Where does this money come from?
Under the California Air Resources Board’s (ARB) economy-wide greenhouse gas (GHG) Cap-and-Trade Program, ARB annually grants the State’s investor-owned electric utilities an allocation of GHG allowances. The utilities are required to consign these allowances in ARB’s quarterly allowance auctions.
The sale of allowances generates proceeds that the utilities must distribute in accordance with state law, ARB regulation, and direction from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Section 748.5 of the Public Utilities Code requires utility allowance proceeds to be credited to residential, “small business,” and “emissions-intensive and trade-exposed” (EITE) entities. ARB’s Cap-and-Trade Regulation prohibits investor-owned electric utilities from using these allowances to address their compliance obligations under Cap-and-Trade. The CPUC established formulas and methodologies to return the proceeds to emissions-intensive and trade-exposed customer facilities as CA Industry Assistance.
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