AB 719, as amended, Roger Hernández. Energy: energy efficiency: street light pole.
Under the Public Utilities Act, or the act, the Public Utilities Commission, or the PUC, has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. The act requires the commission to review and adopt a procurement plan for each electrical corporation in accordance with specified elements, incentive mechanisms, and objectives. The act requires that an electrical corporation’s proposed procurement plan include certain elements, including a showing that the electrical corporation will first meet its unmet needs through all available energy efficiency and demand-reduction resources that are cost effective, reliable, and feasible. Existing law requires the PUC, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, to identify all potentially achievable cost-effective electricity efficiency savings and establish efficiency targets.
This bill would require thebegin delete commissionend deletebegin insert PUCend insert, on or before March 1, 2014, to order electrical corporations to submit, on or before July 1, 2015, a tariff to be used, at the discretion of local governments, to fund energy efficiency improvements in street light poles owned by the electrical corporations. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature that utility-owned street light poles, whose electricity use is paid by local governments, be converted to use cost-effective technology that reduces electricity consumption and may achieve lower utility bills.
Under existing law, a violation of the act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime.
Because this bill would require electrical corporations, pursuant to an order of the PUC, to submit the specified tariff and a violation of this requirement is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
It is the intent of the Legislature that
2electrical-corporation-owned street light poles, whose electricity
3use is paid by local governments, be converted to use cost-effective
4technology that reduces electricity consumption so that a city,
5county, or city and county may achieve lower utility bills for the
6electricity used by these street light poles.
Section 384.5 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
8read:
(a) On or before March 1, 2014, the commission shall
10order electrical corporations to submit, on or before July 1, 2015,
11a tariff to be used, at the discretion of local governments, to fund
12energy efficiency improvements in street light poles owned by the
13electrical corporations to ensure reduced energy consumption for
P3 1local governments who are streetlight customers covered by these
2tariffs.
3(b) The tariff shall be designed to allow local governments to
4remit the cost of the improvement through the tariff over time,
5resulting in reduced energy consumption, without shifting costs
6to nonparticipating ratepayers. The cost of the improvement shall
7be identified
separately rather than included within the charge for
8electrical service.
9(c) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), the improvement performed
10pursuant to the tariff submitted under subdivision (a) shall be
11eligible for any rebate or incentives available through
12ratepayer-funded programs intended to increase energy efficiency.
13(d) The electrical corporation that owns the street light poles
14shall install or otherwise make the energy efficiency improvements
15selected by the local government with an appropriately trained
16workforce in accordance with all applicable safety orders of the
17commission.
18(d)
end delete
19begin insert(e)end insert For the purposes of this section, the following terms have
20the following meanings:
21(1) “Electrical corporation” means an electrical corporation, as
22defined in Section 218, with at least 100,000 service connections
23in California.
24(2) “Street light pole” means a pole, arm, or fixture used
25primarily for street, pedestrian, or security lighting.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
27Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
28the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
29district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
30infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
31for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of
32the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within
33the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
34Constitution.
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