Electrical corporations: rates: smart meter infrastructure: dynamic rate option.

New requirement that load-serving entities provide adequate electricity bill comparison information to residential and small business customers considering dynamic rate tariffs, so they understand potential price risks before enrolling.

New requirement for rules or mechanisms ensuring nonparticipating customers do not pay for wholesale energy resources associated with designing the generation portion of the dynamic rate tariff.

Customer data access requirement broadened from 'through a secure application program interface' to 'through a method that is secure, automated, and provides data in a standardized machine-readable format,' giving utilities more flexibility in how they provide data while maintaining security and interoperability standards.

New requirement that the commission establish rules for customer data management to ensure fairness among onsite energy management service providers, develop cybersecurity and privacy standards applicable to all providers, and ensure compliance with Public Utilities Code Sections 8380 and 8381.

The time-varying distribution rate component now requires the commission to determine it is not only feasible but also 'cost effective, and equitable for all customers' before requiring its inclusion.

New requirement that the commission establish rules or conditions for participation by vulnerable residential customers (including those on low-income rates under Sections 739(c), 739.1, and 739.12) to ensure adequate protection.

Customer usage data sharing with a load-serving entity now requires that the customer has authorized the sharing (previously no authorization requirement was stated).

The commission's periodic evaluation of cost shifting and review of customer adoption data must now occur at least every four years (previously no minimum frequency was specified). The commission is also explicitly required to adjust or modify any dynamic rate tariff found to create cost shifting from nonparticipating to participating customers.

The commission's role regarding smart meter upgrade cost recovery changed from a prohibition ('shall not approve... unless conditions are met') to a review framework ('in reviewing a request... shall ensure all of the following conditions are met'), shifting from a gatekeeping function to an ongoing oversight function.

The wireless communications requirement for smart meters was narrowed from any 'wireless communications functionality' to specifically 'wireless communications with near real-time data transmission functionality,' and customer access is now described as 'near real-time energy usage data.'

The fallback rate option language changed from 'flat or time-of-use rate' to 'their standard service,' broadening the concept of what non-dynamic customers retain.

The trigger for the dynamic rate tariff requirement was clarified: upgrades must be 'relative to infrastructure in place on January 1, 2026' rather than simply occurring 'on or after January 1, 2027,' establishing a baseline for what constitutes an upgrade.

Legislative finding (2) about lowering electricity bills being critical to business competitiveness and household cost pressures was removed, along with intent provision (2) about ensuring any customer paying for smart meter costs has access to a dynamic rate tariff.

The deadline for utilities to offer the dynamic rate tariff option was extended from 'no later than when the upgraded smart meter infrastructure is anticipated to be placed into service and its costs being recoverable in rates' to 'no later than one year after the upgraded smart meter infrastructure is anticipated to be placed into service,' giving utilities an additional year.

The entire 'energy subscription option' concept was removed, including its definition (a fixed quantity of electricity at a fixed rate to hedge retail price risks) and the requirement that associated costs be tracked and managed separately to prevent cost shifts to nonparticipating customers.

The requirement for the commission to delineate geographic areas 'in consultation with the Independent System Operator' was removed; the commission now determines feasibility on its own without the ISO consultation mandate.

The legislative findings and intent section removed the specific reference to PG&E, Southern California Edison, and San Diego Gas and Electric Company, and removed the finding about grid transformation supporting decarbonization goals, making the bill's stated purpose more general.

The requirement for utilities to make 'time-varying transmission and distribution rates' available to bundled and unbundled customers was narrowed to only 'time-varying distribution rates,' removing the transmission rate component from the mandate.

A new cybersecurity requirement was added: large electrical corporations must incorporate cybersecurity features into their smart meter infrastructure to prevent unnecessary cybersecurity risks to customers and the grid.

The commission is now required to ensure compliance with the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (Civil Code Section 1798.100 et seq.) in its rules for customer data management, in addition to existing Public Utilities Code sections 8380 and 8381.

The data access requirement was simplified from requiring customers be able to access near real-time energy usage data 'directly from the meter via a customer-owned device as that data is generated' to simply requiring the corporation to 'provide a customer their own near real-time energy usage data directly from the smart meter,' removing the customer-owned device specification.

