Section 1621 - General Provisions(a) Purpose. This article establishes electric load management standards pursuant to Section 25403.5 of the Public Resources Code. These standards establish cost-effective programs and rate structures which will encourage the use of electrical energy at off-peak hours and encourage the control of daily and seasonal peak loads to improve electric system equity, efficiency, and reliability, lessen or delay the need for new electrical capacity, and reduce fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, thereby lowering the long-term economic and environmental costs of meeting the State's electricity needs. These load management standards do not set rates. The standards instead require that entities subject to this article offer rates or programs structured according to the requirements established herein.(b) Application. Except as set forth below, each of the standards in this article applies to the following electric utilities: Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, San Diego Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Edison Company, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, and Sacramento Municipal Utility District. In addition, the standards set forth in subsections 1621 and 1623 of this article apply to any Large Community Choice Aggregators (CCA) operating within the service areas and receiving distribution services from the foregoing electric utilities. Large CCAs are not subject to subsections 1622, 1624, and 1625 of this article. Section 1621 subsections (d)-(g) and Section 1623 subsections (a), (b) and (d) do not apply to either the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District or to the Large CCAs. The standards set forth in Section 1623.1 apply to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District and to the Large CCAs. The Commission has found these standards to be technologically feasible and cost-effective when compared with the costs for new electrical capacity for the above-named electric utilities, and Large CCAs operating within the service areas of such electric utilities.(c) Definitions. In this article, the following definitions apply: (1) "Building type" means the classification of a non-residential building in accordance with California Code of Regulations, Title 24, Part 2, Chapter 3 of the California Building Code.(2) "Community choice aggregators" or "CCAs" means entities as defined in Public Utilities Code section 331.1.(3) "Central air conditioner" means any residential electric air conditioner which delivers cooled air through ducts to rooms.(4) "Commercial customers" means those customers of a utility or CCA who run any business described in Standard Industrial Classification Groups 40 through 86, and 89 through 99, and which do not treat sewage or manufacture goods or provide other process-oriented services.(A) "Large commercial customers" are those businesses whose demand for electricity equals or exceeds 500 kilowatts.(B) "Small commercial customers" are those businesses whose demand for electricity is less than 500 kilowatts.(5) "Conditioned Space" means an enclosed space within a building that is directly conditioned or indirectly conditioned, consistent with California Code of Regulations, Title 24, Part 6, section 100.1(b).(6) "Customer class" means a broad group of customers used for rate design. Customer classes include but are not limited to residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural, but does not include street lighting. "Customer" or "customers" mean a customer or customers of a utility or Large CCA within a customer class.(7) "Greenhouse gas" or "GHG" has the same meaning as in California Code of Regulations, Title 17, section 95802.(8) "Large Investor-Owned Utilities" and "Large IOUs" mean the San Diego Gas and Electric Company, the Southern California Edison Company, and the Pacific Gas and Electric Company.(9) "Large Publicly-Owned Utilities" and "Large POUs" mean the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District.(10) "Large Community Choice Aggregators" and "Large CCAs" mean the Clean Power Alliance of Southern California, East Bay Community Energy, Marin Clean Energy, Central Coast Community Energy, Silicon Valley Clean Energy Authority, San Jose Clean Energy, Peninsula Clean Energy Authority, Clean Power SF, Sonoma Clean Power Authority, San Diego Community Power, Pioneer Community Energy, Valley Clean Energy, and any community choice aggregator that provides in excess of 700 GWh of electricity to customers in any calendar year. For community choice aggregators that become subject to these regulations after their effective date, the effective date of their compliance obligations shall be April 1 of the year after they exceed the 700 GWh threshold.(11) "Load management tariff" means a tariff with time-dependent values that vary according to the time of day to encourage off-peak electricity use and reductions in peak electricity use.(12) "Marginal cost" or "locational marginal cost" means the change in current and future electric system cost that is caused by a change in electricity supply and demand during a specified time interval at a specified location.(13) "Rate Identification Number" or "RIN" means the unique identifier established by the Commission for an electricity rate.(14) "Rate-approving body" means the California Public Utilities Commission in the case of investor-owned utilities, or the governing body of CCAs or publicly owned utilities. For purposes of this article, the Board of Water and Power Commissioners of the City of Los Angeles is the rate-approving body for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.(15) "Residential" means any family dwelling within the utility's or CCA's service area which uses electricity for noncommercial purposes as defined in the utility's or CCA's terms and conditions of service.(16) "Service area" means any contiguous geographic area serviced by the same electric utility or CCA.(17) "Tariff" means a pricing schedule or rate plan that a utility or CCA offers to their customers specifying the components of the customer's electricity bill.(18) "Time-dependent rate" means a rate that can vary depending on the time of day to encourage off-peak electricity use and reductions in peak electricity use. Time-of-use, hourly, and sub-hourly rates are time-dependent rates.(19) "Time-of-use rate" means a rate with predefined prices that vary according to the time of day, the season, and/or the day type (weekday, weekend, or holiday).(20) "Utility" means those electric utilities to which the sections of this article apply, as specified in subsection (b).