5. Immediate Need for Additional Consumer Protection

Some parties commented on the need for additional consumer protection oversight of the retail sale of electricity as a motor vehicle fuel. Currently, the sale of "motor fuel," as governed by the Bus. & Prof. Code, does not include the retail sale of electricity used for motor vehicle fuel. The Bus. & Prof. Code contains important consumer protection laws, including Bus. & Prof. Code
§§ 12300-12314 (Standards of Weights and Measures), §§ 12500-12517 (Weighing and Measuring Devices), §§ 16600-17365 (Preservation and Regulation of Competition), and §§ 17500-17930 (Representations to the Public).

Further amendments to the Bus. & Prof. Code may be appropriate. Such amendments would be consistent with the Legislature's action following the Commission's issuance of D.91-07-018. At that time, the Legislature promptly addressed consumer protection. Recognizing that compressed natural gas was not traditionally considered a "motor fuel" and that its use as such potentially created a gap in applicable consumer protection laws, the Assembly Committee on Utilities and Commerce drew attention to the need to classify compressed natural gas "as a `motor fuel' for purposes of the Bus. & Prof. Code to avoid creating an entity not subject to any consumer protections laws whatsoever." (Bus. & Prof. Code § 13404.)

This is an area that may require review by the Legislature to expand, if necessary, those protections governing "motor fuel" to include electricity.