Assembly BillFailedPublic Utilities
AB 388: Electricity.
What AB 388 does, verified February 3, 2026
The bill aims to revise the definition of an electrical corporation to exclude certain solar and wind generating technology. It requires private electric lines to be subject to general orders and wildfire mitigation plans if located in high fire threat districts. The commission is tasked with evaluating and establishing a tariff for qualified self-generation projects with a generating capacity exceeding 80,000 kilowatts. The tariff would require the commission to structure rates for qualified self-generation projects to administer the purchase and resale of electricity from generation and energy storage facilities solely at cost. The bill also requires customers to meet specific requirements to be considered a qualified self-generation project and excludes customer load supplied to these projects from procurement requirements for electrical corporations.
Bill journey
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Last action: From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. (2026-02-02)Alert me
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| Feb. 02, 2026 | From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. |
| Jan. 31, 2026 | Died pursuant to Art. IV, Sec. 10(c) of the Constitution. |
| May. 23, 2025 | In committee: Held under submission. |
| May. 14, 2025 | In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to suspense file. |
| May. 01, 2025 | From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 18. Noes 0.) (April 30). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. |
Latest bill textAmended version, March 25, 2025 · 2,504 words
| Amended IN Assembly March 25, 2025 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 388
| Introduced by Assembly Member Rogers |
February 03, 2025 |
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 388, as amended, Rogers. Electrical corporations and gas corporations. Electricity.
The Public Utilities Act vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. The act defines “electrical corporation” to include every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any electric plant for compensation within this state, except as specified. The act authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable.
This bill would revise the definition of “electrical corporation” to exclude a corporation or person employing certain solar or wind generating technology if electricity is transmitted exclusively and directly through private electrical lines to a single facility owned by a different corporation or person that uses the electricity only for new load, not for departing load, and for an electrolytic hydrogen production facility, as defined, or a facility using the electricity to provide industrial process heat, or both.
This bill would require private electric lines located on property other than the property on which a single electrolytic hydrogen production facility or industrial process heat facility or solar or wind generating technology is located to be subject to all applicable General Orders, as determined by the commission, except as provided, and would require corporations or persons employing private electric lines that are subject to those requirements to file wildfire mitigation plans if any part of the private electric lines are located in high fire threat districts, as specified.
This bill would require the commission, on or before July 1, 2027, in a new or existing proceeding, to evaluate and, if just and reasonable, establish a tariff for qualified self-generation projects with a generating capacity exceeding 80,000 kilowatts. The bill would require the commission to structure the tariff so that an electrical corporation serves as an intermediary between the electrical generation and energy storage facilities providing the electricity and the qualified self-generation project. The bill would require the commission to structure rates for qualified self-generation projects to administer the purchase and resale of the electricity from the electrical generation and energy storage facilities solely at cost, as specified. The bill would also require a customer to meet various requirements to be considered a qualified self-generation project, including, among other requirements, that the customer uses electricity from specified sources and the electricity is transmitted exclusively and directly through private electric lines to the customer’s facility. The bill would require any cost associated with the tariff to be paid solely by participating customers such that nonparticipating customers bear no additional costs, and would require private electric lines located on property other than the property on which a single electrolytic hydrogen production facility or industrial process heat facility or solar or wind generating technology is located to be subject to all applicable General Orders, as determined by the commission, except as provided. The bill would also require customer load supplied to qualified self-generation projects under the tariff to be excluded for purposes of calculating procurement requirements for electrical corporations, as specified.
Under existing law, a violation of the act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of a commission action implementing the bill’s requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations.
This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation relating to the oversight of electrical corporations and gas corporations.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 218 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:218.
(a) “Electrical corporation” includes every corporation or person owning, controlling, operating, or managing any electric plant for compensation within this state, except where electricity is generated on or distributed by the producer through private property solely for its own use or the use of its tenants and not for sale or transmission to others.(b) “Electrical corporation” does not include a corporation or person employing cogeneration technology or producing power from other than a conventional power source for the generation of electricity solely for any one or more of the following purposes:
(1) Its own use or the use of its tenants.
(2) The use of or sale to not more than two other corporations or persons solely for use on the real property on which the electricity is generated or on real property immediately adjacent thereto, unless there is an intervening public street constituting the boundary between the real property on which the electricity is generated and the immediately adjacent property and one or more of the following applies:
(A) The real property on which the electricity is generated and the immediately adjacent real property is not under common ownership or control, or that common ownership or control was gained solely for purposes of sale of the generated electricity so generated and not for other business purposes.
(B) The useful thermal output of the facility generating the electricity is not used on the immediately adjacent property for petroleum production or refining.
(C) The electricity furnished to the immediately adjacent property is not utilized used by a subsidiary or affiliate of the corporation or person generating the electricity.
(3) Sale or transmission to an electrical corporation or state or local public agency, but not for sale or transmission to others, unless the corporation or person is otherwise an electrical corporation.
(c) “Electrical corporation” does not include a corporation or person employing landfill gas technology for the generation of electricity for any one or more of the following purposes:
(1) Its own use or the use of not more than two of its tenants located on the real property on which the electricity is generated.
(2) The use of or sale to not more than two other corporations or persons solely for use on the real property on which the electricity is generated.
(3) Sale or transmission to an electrical corporation or state or local public agency.
(d) “Electrical corporation” does not include a corporation or person employing digester gas technology for the generation of electricity for any one or more of the following purposes:
(1) Its own use or the use of not more than two of its tenants located on the real property on which the electricity is generated.
(2) The use of or sale to not more than two other corporations or persons solely for use on the real property on which the electricity is generated.
(3) Sale or transmission to an electrical corporation or state or local public agency, if the sale or transmission of the electricity service to a retail customer is provided through the transmission system of the existing local publicly owned electric utility or electrical corporation of that retail customer.
