BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 454
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Date of Hearing: July 5, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON UTILITIES AND COMMERCE
Steven Bradford, Chair
SB 454 (Pavley) - As Amended: June 29, 2011
SENATE VOTE : 24-15
SUBJECT : Energy Efficiency Standards
SUMMARY : Authorizes the California Energy Commission (CEC) to
enforce, including civil penalties, against violations of its
appliance efficiency standards. Requires utility energy
efficiency rebates to be provided only if work complies with
applicable permitting and contractor licensing requirements.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes the CEC to establish an administrative enforcement
process for violations of State appliance efficiency
standards, including administrative civil penalties up to
$2500 for each violation.
2)Authorizes the CEC to refer violations to the Attorney General
to petition a court to enjoin the violation, and authorizes a
court to grant injunctive relief and assess a civil penalty up
to $2500 for each violation.
3)Requires penalties to be deposited into the Appliance
Efficiency Enforcement Subaccount, which is established by the
bill, to be expended by the CEC, upon appropriation, for
appliance efficiency enforcement and public education.
4)Provides that a CEC-imposed civil penalty shall be subject to
judicial review by petition for writ of mandate in the
superior court.
5)Provides that a person subject to a CEC-imposed civil penalty
shall not be liable for a court-imposed civil penalty.
6)Requires the court, upon granting relief to the CEC for an
action brought to enforce its appliance efficiency standards,
to award the CEC its reasonable costs in investigating and
prosecuting the action.
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7)Requires that any energy efficiency rebate or incentive
offered by a public utility (i.e. investor-owned electrical
and gas corporations regulated by the California Public
Utilities Commission (PUC)) be provided only if work complies
with applicable permitting and contractor licensing
requirements.
EXISTING LAW
1)Requires the CEC to adopt regulations that specify energy
efficiency standards required of appliances sold in
California.
2)Establishes within the Department of Consumer Affairs the
Contractors State License Board (CSLB) and requires the CSLB
to license and regulate California's construction contractors,
investigate complaints against licensed and unlicensed
contractors, issue citations, suspend or revoke licenses, and
seek administrative, criminal, and civil sanctions against
violators.
3)Establishes the State Building Standards Commission to review
and approve building construction standards proposed by state
agencies, resolve conflict, duplication, and overlap in
construction standards, and ensure highly consistent
construction standards among state and local jurisdictions.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
1)Background. Among its regulatory powers, the CEC has
authority to adopt regulations describing the standards for
minimum levels of efficiency for appliances that use a
significant amount of energy or water. These regulations
prescribe standards for appliances, including but not limited
to the following:
Central Air Conditioners: Large, small,
evaporative-type, specialty (computer room)
Heat pumps: Gas fired, ground source, groundwater, and
other types
Clothes dryers, washing machines, commercial cooking,
and dishwashers
Electronics: consumer audio and video and televisions
Ceiling fans, dehumidifiers, whole house fans, exhaust
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fans
Boilers, duct furnaces and heat units, infrared heaters,
furnaces, gas space heaters
Lighting products including light bulbs, lighting
systems, luminaires (under cabinet, portable, halide),
traffic signal lights
Electric motors
Plumbing fittings and fixtures
Pool heaters, pool pumps, portable spas
Refrigerators, vending machines, ice makers, water
dispensers
Transformers
Water heaters
1)The CEC's appliance regulations are designed to achieve
significant energy savings statewide that are feasible,
attainable without adding costs to the consumer over the
estimated lifetime of the regulated appliance. With one
exception (power plant certification), the CEC doesn't have
administrative civil penalty authority and must refer
enforcement matters to the Attorney General to petition a
court to grant injunctive relief and/or impose civil
penalties.
Numerous programs administered by the CEC, PUC, IOUs, publicly
owned utilities (POUs) and local government agencies offer
consumers incentives or rebates to purchase energy efficiency
appliances in residential and commercial buildings. The PUC
has approved a $3.1 billion portfolio of energy efficiency
programs administered by the IOUs for 2010-12 funded by a
ratepayer surcharge. This investment is expected to produce
cost-effective energy savings of 10,000 GWh of electricity,
1,982 peak MW, and 200 million therms of natural gas, the
equivalent of avoiding nearly four 500 megawatt power plants.