A new provision allows eligible customer-generators to elect service under a dynamic rate option as an alternative to the rate established under Section 2827 or 2827.1, with a prohibition on concurrent participation in both.

The definition of 'Qualified third-party provider' (requiring NIST cybersecurity certification and compliance with commission-established privacy requirements) was removed, along with the specific anti-favoring provision that prohibited utilities from favoring their own program administrator over a qualified third-party service provider.

The trigger for requiring a dynamic rate option is narrowed: the commission now only needs to approve an upgrade to 'smart meter infrastructure' rather than 'smart meter infrastructure and related information management and billing systems.'

A new legislative finding acknowledges that a significant number of customers take generation service from load-serving entities that are not large electrical corporations, broadening the policy context beyond just large ECs.

A new legislative intent requires each large electrical corporation to provide customer usage data to load-serving entities on a timeline comparable to its own billing and operational processing timeline.

Customer usage data must now be provided to load-serving entities no later than 24 hours after meter measurement, and in a manner consistent with commission rules under Section 366.2.

Near real-time energy usage data must be delivered to a standards-compliant device or service selected by the customer at no additional charge to either the customer or the qualified third-party provider of that device or service.

The responsibility for providing adequate electricity bill comparison information to residential and small business customers is shifted from load-serving entities to the large electrical corporation, while subsection (e) separately requires load-serving entities to also provide bill comparison or price risk information to their own customers.

The commission's data management rules must now be consistent with the California Consumer Privacy Act and its implementing regulations, and must ensure 'fairness and nondiscrimination' (adding nondiscrimination) among onsite energy management service providers. Reference to Section 8381 is removed.

The formal term 'optional dynamic rate tariff option' is replaced throughout with 'dynamic rate option,' removing both 'tariff' and 'optional' from the defined term.

The deadline for large electrical corporations to offer at least one dynamic rate option was extended from one year to 18 months after upgraded smart meter infrastructure is placed into service.

The requirement changed from offering dynamic rate options to 'all its customers' to only 'all its customers eligible customer segments,' narrowing which customer groups must be offered the option.

New language allows the commission to discontinue a dynamic rate option if it later finds the option does not provide expected benefits and does not further the policy goals in Section 8360, giving regulators an explicit exit mechanism.

In the cost-shifting evaluation provision, the commission's options were expanded from 'adjust or modify' a dynamic rate option to 'adjust, modify, or discontinue,' adding discontinuation as a possible remedy for cost shifting.

The rule on third-party provider charges was changed: previously no additional charge was allowed to either the customer or the qualified third-party provider; now the commission may determine whether charges apply to the third-party provider, potentially allowing fees to be passed to device or service providers.

Responsibility for providing electricity bill comparison information to residential and small business customers interested in dynamic rates was shifted from load-serving entities (third-party energy suppliers) to the large electrical corporation itself.

Subsection (d)(1) changed 'time-varying delivery rates' to 'time-varying transmission and distribution rates,' broadening the scope of rates that must be made equally available to both bundled and unbundled customers in the same geographic area.

New subparagraph (d)(3)(D) requires the commission to periodically review any asymmetrical effect on vulnerable residential customers, including those served through low-income rates under Sections 739(c), 739.1, or 739.2, as part of its cost-shifting analysis.

Subsection (c)(2) changed from 'shall provide a customer with access' to 'shall continue to provide a customer with the ability to access,' emphasizing an ongoing obligation for real-time data access via customer-owned devices.

Subsection (c)(4)(A) was restructured to clarify that customers get access to energy usage data 'as that data is generated by the electrical corporation's metering infrastructure' and that the secure API 'shall also allow' third-party authorization, making the requirement more explicit.

Subsection (d)(4) changed 'subscription option' to 'energy subscription option' in two places to align with the defined term in subsection (g).

Subsection (a)(1) contains a drafting error: 'the commission shall ensure that require the large electrical corporation shall to offer' appears to be a garbled edit combining two versions of the sentence.