(e) “Electrical corporation” does not include an independent solar energy producer, as defined in Article 3 (commencing with Section 2868) of Chapter 9 of Part 2.
(f) “Electrical corporation” does not include a corporation or person employing solar or wind generating technology of not less than five megawatts, which may have associated on-site battery energy storage technology, if the electricity is transmitted exclusively and directly through private electric lines to a single facility owned by a different corporation or person that uses the energy only for new load, not for departing load, and for one or more of the following uses, including de minimis consumption necessary for the management and control of these uses:
(1) An electrolytic hydrogen production facility, as defined in Section 740.25.
(2) A facility using the electricity to provide industrial process heat, including through the use of a thermal energy storage system.
(f)
(g) The amendments made to this section at the 1987 portion of the 1987–88 Regular Session of the Legislature do not apply to any corporation or person employing cogeneration technology or producing power from other than a conventional power source for the generation of electricity that physically produced electricity prior to before January 1, 1989, and furnished that electricity to immediately adjacent real property for use thereon prior to on that real property before January 1, 1989.
SEC. 2.
Section 740.25 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:740.25.
(a) On or before July 1, 2027, the commission shall, in a new or existing proceeding, evaluate and, if just and reasonable, establish a tariff for qualified self-generation projects with a generating capacity exceeding 80,000 kilowatts.(b) The commission shall structure the tariff so that the electrical corporation serves as an intermediary between the electrical generation and energy storage facilities providing the electricity and the qualified self-generation project for purposes of providing retail service and allowing the electrical generation and energy storage facilities to be considered exempt wholesale generators as defined in Section 366.1 of Title 18 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
(c) The commission shall structure rates for qualified self-generation projects to administer the purchase and resale of the electricity from the electrical generation and energy storage facilities solely at cost and then add on the incremental administrative or operational costs of the electrical corporation serving as an intermediary.
(d) Nothing in this section shall prevent qualified self-generation projects from taking supplemental service under a standard offer tariff with separate metering or submetering, as determined by the commission.
(e) Nothing in this section shall authorize or prohibit electrical generation or energy storage facilities that are providing electricity to a qualified self-generation project from also participating in wholesale electricity markets.
(f) As used in this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) “Qualified self-generation project” means a customer that meets all of the following requirements:
(A) The customer uses electricity from one or both of the following sources that is transmitted exclusively and directly through private electric lines to the customer’s facility:
(i) Electricity from an electrical generation facility using solar or wind technology.
(ii) Electricity from an energy storage facility that stores energy exclusively from a facility using solar or wind technology.
(B) The customer bears responsibility for the cost of any infrastructure constructed for the purpose of connecting the customer’s facility with the electrical generation or energy storage facility, whether built by the customer or by the electrical corporation.
(C) The customer consumes the electricity for one or both of the following uses, including de minimis consumption necessary for management and control of those uses:
(i) Using electricity to power an electrolytic hydrogen production facility.
(ii) Using electricity to provide industrial process heat, including through the use of a thermal energy storage system.
(D) The customer consumes the electricity only for new load, and not for departing load.
(E) The customer files wildfire mitigation plans if any part of the private electric lines that are subject to the requirements of subdivision (h) are located in high fire threat districts as identified in the commission’s fire-threat map. Wildfire mitigation plans required pursuant to this subdivision shall, to the extent feasible, be consistent with the requirements of Section 8386, as determined by the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety.
(2) “Electrolytic hydrogen production facility” means a facility that makes hydrogen by electrolysis of water, including electrolyzers for producing hydrogen and any auxiliary systems within the facility, including pumps, compressors, liquefiers, and other systems for moving or storing water or hydrogen or preparing hydrogen for transport.
(g) Any cost associated with this section shall be paid solely by participating customers such that nonparticipating customers bear no additional costs.
(h) Private electric lines located on property other than the property on which a single electrolytic hydrogen production facility or industrial process heat facility or solar or wind generating technology is located shall be subject to all applicable General Orders, as determined by the commission, except in circumstances where all the property is owned by the same corporation or person owning the electrolytic hydrogen production facility or industrial process heat facility.
(i) Customer load supplied to qualified self-generation projects under the tariff established pursuant to this section shall be excluded for purposes of calculating procurement requirements for electrical corporations, including, but not limited to, any of the following requirements:
(1) Section 380.
(2) Article 16 (commencing with Section 399.11) of Chapter 2.3.
(3) Sections 454.51 and 454.52.
SEC. 3.
Section 764.4 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:764.4.
(a) (1) Private electric lines located on property other than the property on which a single electrolytic hydrogen production facility or industrial process heat facility or solar or wind generating technology is located, as described in subdivision (f) of Section 218, shall be subject to all applicable General Orders, as determined by the commission.(2) The requirements of paragraph (1) shall not apply if all of the property is owned by the same corporation or person owning the electrolytic hydrogen production facility or the industrial process heat facility.
(b) Corporations or persons employing private electric lines that are subject to the requirements of subdivision (a) shall file wildfire mitigation plans if any part of the private electric lines are located in high fire threat districts as identified in the commission’s fire-threat map. Wildfire mitigation plans required pursuant to this subdivision shall, to the extent feasible, be consistent with the requirements of Section 8386, as determined by the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety.
(c) As used in this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) “Electrolytic hydrogen production facility” is as defined pursuant to Section 740.25.
(2) “Industrial process heat facility” means a facility described in paragraph (2) of subdivision (f) of Section 218.
(3) “Solar or wind generating technology” means the solar or wind generating technology described in subdivision (f) of Section 218.
SEC. 4.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation relating to the oversight of electrical corporations and gas corporations.
Text of AB 388 as amended, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions