Energy: electrical demand forecasts.

Assembly Member Schultz’s AB 44 directs the California Energy Commission, in consultation with load-serving entities and behind-the-meter distributed-energy-resource aggregators, to define and publicize methodologies for load modification protocols by December 1, 2026 that would allow a load-serving entity to reduce or modify its electrical demand forecast submitted under existing demand-forecast requirements when aggregated behind-the-meter load-modifying technologies and programmatic measures are deemed to reliably reduce or modify demand by the commission, the Public Utilities Commission, and the Independent System Operator.

The bill specifies that the commission may use available funding appropriated by the Legislature to test a variety of technological and programmatic approaches in partnership with interested load-serving entities and behind-the-meter DER aggregators to facilitate high-confidence flexible demand performance. For purposes of the section, a “load-serving entity” is defined as it is in the Public Utilities Code, and the new load-modification protocols would be anchored to aggregated operation of behind-the-meter resources and related measures that are considered reliable by the collaborating agencies.

The bill’s findings and intent frame the initiative as a means to align decarbonization goals with demand flexibility and to enhance grid reliability through automated and dispatchable demand-management capabilities, while noting that traditional forecasting tools may not fully capture the potential of behind-the-meter resources to modify demand. It also emphasizes transparency, proposing that the published methodologies be publicly accessible and that cross-agency coordination among the CEC, PUC, and ISO inform reliability assessments; no new appropriation is created by the bill, though testing may utilize funding already available to the Legislature.