ALJ/DMG/jt2 Date of Issuance 3/27/2012
BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
Order Instituting Rulemaking to Integrate and Refine Procurement Policies and Consider Long-Term Procurement Plans. |
FILED PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION MARCH 22, 2012 SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA RULEMAKING 12-03-014 |
ORDER INSTITUTING RULEMAKING
1. Summary
We open this rulemaking to continue our efforts to ensure a reliable and cost-effective electricity supply in California through integration and refinement of a comprehensive set of procurement policies, practices and procedures underlying long-term procurement plans. This is the forum in which we shall consider the Commission's electric resource procurement policies and programs and how to implement them.
In this proceeding, we shall consider the unresolved issues in Track I of Rulemaking (R.) 10-05-006 related to the overall long-term need for new system and local reliability resources, including adoption of system resource plans and assessment of long-term local area reliability needs.1 These resource plans will allow the Commission to comprehensively consider the impacts of state energy policies on the need for new resources. Based on these system resource plans, we shall consider updates to the utilities' bundled procurement plans.
We shall also consider a number of rule and policy issues related to electric utilities' procurement practices. These issues include those that were unresolved in Track III of R.10-05-006, and other emerging procurement policy topics.
All resource and procurement planning in this proceeding will be done in the context of the Energy Action Plan II (EAP II)2 and other state energy policies, such as AB 32 greenhouse gas,3 and once-through-cooling policies.4
1 We define "system" as pertaining to the loads and resources in each investor-owned utilities' (IOUs') service area. "Service area" generally corresponds to the IOUs' respective distribution service territories, inclusive of bundled, direct access, and community choice aggregator loads, but exclusive of embedded publicly-owned utility loads. To distinguish filings related to system reliability needs from bundled Assembly Bill (AB) 57 procurement plans, we will refer to these as "resource plans."
2 EAP I was issued jointly on May 8, 2003, by the Commission, the California Energy Commission (CEC) and the California Consumer Power and Conservation Financing Authority. EAP I was updated with the adoption of EAP II, as a joint policy plan of the California Public Utilities Commission and the CEC, in October 2005.
3 Stats. 2006, Chapter 488.
4 Statewide Water Quality Control Policy on the Use of Coastal and Estuarine Waters Used for Power Plant Cooling.