(21) "Water heater" means any residential electric water heater except those which provide hot water to heat space or those which operate within electric dishwashers.(d) Large IOU Plans to Comply with Load Management Standards (1) Each Large IOU shall submit a plan to comply with Sections 1621 and 1623 of this article to the Executive Director no later than six (6) months after April 1, 2023.(2) The Executive Director shall review the plans and either return them to the Large IOU for revision or submit them to the Commission for review and potential approval. The Executive Director may recommend, and the Commission may approve, a submittal on condition that the Large IOU make specified changes or additions to the submittal, within a reasonable period of time set by the Commission. A conditionally-approved plan shall not become effective until the Large IOU makes the specified changes or additions to the submittal under review. The Commission shall approve submittals which are consistent with these regulations and which show a good faith effort to plan to meet program goals for the standards. In reviewing a plan, the Executive Director and the Commission may request additional information consistent with Sections 1621 and 1623.(3) All proposed plan revisions must be submitted to the Executive Director for review. The Executive Director may approve plan revisions that do not affect compliance with the requirements of Sections 1621 or 1623. The Executive Director shall submit all other plan revisions to the Commission for approval.(4) Large IOUs shall submit to the Executive Director annual reports demonstrating their implementation of plans approved pursuant to this section. The reports shall be submitted one year after plans are approved pursuant to subsection (2) and annually thereafter.(e) Exemptions, Delays, or Modifications(1) Large IOUs may apply to the Executive Director for an exemption from the requirements of Sections 1621 and 1623 of this article, to delay compliance with its requirements, or to modify a load management standard compliance plan. The Commission may, by resolution, order a Large IOU to modify its approved load management standard plan. Upon such order by the Commission, a Large IOU shall submit an application to modify its plan within 90 days of the Commission's order.(2) Applications for exemptions or delays shall set forth the requested period during which the exemption or delay would apply and indicate when the Large IOU reasonably believes the exemption or delay will no longer be needed. The application further shall demonstrate one or more of the following: (A) that despite a Large IOU's good faith efforts to comply, requiring timely compliance with the requirements of this article would result in extreme hardship to the Large IOU,(B) requiring timely compliance with the requirements of this article would result in reduced system reliability (e.g., equity or safety) or efficiency, or(C) requiring timely compliance with the requirements of this article would not be technologically feasible or cost-effective for the Large IOU to implement. Applications for exemptions or delays may be supported by proposing pilot programs that demonstrate how and when a Large IOU will come into compliance with the requirements of this article.(3) Applications for modifications shall demonstrate that despite the Large IOU's good faith efforts to implement its load management standard plan, the plan must be modified to provide a more technologically feasible, equitable, safe or cost-effective way to achieve the requirements of this article or the plan's goals.(4) The Executive Director shall review applications for exemptions, delays, and modifications and make an initial determination of whether an application demonstrates the requirements of either subsection (2) or (3) above. The Executive Director shall then submit the application to the Commission with a recommendation of whether to approve or reject the application based on their initial determination. In reviewing these applications, the Executive Director and the Commission may request additional information or revisions of the application from a Large IOU consistent with Sections 1621 and 1623. If a Large IOU fails to provide information or revisions by a deadline established by the Executive Director or the Commission, the Commission may deny the application on that basis. The Commission may place conditions on its approval of plans or material plan revisions that are necessary to guarantee that the plan or plan revision will comply with Section 1621 and 1623 by a date certain.(f) Enforcement. The Executive Director may, after reviewing the matter with the Large IOU, file a complaint with the Commission following the process set forth in Sections 1233.1 to 1233.4 or seek injunctive relief if a Large IOU:(1) Fails to adhere to its approved or conditionally approved load management standard plan,(2) Modifies its approved load management standard plan without approval,(3) Does not provide information by a deadline established by the Executive Director or the Commission, or(4) Violates the provisions of this article.(g) Recovery of Program Costs In its rate applications, each Large IOU shall seek to recover the full costs associated with conducting each program required by this article from the class of customers which the program most directly affects. The Large IOU shall not be required to commence implementation of any program required by this article until the Large IOU's rate-approving body has approved the tariffs which are a part of any such program and a method for recovering the costs of the program. This does not affect any obligations Large IOUs have under Section 1623(b).
Cal. Code Regs. Tit. 20, § 1621
1. New Article 5 (Sections 1621-1625) filed 6-8-79; effective thirtieth day thereafter (Register 79, No. 23).
2. Amendment of subsections (a), (b), (c)(9), (d) and (h)(3); new subsection (c)(10); and repealer of former subsection (j) filed 8-13-82; effective thirtieth day thereafter (Register 82, No. 33).
3. Amendment of section and NOTE filed 1-20-2023; operative 4-1-2023 (Register 2023, No. 3). Note: Authority cited: Sections 25213, 25218(e) and 25403.5, Public Resources Code. Reference: Sections 25132 and 25403.5, Public Resources Code.
1. New Article 5 (Sections 1621-1625) filed 6-8-79; effective thirtieth day thereafter (Register 79, No. 23).
2. Amendment of subsections (a), (b), (c)(9), (d) and (h)(3); new subsection (c)(10); and repealer of former subsection (j) filed 8-13-82; effective thirtieth day thereafter (Register 82, No. 33).