Article 6. Computer Models of California Public Utilities Code >> Division 1. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 9. >> Article 6.

As used in this article, the following definitions apply:
  (a) "Computer model" means a computer program.
  (b) "Operations model" means a computer model that replicates, lists, describes, or forecasts a public utility's internal functions, including, but not limited to, its accounting procedures, cash management procedures, personnel assignments and procedures, and inventory control.
  (c) "Planning model" means a computer model that replicates, lists, describes, or forecasts a public utility's complex functions, including, but not limited to, the forecasting of future loads and resources, calculating costs of electricity generation, producing financial statements, and calculating costs of natural gas production or supply.
  (d) "Public utility" includes every public utility and every business which is a commission regulated subsidiary or commission regulated affiliate of a public utility. "Public utility" does not include a common carrier or a telephone corporation whose service is determined to be competitive by the commission.
  (e) "Verify" means to assess the extent to which the computer model mimics reality.

(a) Any computer model that is the basis for any testimony or exhibit in a hearing or proceeding before the commission shall be available to, and subject to verification by, the commission and parties to the hearing or proceedings to the extent necessary for cross-examination or rebuttal, subject to applicable rules of evidence, except that verification is not required for any electricity demand model or forecast prepared by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission pursuant to Section 25309 or 25402.1 of the Public Resources Code and approved and adopted after a hearing during which testimony was offered subject to cross-examination. The commission shall afford each of these electricity demand models or forecasts the evidentiary weight it determines appropriate. Nothing in this subdivision requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to approve or adopt any electricity demand model or forecast.
  (b) Any testimony presented in a hearing or proceeding before the commission that is based in whole, or in part, on a computer model shall include a listing of all the equations and assumptions built into the model.
  (c) Any data base that is used for any testimony or exhibit in a hearing or proceeding before the commission shall be reasonably accessible to the commission staff and parties to the hearing or proceeding to the extent necessary for cross-examination or rebuttal, subject to applicable rules of evidence, as applied in commission proceedings.
  (d) The commission shall adopt rules and procedures to meet the requirements specified in subdivisions (a), (b), and (c). These rules shall include procedural safeguards that protect data bases and models not owned by the public utility.
  (e) The commission shall establish appropriate procedures for determining the appropriate level of compensation for a party's access.
  (f) Each party shall have access to the computer programs and models of each other party to the extent provided by Section 1822. The commission shall not require a utility to provide a remote terminal or other direct physical link to the computer systems of a utility to a third party.
  (g) The commission shall verify, validate, and review the computer models of any electric corporation that are used for the purpose of planning, operating, constructing, or maintaining the corporation's electricity transmission system, and that are the basis for testimony and exhibits in hearings and proceedings before the commission.
  (h) The transmission computer models shall be available to, and subject to verification by, each party to a commission proceeding in accordance with subdivision (a) of Section 1822, and regulations adopted pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 1822.