing with Section 399.11)) of the Public Utilities Code.

"Energy Commission" means the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission.

"Energy Information Administration" or "EIA" means a statistical agency of the United States Department of Energy.

"Facility" means one or all generating units at an electric generating station.

"Fuel type attribute" means the fuel or technology type used to generate a quantity of kilowatt hours, specified using the categories identified in subsection (b)(3) of section 1393.

"Fuel mix" means the assortment of fuel types comprising an electricity portfolio, expressed as percentages.

"Generating unit" means a device that converts mechanical, chemical, electromagnetic, or thermal energy into electricity and that:

(1) has an electric output capable of being separately identified and metered;

(2) is connected to the Western Electricity Coordinating Council interconnected grid; and

(3) is capable of producing electrical energy in excess of a generation station's internal power requirements.

"Generator" means the initial seller of electrical energy produced by a generating unit.

"GHG emissions intensity of a generator" means the sum of all annual emissions of GHGs associated with a generation source divided by the net annual production of electricity from the generation source.

"GHG emissions intensity of an electricity portfolio" means the sum of all annual emissions of GHGs associated with the generation sources comprising an electricity portfolio divided by the annual retail sales of that electricity portfolio.

"Large hydroelectric" means hydroelectric generation that is not eligible renewable.

"Mandatory Reporting Regulation" or "MRR" means the Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting in Article 2 (commencing with section 95100) of Subchapter 10 of Chapter 1 of Division 3 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations.

"Product-specific written promotional materials that are distributed to consumers" means any paper, electronic, or other media that contain words pertaining to a specific electricity portfolio being advertised or offered and that are distributed to consumers or made available over the Internet. It does not include advertisements and notices in general circulation media.

"Renewable energy credit" or "REC" means a certificate of proof associated with the generation of electricity from an eligible renewable energy resource, issued through the accounting system established by the Energy Commission pursuant to Public Utilities Code section 399.25, that one unit of electricity was generated and delivered by an eligible renewable energy resource.

"Report electronically" means to provide files in either a database or spreadsheet format that can be read by the most recent version of either Microsoft^TM Excel or Microsoft^TM Access, or through data entry systems developed by the Energy Commission to support reporting under this Article.

"Retail Sales" means sales of electricity by a retail supplier to end-use customers over the course of a calendar year, measured in thousands of kilowatt hours. Retail sales do not include self-consumption by a retail supplier or electricity produced for onsite consumption that was not sold to a customer by the retail supplier.

"Retail supplier" means an entity that offers an electricity portfolio for sale to retail consumers in California, and includes investor owned utilities, local publicly owned electric utilities, community choice aggregators, and electric service providers.

"Scheduling Coordinator" means any entity certified by the Independent System Operator for the purposes of undertaking the functions specified in Section 4.5.1 of the Independent System Operator Tariff. (Fifth Replacement FERC Electric Tariff, December 1, 2014)

"Specified purchase" means a transaction in which electricity is traceable to specific generating facilities by any auditable contract trail or equivalent, such as a tradable commodity system, that provides commercial verification that the electricity claimed has been sold once and only once to retail consumers. Retail suppliers may rely on annual data to meet this requirement, rather than hour-by-hour matching of loads and resources. Specified purchases include electrical transactions from facilities owned or controlled by the retail supplier. For facilities not owned by the retail supplier, specified purchases shall be documented through agreements executed prior to generation of the procured electricity.

"Specified system power of an asset-controlling supplier" means electricity derived from a specific set of generators owned, operated, or exclusively marketed by an asset-controlling supplier. Purchases of specified system power of an asset-controlling supplier are considered specified purchases if the transactions are documented through an agreement executed prior to generation of the associated electricity and the delivery of the electricity is documented by e-tags.

"Total California system electricity" means the sum of all in-state generation and net electricity imports by fuel type.

"Unbundled REC" means a REC from an eligible renewable energy resource that is not procured as part of the same agreement or ownership arrangement with the underlying energy from that eligible renewable energy resource; this includes a REC that was originally procured as a bundled product but was subsequently resold separately from the underlying energy.

"Western Electricity Coordinating Council" or "WECC" means the electricity coordinating council as defined in Public Utilities Code section 399.12(k).

Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 20, § 1391

1. New section filed 9-21-98; operative 10-21-98 (Register 98, No. 39).
2. Change without regulatory effect amending subsection (q) filed 1-14-99 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 99, No. 3).
3. Amendment of subsection (a), repealer of subsection (a)(1), subsection renumbering, amendment of newly designated subsections (a)(1)-(2), new subsections (f), (g) and (o), subsection relettering, and amendment of newly designated subsections (r) and (t) filed 3-5-2001; operative 3-5-2001 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4 (Register 2001, No. 10).
4. Amendment filed 10-31-2016; operative 10-31-2016 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4 (Register 2016, No. 45).
5. Amendment of section and NOTE filed 5-4-2020; operative 5-4-2020 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2020, No. 19).

Note: Authority cited: Section 25213, Public Resources Code; and Section 398.4, Public Utilities Code. Reference: Sections 25216 and 25216.5, Public Resources Code; and Sections 398.1, 398.2, 398.4 and 398.5, Public Utilities Code.

1. New section filed 9-21-98; operative 10-21-98 (Register 98, No. 39).
2. Change without regulatory effect amending subsection (q) filed 1-14-99 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 99, No. 3).
3. Amendment of subsection (a), repealer of subsection (a)(1), subsection renumbering, amendment of newly designated subsections (a)(1)-(2), new subsections (f), (g) and (o), subsection relettering, and amendment of newly designated subsections (r) and (t) filed 3-5-2001; operative 3-5-2001 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(Register 2001, No. 10).
4. Amendment filed 10-31-2016; operative 10/31/2016 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4 (Register 2016, No. 45).
5. Amendment of section and Note filed 5-4-2020; operative 5/4/2020 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2020, No. 19).