Amended in Senate September 10, 2015

Amended in Senate September 4, 2015

Amended in Senate June 22, 2015

Amended in Assembly May 28, 2015

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 Sections 25301 and 25303 of, and to repeal and add Section 25402.10 begin delete to, end delete begin insert of, end insert the Public Resources Code, and to amend Section 381.2 of, to amend and renumber Section 384.2 of, and to add Section 913.8 to, the Public Utilities Code, relating to energy efficiency.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 802, as amended, Williams. Energy efficiency.

(1) Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission), at least every 2 years, to conduct assessments and forecasts of all aspects of energy industry supply, production, transportation, delivery, distribution, demand, and prices. Existing law requires the Energy Commission to use these assessments and forecasts to develop energy policies that conserve resources, protect the environment, ensure energy reliability, enhance the state’s economy, and protect public health and safety. Existing law requires the Energy Commission to prepare an integrated energy policy report every 2 years and requires the report to include an assessment and forecast of system reliability and the need for resource additions, efficiency, and conservation that considers certain criteria.

This bill would require the Energy Commission, in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission, to make all reasonable adjustments to its energy demand forecasts conducted pursuant to the above-described provisions to account for its findings of market conditions and existing baselines, and in making those adjustments, would authorize the commission to consider the results from specified programs.

The bill would require the Energy Commission to use the above-described assessments and forecasts relating to various aspects of the energy industry to develop and evaluate energy policies and programs.

(2) Existing law requires electric and gas utilities to maintain records of the energy consumption data of all nonresidential buildings to which they provide service and requires that this data be maintained, in a format compatible for uploading to the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, for at least the most recent 12 months. Existing law also requires, upon the written authorization or secure electronic authorization of a nonresidential building owner or operator, an electric or gas utility to upload all of the energy consumption data for the account specified for a building to the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager in a manner that preserves the confidentiality of the customer. Existing law requires an owner or operator to disclose the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager benchmarking data and rating to a prospective buyer, lessee of the entire building, or lender that would finance the entire building based on a schedule of compliance established by the Energy Commission.

This bill would revise and recast these provisions. The bill would require utilities to maintain records of the energy usage data of all buildings to which they provide service for at least the most recent 12 complete months. Beginning no later than January 1, 2017, the bill would require each utility, upon the request and the written authorization or secure electronic authorization of the owner, owner’s agent, or operator of a covered building, as defined, to deliver or provide aggregated energy usage data for a covered building to the owner, owner’s agent, operator, or to the owner’s account in the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, subject to specified requirements. The bill would also authorize the commission to specify additional information to be delivered by utilities for certain purposes. The bill would delete the requirement of an owner or operator of a building to disclose the above-described information to a prospective buyer, lessee of the entire building, or lender that would finance the entire building. The bill would require the Energy Commission to adopt regulations providing for the delivery to the commission and public disclosure of benchmarking begin delete results end delete begin insert of energy use end insert for covered buildings, as prescribed. The bill would authorize the Energy Commission to impose a civil fine, as provided, for a violation of these data submission requirements.

(3) Existing law requires the 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.

This bill would require the PUC, by September 1, 2016, to authorize electrical corporations and gas corporations to provide incentives, rebates, technical assistance, and support to their customers to increase the energy efficiency of existing buildings, as specified, and would authorize electrical corporations and gas corporations to recover the reasonable costs of those programs in rates. The bill would require the PUC to authorize electrical corporations and gas corporations to count all energy savings achieved through the authorized programs, unless determined otherwise, 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 estimated change in energy savings resulting from the program.

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

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

SECTION 1.  

It is the intent of the Legislature to support
strategies that enhance energy efficiency. Building owners should
have access to their buildings’ energy usage information, which
enables understanding of a building’s energy usage for improved
building management and investment decisions. It is the intent of
the Legislature that the State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission create a benchmarking and disclosure
program through which building owners of commercial and
multifamily buildings above 50,000 square feet gross floor area
will better understand their energy consumption through
standardized energy use metrics.

SEC. 2.  

Section 25301 of the Public Resources Code is
amended to read:

25301.  

