BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
AB 217 (Bradford) - Electricity: solar electricity: low-income
households.
Amended: July 10, 2013 Policy Vote: EU&C 8-2
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes (see staff comment)
Hearing Date: August 12, 2013 Consultant:
Marie Liu
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 217 would extend the low-income programs of the
California Solar Initiative (CSI) from 2016 until 2021,
authorize the collection of an additional $108 million for these
programs, and add additional standards to the program.
Fiscal Impact:
Annual costs of $50,000 from the Public Utilities
Reimbursement Account through 2021 for the administration of
the low-income programs of the CSI.
Annual costs of approximately $260,000 from General Fund
and various special funds for CSI surcharges paid by the
state as an IOU customer.
Background: The CSI was established in 2007 to fund multiple
programs to increase customer use of solar power throughout
California, including through the investor-owned utilities
(IOUs), the publically-owned utilities (POUs), and through the
New Solar Homes Partnerships. The IOUs were approved for 10
years of funding with a $2.167 billion budget overall and a goal
of installing 1,940 MW of new solar generation capacity through
a general market program, the CSI thermal program, the
Single-family Affordable Solar Home (SASH), and Multi-family
Affordable Solar Housing (MASH) program.
The SASH and MASH programs were originally established by the
CPUC with a total budget of $217 million, and subsidized solar
photovoltaic systems for low-income single- and multi-family
homes, respectively. The CPUC adopted an incentive structure
that provides a fully-subsidized 1 kilowatt photovoltaic solar
energy system to "very-low income" households and a partial
subsidy for qualified "low-income" households. The goal is to
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provide access to solar energy systems to decrease electricity
bills without increasing household expenses.
All parts of the CSI program are set to sunset in 2016.
Section 382 of the Public Utilities Code requires that the CPUC
ensure that eligible low-income electricity and gas customers
are given the opportunity to participate in low-income energy
efficiency programs. Pursuant to this section, the CPUC runs the
Energy Savings Assistance Program, which provides no cost
weatherization services to low-income households who meet income
guidelines.
Proposed Law: This bill would allow the CPUC to collect an
additional $108 million from ratepayers served by San Diego Gas
and Electric Company, Southern California Edison Company, and
Pacific Gas and Electric Company to fund the SASH and MASH
programs until December 31, 2021. Any unused general market
portion of the CSI at the end of 2016 may also be used.
The CPUC would be required to ensure that the low-income
programs be cost-effective investment by ratepayers, require
participants to enrolled in the Energy Savings Assistance
Program, and provide job training and employment opportunities
in solar energy and energy efficiency sectors of the economy.
Staff Comments: This bill, by extending a portion of the CSI
program also extends a portion of the CPUC's administrative
costs to administer this program. The CPUC estimates that their
current administrative costs for the SASH and MASH program are
approximately $50,000 annually for a 0.5 PY.
State agencies, as electricity consumers, will share in the
ratepayer costs imposed by the bill. State agencies make up
about 1.2 percent of total electricity use in the IOU
territories. Therefore, the cost to state agencies over the next
several years will be about $260,000 annually.
This bill does not create a reimbursable state mandate as the
bill only changes the definition of a crime.
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