BILL NUMBER: AB 802 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 1, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 20, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 7, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Williams
FEBRUARY 26, 2015
An act to amend Sections 454.55 and 454.56
Section 381.2 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to energy
efficiency.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 802, as amended, Williams. Public utilities: energy efficiency
savings.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission (Energy Commission) to develop and implement a
comprehensive program to achieve greater energy savings in existing
residential and nonresidential building stock. Existing law requires
the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to investigate the ability of
electrical corporations and gas corporations to provide various
energy efficiency financing options to their customers for the
purposes of implementing the program developed by the Energy
Commission.
This bill would require the PUC, by July 1, 2016, to authorize
electrical corporations and gas corporations to recover in rates the
reasonable costs of programs providing incentives or rebates or both
incentives and rebates to their customers to increase the energy
efficiency of existing buildings, as specified. The bill would
require the PUC to authorize electrical corporations and gas
corporations to count all energy savings achieved toward overall
energy efficiency goals or targets established by the PUC. The bill
would authorize the PUC to adjust the energy efficiency goals or
targets of electrical corporations and gas corporations to reflect
the energy savings achieved in meeting or exceeding energy efficiency
requirements in existing buildings.
Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), in
consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission (Energy Commission), to identify all
potentially achievable cost-effective electricity efficiency savings,
and to establish efficiency targets for electrical corporations to
achieve pursuant to their procurement plan. Existing law requires the
PUC, in consultation with the Energy Commission, to identify all
potentially achievable cost-effective natural gas efficiency savings
and to establish efficiency targets for gas corporations to achieve,
and requires that a gas corporation first meet, its unmet resource
needs through all available gas efficiency and demand reduction
resources that are cost effective, reliable, and feasible.
This bill would require the PUC, in evaluating the
cost-effectiveness of those efficiency savings, to consider the total
energy savings to be the difference between the energy usage after
the installation of the energy efficiency measure funded by
ratepayer-funded incentives or rebates and the energy usage without
that energy efficiency measure.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 381.2 of the Public
Utilities Code is amended to read:
381.2. (a) By March 1, 2010, the commission, by opening
a new proceeding or amending an existing proceeding,
The commission shall investigate the ability of electrical
corporations and gas corporations to provide various energy
efficiency financing options to their customers for the purposes of
implementing the program developed pursuant to Section 25943 of the
Public Resources Code.
(b) By July 1, 2016, the commission, in a separate or existing
proceeding, shall authorize electrical corporations or gas
corporations to recover in rates the reasonable costs of programs
that provide financial incentives or rebates or both incentives and
rebates to their customers to increase the energy efficiency of
existing buildings based on all estimated energy savings and energy
usage reductions, taking into consideration the overall reduction in
normalized metered energy consumption as a measure of energy savings.
Those programs shall include energy usage reductions resulting from
the installation of a measure or equipment required for modifications
to existing buildings to bring them into conformity with, or exceed,
the requirements of Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations.
The commission shall authorize an electrical corporation and gas
corporation to count all energy savings achieved toward overall
energy efficiency goals or targets established by the commission. The
commission may adjust the energy efficiency goals or targets of an
electrical corporation and gas corporation to reflect the energy
efficiency savings achieved in meeting or exceeding the requirements
of Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations in existing
buildings.
(b)
(c) In the report prepared pursuant to Section 384.2,
the commission shall include an assessment of each electrical
corporation's and each gas corporation's implementation of the
program developed pursuant to Section 25943 of the Public Resources
Code.
SECTION 1. (a) It is the intent of the
Legislature to enact legislation to require electrical and gas
corporations to satisfy the state's energy requirements with energy
efficiency measures when procuring those measures is less expensive
to the corporation than procuring alternative electric or gas
resources.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to
require that all applicable state and federal contractor
qualifications, licensing, certifications, and wages appropriate for
the work to be performed are followed for any energy efficiency
retrofit and installation project funded by ratepayers.
SEC. 2. Section 454.55 of the Public Utilities
Code is amended to read:
454.55. (a) The commission, in consultation with the State Energy
Resources Conservation and Development Commission, shall identify
all potentially achievable cost-effective electricity efficiency
savings and establish efficiency targets for an electrical
corporation to achieve pursuant to Section 454.5.
(b) In evaluating the cost-effectiveness of electricity efficiency
savings, the commission shall consider the total electricity
efficiency savings to be the difference between the electrical usage
resulting after the installation of the energy efficiency measure
funded by ratepayer-funded incentives or rebates, and the electrical
usage without that energy efficiency measure, without regard to
standards prescribed pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b) of Section
25402 of the Public Resources Code.
SEC. 3. Section 454.56 of the Public Utilities
Code is amended to read:
454.56. (a) The commission, in consultation with the State Energy
Resources Conservation and Development Commission, shall identify
all potentially achievable cost-effective natural gas efficiency
savings and establish efficiency targets for the gas corporation to
achieve.
(b) A gas corporation shall first meet its unmet resource needs
through all available natural gas efficiency and demand reduction
resources that are cost effective, reliable, and feasible.
(c) In evaluating the cost-effectiveness of natural gas efficiency
savings, the commission shall consider the total natural gas
efficiency savings to be the difference between the natural gas usage
resulting after the installation of the energy efficiency measure
funded by ratepayer-funded incentives or rebates, and the natural gas
usage without that energy efficiency measure, without regard to
standards prescribed pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b) of Section
25402 of the Public Resources Code.