(a) At least every two years, the commission shall
conduct assessments and forecasts of all aspects of energy industry
supply, production, transportation, delivery and distribution,
demand, and prices. The commission shall use these assessments
and forecasts to develop and evaluate energy policies and programs
that conserve resources, protect the environment, ensure energy
reliability, enhance the state’s economy, and protect public health
and safety. To perform these assessments and forecasts, the
commission may require submission of demand forecasts, resource
plans, market assessments, related outlooks, individual customer
historic electric or gas service usage, or both, and individual
customer historic billing data, in a format and level of granularity
specified by the commission from electric and natural gas utilities,
transportation fuel and technology suppliers, and other market
participants. These assessments and forecasts shall be done in
consultation with the appropriate state and federal agencies
including, but not limited to, the Public Utilities Commission, the
Office of Ratepayer Advocates, the Air Resources Board, the
Electricity Oversight Board, the Independent System Operator,
the Department of Water Resources, the California Consumer
Power and Conservation Financing Authority, the Department of
Transportation, and the Department of Motor Vehicles. The
commission shall maintain reasonable policies and procedures to
protect customer information from unauthorized disclosure.

(b) In developing the assessments and forecasts prepared
pursuant to subdivision (a), the commission shall do all of the
following:

(1) Provide information about the performance of energy
industries.

(2) Develop and maintain the analytical capability sufficient to
answer inquiries about energy issues from government, market
participants, and the public.

(3) Analyze, develop, and evaluate energy policies and
programs.

(4) Provide an analytical foundation for regulatory and policy
decisionmaking.

(5) Facilitate efficient and reliable energy markets.

SEC. 3.  

Section 25303 of the Public Resources Code is
amended to read:

25303.  

(a) The commission shall conduct electricity and natural
gas forecasting and assessment activities to meet the requirements
of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 25302, including,
but not limited to, all of the following:

(1) Assessment of trends in electricity and natural gas supply
and demand, and the outlook for wholesale and retail prices for
commodity electricity and natural gas under current market
structures and expected market conditions.

(2) Forecasts of statewide and regional electricity and natural
gas demand including annual, seasonal, and peak demand, and the
factors leading to projected demand growth, including, but not
limited to, projected population growth, urban development,
industrial expansion and energy intensity of industries, energy
demand for different building types, energy efficiency, and other
factors influencing demand for electricity. With respect to
long-range forecasts of the demand for natural gas, the report shall
include an evaluation of average conditions, as well as best and
worst case scenarios, and an evaluation of the impact of the
increasing use of renewable resources on natural gas demand.

(3) Evaluation of the adequacy of electricity and natural gas
supplies to meet forecasted demand growth. Assessment of the
availability, reliability, and efficiency of the electricity and natural
gas infrastructure and systems, including, but not limited to, natural
gas production capability both in and out of state, natural gas
interstate and intrastate pipeline capacity, storage and use, and
western regional and California electricity and transmission system
capacity and use.

(4) Evaluation of potential impacts of electricity and natural gas
supply, demand, and infrastructure and resource additions on the
electricity and natural gas systems, public health and safety, the
economy, resources, and the environment.

(5) Evaluation of the potential impacts of electricity and natural
gas load management efforts, including end-user response to
market price signals, as a means to ensure reliable operation of
electricity and natural gas systems.

(6) Evaluation of whether electricity and natural gas markets
are adequately meeting public interest objectives including the
provision of all of the following: economic benefits; competitive,
low-cost reliable services; customer information and protection;
and environmentally sensitive electricity and natural gas supplies.
This evaluation may consider the extent to which California is an
element within western energy markets, the existence of appropriate
incentives for market participants to provide supplies and for
consumers to respond to energy prices, appropriate identification
of responsibilities of various market participants, and an assessment
of long-term versus short-term market performance. To the extent
this evaluation identifies market shortcomings, the commission
shall propose market structure changes to improve performance.

(7) Identification of impending or potential problems or
uncertainties in the electricity and natural gas markets, potential
options and solutions, and recommendations.

(8) (A) Compilation and assessment of existing scientific studies
that have been performed by persons or entities with expertise and
qualifications in the subject of the studies to determine the potential
vulnerability to a major disruption due to aging or a major seismic
event of large baseload generation facilities, of 1,700 megawatts
or greater.

(B) The assessment specified in subparagraph (A) shall include
an analysis of the impact of a major disruption on system reliability,
public safety, and the economy.

(C) The commission may work with other public entities and
public agencies, including, but not limited to, the California
Independent System Operator, the Public Utilities Commission,
the Department of Conservation, and the Seismic Safety
Commission as necessary, to gather and analyze the information
required by this paragraph.

(D) Upon completion and publication of the initial review of
the information required pursuant to this paragraph, the commission
shall perform subsequent updates as new data or new understanding
of potential seismic hazards emerge.

