8660 Public Utilities Commission
Program Descriptions

10 - REGULATION OF UTILITIES

Californians spend more than $47 billion annually for services from industries regulated by the PUC. This includes 6 electricity utilities (80 percent of electric load in California), 913 telecommunications carriers, 134 water and sewer utilities, 5 natural gas utilities, 4 gas storage facilities, and over 3,170 small mobile home park and propane operators. The PUC oversees the safety of electric, communications, natural gas, and propane gas utility systems. The PUC also performs operation and maintenance audits, outage inspections, and investigations of incidents at electric generation facilities.

The PUC has endeavored to develop a culture of safety across the utility spectrum. Safety functions include both backward-looking investigation and analysis of safety incidents and utility performance, and forward-looking risk assessment to identify necessary regulatory rule reform. These functions are performed in a context that ensures limited ratepayer funds are directed at the most critical public safety challenges.

The PUC regulates natural gas utility service for approximately 10.8 million customers, and also regulates independent gas storage operators. Natural gas utility regulation encompasses regulating natural gas rates and services, including in-state transportation over the utilities' transmission and distribution pipeline systems, storage, procurement, metering, and billing.

Approximately seventy energy programs are in place to help consumers, the economy, and the environment. A core PUC responsibility is the triennial review of the utility operations to determine just and reasonable rates for energy services. The PUC provides guidelines for investor-owned utilities (IOUs) and other load-serving entities to follow when purchasing electricity on behalf of their 11.5 million customers to ensure that sufficient amounts of electricity are procured when and where needed in the state.

Environmental protection and the impact of climate change are critical factors in PUC regulation and promotion of ratepayer-funded energy efficiency programs, the state's mandated renewable energy programs, and other clean energy programs. Groundbreaking energy efficiency helps meet the state's environmental goals and can result in ratepayer savings by eliminating the need to build new power plants, transmission lines, or purchase electricity from merchant generators. The PUC has implemented aggressive renewable energy goals, and maintains the most ambitious renewable energy standards in the country. Renewable energy regulation requires IOUs, electric service providers, and community choice aggregators to increase purchases of electricity from eligible renewable energy resources to 33 percent of total purchased electricity by 2020. The PUC conducts and manages environmental reviews pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for transmission, telecommunications, and other infrastructure projects.

The PUC oversees state regulation programs for low-income ratepayers, including programs providing rate discounts, financial assistance with energy bills, and the Energy Savings Assistance Program, which provides no-cost weatherization services to customers who meet low-income eligibility criteria.

The PUC develops and implements policies for the rapidly changing communications and broadband markets, including ensuring fair, affordable universal access to necessary telecommunication services, and removing barriers to a fully competitive market. Critical components of the PUC's work on behalf of California consumers in a rapidly changing telecommunications environment include the following: enforcing customer service standards for telecommunication services; regulating basic and rural telecommunication rates; assisting consumers in managing their service in a competitive market; and protecting consumers against telecommunications fraud.

The PUC promotes widespread access to the most advanced video technology, develops programs to bridge the 'digital divide,' ensures a fair and level playing field for market participants, works with local governments to resolve complaints related to their role in directly regulating video franchises, and ensures video franchise compliance with all applicable consumer protection laws.

The PUC is responsible for ensuring that California's investor-owned water utilities deliver clean, safe, and reliable water to their customers at reasonable rates. The PUC's water utility work includes investigating water and sewer service quality, promoting water conservation and metering, improving low-income programs, analyzing and processing rate change requests, and tracking and certifying compliance with PUC requirements.

The PUC reaches out to consumers to assist with utility issues and to encourage interest and participation in PUC proceedings. To better engage and assist consumers, the PUC's outreach actions include varied public hearings, meetings, and workshops on varied utility-centered issues, such as managing energy bills, small business utility contracting and procurement, and consumer participation in formal proceedings such as rate change requests by utilities. The Public Advisor's Office provides procedural information, advice, and assistance to individuals and groups interested in participating in PUC proceedings. The Consumer Affairs Branch maintains a call center to respond to questions regarding utility service and bills, and conduct dispute and problem resolution. A Supplier Diversity program promotes and monitors supplier diversity in procurement by utilities and oversees a certification clearinghouse.