71663.5
. (a) A district may provide, generate, and deliver electric
power, and may construct, operate, and maintain any and all works,
facilities, improvements, and property, or portion thereof, necessary
or convenient for that generation and delivery.
(b) The electric powerplant or plants and transmission lines
constructed pursuant to this section may be leased for operation. The
power generated shall be used by a district for its own purposes. A
district may sell surplus power to a public or private entity that is
engaged in the distribution or sale of electricity. For purposes of
this section, "for its own purposes" means a district performing only
functions in its capacity as a water district, including, but not be
limited to, any of the following:
(1) Pumping operations.
(2) Water treatment operations.
(3) Barrier intrusion operations.
(4) Desalination operations.
(c) Nothing in this section grants to a district the authority to
provide, sell, or deliver electric power at retail.
(d) A district may not acquire property employed in the generation
or delivery of electric power for public or private utility
purposes, except by mutual agreement between the district and the
owner of that property.
(e) (1) It is the intent of the Legislature, that each district
that has purchased electricity from an electrical corporation on or
after February 1, 2001, regardless of whether the district thereafter
generates its own electricity, bear a pro rata share of the
Department of Water Resources' electricity purchase costs, that are
recoverable from electrical corporation customers in
commission-approved rates. It is the further intent of the
Legislature to prevent any shifting of recoverable costs from
districts that generate their own electricity pursuant to this
section, to electrical corporation bundled customers.
(2) To the extent that any shifting of recoverable costs would
occur, in the determination of the commission, those costs shall be
recovered from districts that generate their own electricity,
pursuant to this section.
(3) The Legislature finds and declares that the revisions of this
subdivision are consistent with the requirements of Chapter 4 of the
Statutes of 2001, First Extraordinary Session, and do not constitute
a change in, but are declaratory of existing law.
(f) A district that generates its own electricity pursuant to this
section shall be responsible for paying the following:
(1) A charge equivalent to the charges that would otherwise be
imposed on the district by the commission to recover bond related
costs pursuant to any agreement between the commission and the
Department of Water Resources pursuant to Section 80110 of the Water
Code, which charges shall be payable until all obligations of the
Department of Water Resources pursuant to Division 27 (commencing
with Section 80000) of the Water Code are fully paid or otherwise
discharged. All bond charges are the property of the Department of
Water Resources.
(2) If a district generates new offsite power, it shall be
responsible for the additional costs of the Department of Water
Resources, equal to the share of the Department of Water Resources'
estimated net unavoidable electricity purchase contract costs
attributable to the district as determined by the commission, for the
period commencing with the district's initial generation of its
offsite electricity, through the expiration of all then existing
electricity purchase contracts entered into by the Department of
Water Resources.
(g) A district generating its own electricity pursuant to this
section shall reimburse the electrical corporation that previously
served the district for all of the following:
(1) The electrical corporation's unrecovered past undercollections
for electricity purchases, including any financing costs,
attributable to that district, that the commission lawfully
determines may be recovered in rates.
(2) Any additional costs of the electrical corporation recoverable
in commission approved rates, equal to the share of the electrical
corporation's estimated net unavoidable electricity purchase contract
costs attributable to the district, as determined by the commission,
for the period commencing with the district's initial generation of
electricity pursuant to this section, through the expiration of all
then existing electricity purchase contracts entered into by the
electrical corporation.
(h) (1) Any charges imposed pursuant to subdivision (f) shall be
the property of the Department of Water Resources. Any charges
imposed pursuant to subdivision (g) shall be the property of the
particular electrical corporation. The commission shall establish
sufficient mechanisms, including agreements with, or orders with
respect to, electrical corporations as are necessary to ensure that
charges payable pursuant to this section shall be promptly remitted
to the party entitled to the payment.
(2) Charges imposed pursuant to this section shall be
nonbypassable.
(i) Prior to implementing this section, the commission shall
submit a report certifying its satisfaction of the provisions of this
section to the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications
Committee, or its successor, and the Assembly Committee on Utilities
and Commerce, or its successor.