2)Purpose of the bill. According to the author, a recent survey
suggests half of appliances sold in California have not
properly certified to meet California's energy efficiency
standards. These standards are integral to minimizing
California's energy needs and this bill will allow the CEC to
ensure compliance with the State's appliance standards.
3)Discussion. According to the CEC survey referenced by the
author, the statistics shown for individual types of
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appliances shows a high degree of noncompliance, which
includes some products with continuous duty cycles, such as
refrigerators (intermittent usage would have an impact on
overall energy consumption but continuous usage products have
a profound impact on efforts to reduce California's demand for
electricity and natural gas):
Appliance Categories, % Non compliant
Computer Room GlycolCooled Air Conditioners, 0.00%
Heat Pump Pool Heaters, 0.00%
Portable Electric Spas, 11.93%
Showerheads, 16.33%
Residential Exhaust Fans, 20.41%
Water Dispensers, 21.21%
Computer Room AirCooled Air Conditioners, 26.32%
Computer Room WaterCooled Air Conditioners, 27.45%
Ice Makers, 31.43%
DVD Player & DVD Recorders, 35.00%
Whole House Fans, 36.17%
Commercial Convection Ovens, 37.10%
Televisions, 38.19%
Commercial Refrigerators/Freezers/RefrigeratorFreezers, 41.57%
Combination Space/Water Heating Appliances, 41.67%
Commercial Hot Food Holding Cabinets, 51.09%
Torchieres, 51.58%
Commercial Range Tops, 55.62%
Portable (Spot) Air Conditioners, 60.29%
Compact Audio Products, 68.00%
Tub Spout Diverters, 75.00%
Evaporative Coolers, 76.92%
Ceiling Fans (excluding lowprofile ceiling fans), 80.30%
Refrigerators w/o Doors (for Beverages), 82.35%
Refrigerated Canned/Bottled Beverage Vending Machines, 85.00%
Residential Wine Chillers, 86.49%
Infrared Heaters (Patio Heaters & nonPatio Heaters), 89.66%
UnderCabinet Luminaires, 100.00%
These products were available for sale from manufacturer
websites, distributor websites, retail websites, auction
websites, and catalogs.
In addition to providing enforcement authority for
noncompliance with the State's appliance standards, this bill
also provides that any rebates or incentives provided by
utilities for energy efficiency improvements and installation
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of energy efficient components, equipment, or appliances in
buildings can only be provided if applicable health and safety
permits were obtained and, if the product is installed by a
contractor, the contractor must hold a valid contractors'
license if a contractors' license is required.
A provision in the bill specifies that it does not imply or
create responsibilities for utilities to enforce the State's
energy efficiency and water efficiency standards however this
provision cites a section of the Public Resources Code where
the utilities have no authority. This section of the code
references a statute related to the CEC's authority to adopt
standards.
The author may wish to consider the following amendment to
clarify the section regarding utilities not being vested with
enforcement authority:
Amend Section 5, Section 399.4 (a) (2) to remove the word
"new:"
"(2) This subdivision does not imply or create new authority
or responsibility, or expand existing authority or
responsibility, of a public utility for the enforcement of the
building energy and water efficiency standards adopted
pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 25402 of the
Public Resources Code, or appliance efficiency standards and
certification requirements adopted pursuant to subdivision (c)
of Section 25402 of the Public Resources Code."
RELATED LEGISLATION
AB 1073 (Fuentes) would require that rebates or incentives
provided by utilities for energy efficiency improvements and
installation of energy efficient components, equipment, or
appliances in buildings can only be provided if applicable
health and safety permits were obtained. This provision does
not imply or create responsibilities for utilities to enforce
the State's energy efficiency standards.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Breathe California
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California League of Conservation Voters
Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Sierra Club California
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Susan Kateley / U. & C. / (916)
319-2083