Amended in Assembly May 1, 2015

Amended in Assembly April 20, 2015

Amended in Assembly April 7, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 802

Introduced by Assembly Member Williams

February 26, 2015

An act to amend begin delete Sections 454.55 and 454.56 end delete begin insert Section 381.2 end insert of the Public Utilities Code, relating to energy efficiency.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 802, as amended, Williams. Public utilities: energy efficiency savings.

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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.

end insert begin insert

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.

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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.

end delete begin delete

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.

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Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 381.2 of the end insert begin insert Public Utilities Code end insert begin insert is
amended to read: end insert

381.2.  

(a)  begin delete By March 1, 2010, the commission, by opening a
new proceeding or amending an existing proceeding, end delete begin insert The
commission end insert 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.

begin insert

(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.

end insert begin delete

(b)

end delete

begin insert (c) end insert  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.

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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.

end delete