ALJ/LTC/tcg DRAFT Agenda ID #3367
Ratesetting
4/1/04 Item 33
BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
Order Instituting Rulemaking to Promote Policy and Program Coordination and Integration in Electric Utility Resource Planning. |
R.__________ |
ORDER INSTITUTING RULEMAKING
I. Summary
We open this rulemaking to continue our ongoing efforts to promote policy and program coordination and integration in electric utility resource planning. As the successor to Rulemaking (R.) 01-10-024,1 this proceeding will be the forum in which we consider, in a coordinated and integrated fashion, the key policies and programs which underlie our review of the investor owned utilities' (IOUs) long-term procurement plans.
In this proceeding, the three major electric IOUs, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), Southern California Edison Company (Edison), and San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E), hereinafter referred to collectively as "utilities" or "respondents," will submit their long-term procurement policies and plans for review and approval. As a starting point, our review of these plans will be guided by the statewide Energy Action Plan (EAP) adopted in 2003 by this Commission, the California Energy Commission (CEC) and the California Consumer Power and Conservation Financing Authority (CPA).2 Our overarching goal in this proceeding, as in the EAP, is to take all necessary steps to "ensure that adequate, reliable, and reasonably-priced electrical power and natural gas3 supplies, including prudent reserves, are achieved and provided through policies, strategies, and actions that are cost-effective and environmentally sound for California's consumers and taxpayers." (Energy Action Plan, p. 2.)
In addition, we will use this proceeding to formally coordinate our consideration of these long-term plans with other efforts ongoing in the following dockets:
1. Community Choice Aggregation, R.03-10-003;
2. Demand Response, R.02-06-001;
3. Distributed Generation R.04-03-017;
4. Energy Efficiency, R.01-08-028;
5. Avoided Cost and Qualifying Facility (QF) Pricing (rulemaking to be issued shortly);
6. Renewable Portfolio Standards (new rulemaking to be issued shortly);
7. Transmission Assessment Process, R.04-01-026, and
8. Transmission Planning, I.00-11-001.
The eight proceedings listed above are, to one extent or another, resource specific in their focus on program details, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and associated matters. As discussed in more detail below, our use of this proceeding as a "case management umbrella" is designed to ensure policy consistency, cohesiveness, and overall coordinated review of the long-term procurement plans in conjunction with these related working dockets.
We invite the participation of all parties who are interested in these efforts, including those who have actively participated in R.01-10-024. This will be an interagency undertaking as well, and as more thoroughly discussed below, we invite the CEC and the CPA to join with this Commission as it considers the long-term plans, including underlying resource adequacy and incentives issues. We will also work cooperatively with the California Independent System Operator (ISO) in this proceeding.
1 Order Instituting Rulemaking to Establish Policies and Cost Recovery Mechanisms for Generation Procurement and Renewable Resource Development, issued October 29, 2001. 2 Energy Action Plan, adopted April 18, 2003 by the CPA; April 30, 2003 by the CEC; and May 8, 2003 by the CPUC. A copy of the Energy Action Plan is available at www.cpuc.ca.gov/static/industry/electric/energy+action+plan/index.htm. 3 This proceeding will not address natural gas supply issues which are the subject of another proceeding, R.04-01-025, issued January 22, 2004. However, the Commission will closely coordinate this OIR and R.04-01-025. In particular, we recognize that our consideration of procurement incentives in this rulemaking will need to be closely coordinated with our consideration of new rulemaking policies for natural gas procurement.
