BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1124
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1124 (Skinner)
As Amended January 13, 2012
Majority vote
UTILITIES & COMMERCE 11-2
APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Bradford, Fletcher, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Blumenfield, |
| |Buchanan, Fong, | |Bradford, Charles |
| |Achadjian, Roger | |Calderon, Campos, |
| |Hernández, Huffman, Ma, | |Chesbro, Gatto, Hall, |
| |Nestande, Skinner, | |Hill, Ammiano, Mitchell, |
| |Valadao | |Solorio |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Knight, Swanson |Nays:|Harkey, Donnelly, |
| | | |Nielsen, Norby, Wagner |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to
ensure compliance with specified principles related to the PUC's
investigation of financing options for energy efficiency
improvements in existing residential and commercial buildings.
Specifically, this bill directs the PUC to assess the extent to
which electric and gas corporations comply with the following
principles:
1)Achieve maximum energy savings for all customer classes by
adopting whole building, performance-based approaches.
2)Maximize opportunities of leveraging private capital by
increasing and streamlining access to on-bill repayment
programs without increasing utility costs.
3)Encourage job creation and training opportunities, with an
emphasis on skilled occupations necessary for installation of
highly efficient energy savings measures.
AB 1124
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4)Create a single point of contact to coordinate access to
energy efficiency programs for prospective customers using
streamlined and simple procedures for determining
property-level program enrollment and customer eligibility as
well as encouraging customer participation.
5)Provide equivalent funding and comparable measures for all
eligible customers within the energy efficiency programs,
particularly those customers that are more difficult to reach
and have not yet been served by the programs, including small
businesses, renters, multifamily renters, persons with
disabilities, and those located in remote areas.
EXISTING LAW requires:
1)The PUC, by March 1, 2010, to have opened a new proceeding or
amended an existing proceeding to investigate the ability of
electrical corporations and gas corporations to provide energy
efficiency financing options to their customers to implement
the comprehensive energy efficiency program for certain
residential and nonresidential buildings developed by the
State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission
pursuant to a specified provision of law.
2)The PUC to include an assessment of each electrical
corporation's and each gas corporation's implementation of
that program in a specified triennial report required under
existing law.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, the bill places the onus on the regulated utilities
to propose programs to finance energy efficiency improvements
that meet the principles outlined above. The bill does not
appear, however, to limit program design just to the listed
principles or to require that the entirety of the programs meet
just these principles. PUC workload would involve determining
whether utility submittals adequately conform to program
principles and determining what modifications are necessary to
achieve sufficient conformance. This additional workload would
require up to one additional analyst position at an annual cost
of $100,000. ÝPublic Utilities Reimbursement Account].
AB 1124
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COMMENTS : According to the author, this bill will direct the
PUC to apply specific principles in reviewing the utilities'
energy efficiency program proposals, while maintaining
flexibility in program design.
Analysis Prepared by : Sue Kateley / U. & C. / (916) 319-2083
FN: 0003055