Campbell switches energy bills

Paul Clinton

Almost a month after introducing a bill that would restore the terms

of a contract between larger power users and the utility companies,

Assemblyman John Campbell (R-Irvine) has pulled his bill off the table.

In a nearly continuous motion, Campbell, whose district includes

Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, yanked the bill and replaced it with a

similar piece of legislation.

Campbell introduced the earlier bill Jan. 29 to nullify a Public

Utilities Commission decision to freeze big power users from exiting

their rate plans.

Many of the state’s heaviest consumers of power had entered into the

I-6 plan, in which they could take a 15% discount on power in exchange

for a promise to shut down their operations when called upon to do so.

The utilities had also included an “opt-out” clause, which the

utilities commission froze, forcing the companies to remain in the

program and incur hefty fines when they refused to shut off the lights.

Newport Beach semiconductor maker Conexant Systems, for example,

racked up $3 million in penalties during January.

Campbell’s new bill, which the assemblyman is hoping to have heard in

a policy committee meeting today, would cancel the fines and require the

I-6 users to return their discounts.

Campbell also included provisions that would require Southern

California Edison to provide a 30-minute notice before asking for a

shutdown and limit calls the utility could make to an I-6 user to one a

day.

Irked about the commission’s intervention in the contract, Campbell

said his bill would restore the terms of the initial rate agreement.

“I think the bill is pretty cemented,” Campbell said Friday. “It will

make it so, in the future, that you can’t change the rules of the game

halfway through the game.”

Since the introduction of Campbell’s earlier bill, the commission

moved to waive the penalties. But Campbell has said the commission’s Jan.

26 ruling left some questions unanswered.

Campbell’s bill, known as AB52X and also introduced in the special

energy session, will complement another I-6-related bill expected to come

out of the office of Assemblyman Rod Wright (D-Los Angeles).

A spokeswoman at Conexant Systems declined to comment on either

proposal.

Campbell’s bill may not be necessary if the commission intervenes

again to resolve complaints from businesses that say they’ve been held

hostage, said Julie Puentes from the Orange County Business Council.

“I think the value of having a bill like that is that it’s leverage

for the PUC to work with our companies,” Puentes said.