II. Background
Decision (D.) 03-06-0712 addressed the initial proposals of the parties regarding the adoption of standard contract terms and conditions. (Id. pp. 54-58.) In that Decision, the Commission granted the request of CEERT and Southern California Edison (SCE) to allow and encourage further negotiation among the parties, in the hope that the parties could resolve this issue amongst themselves. As we stated at that time, "[T]he type and level of detail that is required for fully developing standard terms and conditions is something that falls better within the ability of the parties to determine, rather than the Commission." (Id. p. 56.)
Nevertheless, despite workshops conducted by the Commission's Energy Division in September 2003 in an effort to facilitate negotiations, the parties could not reach agreement. Accordingly, the assigned Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) issued a ruling in October 2003 setting forth a procedure for the Commission's adoption of standard contract terms and conditions.3 In response to the Ruling, parties submitted briefs in November and December 2003, identifying which terms and conditions should be standardized. Subsequently, the March 8, 2004 Joint Ruling modified and streamlined the process set forth in the ALJ Ruling. Parties submitted briefs recommending specific contract language in March and April 2004. Opening Briefs were received from the CEERT Parties, Green Power Institute (Green Power), Southern California Edison (SCE), Ridgewood Olinda (Ridgewood), Powerex Corp., and the CalWEA Parties (consisting of the California Wind Energy Association (CalWEA), the California Biomass Energy Alliance (CBEA), and Vulcan Power Company (Vulcan)); Reply Briefs were filed by the CEERT Parties, the CalWEA Parties, Green Power, SCE, Ridgewood, the Commission's Office of Ratepayers Advocates, and Calpine Corporation. A Settlement Conference was held on April 21, 2004, but the parties remained unable to reach agreement. We now order the adoption of standard contract terms and conditions as described below.
Pub. Util. Code § 399.14(b) requires the Commission to approve the renewable procurement plans of the utilities prior to commencement of renewable procurement by the utilities. The parties have expressed some disagreement or confusion as to the meaning of this code section. This decision resolves that dispute.
The OIR opening this proceeding described the APT, which is the amount of renewable generation a utility must procure each year in order to meet the requirements of the RPS statute. The OIR also described the method for calculating the APT, and set forth APT numbers for 2004, based on 2003 sales figures as reported by the three major utilities.
In their comments on the OIR, a number of parties expressed concern about the choice and calculation of the APT numbers and the corresponding baseline. We reiterate the distinction made in the OIR between the baseline or existing amount of renewable generation, and the Incremental Procurement Target (IPT), which represents the additional amount of renewable procurement the utility must accomplish to satisfy its annual RPS obligations. These two elements together - the baseline and the IPT - represent the Annual Procurement Target for the utility. This decision clarifies our approach to calculation of the APT and baseline numbers.
