FIRST U.S. SMARTGRID LAW

California enacts nation's first statewide smart grid law; PUC required to submit statewide plan by July 1
October 27, 2009 (Smart Grid Today)

"…[California’s SB 17] appears to be the first US state law requiring utility regulators plus every major utility in the state to develop a smart grid deployment plan…[It] requires California's [Public Utilities Commission, PUC] to create a statewide smart grid deployment plan by July 1…[and] work with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, the state's ISO “and other key stakeholders” to create that plan…

"The law requires every electric utility in the state with over 100,000 customers to develop its own a smart grid deployment plan by July 1, 2011. It allows, but does not require, other organizations to submit such plans…Every utility's plan has to conform to the plan created by the PUC [as overseen by the California Energy Commission]…The new law requires that the smart grid “improve overall efficiency, reliability and cost-effectiveness of electrical system operations, planning and maintenance.” It requires the PUC to report annually, starting Jan 1, 2011, to the governor and the legislature…"

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"Some finer points…[1] Authorizing smart grid technologies to be implemented incrementally to maximize benefit to power customers…[2] Letting the PUC adjust the law's requirements for “electrical corporations” (power companies) serving fewer than 100,000 customers…[3] It requires the PUC -- in consultation with the Energy Commission, the ISO and the power companies -- to evaluate the effects of deployments…[4] It requires smart grid technology to be implemented in a way that does not compromise [safety or reliability]… [5] It requires the PUC's rulemaking to adopt standards and protocols for functionality and interoperability developed by NIST, Gridwise Architectural Council, IEEE and NERC…

"The law's passage went virtually unnoticed by the local and national media…The smart grid law may simply have been eclipsed by a California law pertaining to renewable resources that was passed at about the same time, garnering press attention -- and because the California capital press corps has been decimated by closures and layoffs…"

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"…[M]ajor California utilities [Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric and Sacramento Municipal Utility District] expressed not having concerns about complying with the new law…[and do not expect to] have a problem meeting the requirements to be issued by the PUC July 1 or in submitting the deployment plan due by July 1, 2011…The law does not require or even let the PUC delay action on applications…

"The law acknowledges what is happening at the federal level -- inside NIST, for example…Action on the federal level includes NIST's smart grid interoperability roadmap work; FERC's ruling that smart grid tech investments made ahead of the adoption of standards are recoverable; FERC's DR action plan…and the Obama administration's devotion of stimulus money to smart grid product demonstration and deployment…"