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. (a) "Public utility" includes every common carrier, toll
bridge corporation, pipeline corporation, gas corporation, electrical
corporation, telephone corporation, telegraph corporation, water
corporation, sewer system corporation, and heat corporation, where
the service is performed for, or the commodity is delivered to, the
public or any portion thereof.
(b) Whenever any common carrier, toll bridge corporation, pipeline
corporation, gas corporation, electrical corporation, telephone
corporation, telegraph corporation, water corporation, sewer system
corporation, or heat corporation performs a service for, or delivers
a commodity to, the public or any portion thereof for which any
compensation or payment whatsoever is received, that common carrier,
toll bridge corporation, pipeline corporation, gas corporation,
electrical corporation, telephone corporation, telegraph corporation,
water corporation, sewer system corporation, or heat corporation, is
a public utility subject to the jurisdiction, control, and
regulation of the commission and the provisions of this part.
(c) When any person or corporation performs any service for, or
delivers any commodity to, any person, private corporation,
municipality, or other political subdivision of the state, that in
turn either directly or indirectly, mediately or immediately,
performs that service for, or delivers that commodity to, the public
or any portion thereof, that person or corporation is a public
utility subject to the jurisdiction, control, and regulation of the
commission and the provisions of this part.
(d) Ownership or operation of a facility that employs cogeneration
technology or produces power from other than a conventional power
source or the ownership or operation of a facility which employs
landfill gas technology does not make a corporation or person a
public utility within the meaning of this section solely because of
the ownership or operation of that facility.
(e) Any corporation or person engaged directly or indirectly in
developing, producing, transmitting, distributing, delivering, or
selling any form of heat derived from geothermal or solar resources
or from cogeneration technology to any privately owned or publicly
owned public utility, or to the public or any portion thereof, is not
a public utility within the meaning of this section solely by reason
of engaging in any of those activities.
(f) The ownership or operation of a facility that sells compressed
natural gas or hydrogen at retail to the public for use only as a
motor vehicle fuel, and the selling of compressed natural gas or
hydrogen at retail from that facility to the public for use only as a
motor vehicle fuel, does not make the corporation or person a public
utility within the meaning of this section solely because of that
ownership, operation, or sale.
(g) Ownership or operation of a facility that is an exempt
wholesale generator, as defined in the Public Utility Holding Company
Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 16451(6)), does not make a corporation
or person a public utility within the meaning of this section, solely
due to the ownership or operation of that facility.
(h) The ownership, control, operation, or management of an
electric plant used for direct transactions or participation directly
or indirectly in direct transactions, as permitted by subdivision
(b) of Section 365, sales into a market established and operated by
the Independent System Operator or any other wholesale electricity
market, or the use or sale as permitted under subdivisions (b) to
(d), inclusive, of Section 218, shall not make a corporation or
person a public utility within the meaning of this section solely
because of that ownership, participation, or sale.
(i) The ownership, control, operation, or management of a facility
that supplies electricity to the public only for use to charge light
duty plug-in electric vehicles does not make the corporation or
person a public utility within the meaning of this section solely
because of that ownership, control, operation, or management. For
purposes of this subdivision, "light duty plug-in electric vehicles"
includes light duty battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric
vehicles. This subdivision does not affect the commission's authority
under Section 454 or 740.2 or any other applicable statute.