(b) Commencing November 1, 2003, and every two years
thereafter, to be included in the integrated energy policy report
prepared pursuant to Section 25302, the commission shall assess
the current status of the following:

(1) The environmental performance of the electric generation
facilities of the state, to include all of the following:

(A) Generation facility efficiency.

(B) Air emission control technologies in use in operating plants.

(C) The extent to which recent resource additions have, and
expected resource additions are likely to, displace or reduce the
operation of existing facilities, including the environmental
consequences of these changes.

(2) The geographic distribution of statewide environmental,
efficiency, and socioeconomic benefits and drawbacks of existing
generation facilities, including, but not limited to, the impacts on
natural resources including wildlife habitat, air quality, and water
resources, and the relationship to demographic factors. The
assessment shall describe the socioeconomic and demographic
factors that existed when the facilities were constructed and the
current status of these factors. In addition, the report shall include
how expected or recent resource additions could change the
assessment through displaced or reduced operation of existing
facilities.

(c) In the absence of a long-term nuclear waste storage facility,
the commission shall assess the potential state and local costs and
impacts associated with accumulating waste at California’s nuclear
powerplants. The commission shall further assess other key policy
and planning issues that will affect the future role of nuclear
powerplants in the state. The commission’s assessment shall be
adopted on or before November 1, 2008, and included in the 2008
energy policy review adopted pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section
25302.

(d) The commission, in consultation with the Public Utilities
Commission, shall make all reasonable adjustments to its energy
demand forecasts conducted pursuant to Sections 25301 and 25302
to account for its findings of market conditions and existing
baselines, and, in making those adjustments, may consider the
results from subdivisions (b) and (d) of Section 381.2 of the Public
Utilities Code.

SEC. 4.  

Section 25402.10 of the Public Resources Code is
repealed.

SEC. 5.  

Section 25402.10 is added to the Public Resources
Code, to read:

25402.10.  

(a) For the purposes of this section, the following
terms have the following meanings:

(1) “Benchmark” means to obtain information on the energy
use in an entire building for a specific period to enable that usage
to be tracked or compared against other buildings.

(2) “Covered building” for purposes of this section means either
or both of the following:

(A) Any building with no residential utility accounts.

(B) Any building with five or more active utility accounts,
residential or nonresidential.

(3) “Energy” means electricity, natural gas, steam, or fuel oil
sold by a utility to a customer for end uses addressed by the
ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager system.

(4) “ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager” means the tool
developed and maintained by the United States Environmental
Protection Agency to track and assess the energy performance of
buildings.

(b) On and after January 1, 2016, each utility shall maintain
records of the energy usage data of all buildings to which they
provide service for at least the most recent 12 complete calendar
months.

(c) (1) Subject to the requirements of paragraph (2), beginning
no later than January 1, 2017, each utility shall, upon the request
and written authorization or secure electronic authorization of the
owner, owner’s agent, or operator of a covered building, deliver
or otherwise provide aggregated energy usage data for a covered
building to the owner, owner’s agent, building operator, or to the
owner’s account in the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. The
commission may specify additional information to be delivered
by utilities to enable building owners to complete benchmarking
of the energy use in their buildings and in other systems or formats
for information delivery and automation.

(2) The delivery of information by utilities pursuant to this
section shall be subject to the following requirements:

(A) For covered buildings with three or more active utility
accounts, each utility shall deliver information showing the
aggregated energy usage begin insert data end insert of all utility customers in the same
building for each of the 12 prior months. Notwithstanding any
other law, energy usage data aggregated in this manner shall not
be deemed customer utility usage information or confidential
information by the utility for purposes of delivery to the owner,
owner’s agent, or operator of a building. The building owner and
utility shall not have any liability for any use or disclosure of
aggregated begin insert energy end insert usage begin delete information end delete begin insert data end insert delivered as required
by this section.

(B) For covered buildings not subject to subparagraph (A), each
utility shall deliver the information showing the aggregated energy
usage begin insert data end insert of all utility customers in the same building for each
of the prior 12 months if the accountholder provides written or
electronic consent for the delivery of the accountholder’s energy
usage data to the owner, owner’s agent, operator, or utility.

(C) Each utility shall deliver, upload, or otherwise provide
aggregated energy usage data within four weeks of receiving a
request from an owner, owner’s agent, or operator of a covered
building.

(D) Each utility shall make available the covered building begin insert energy end insert
usage data aggregated at a monthly level unless otherwise specified
by the commission.

(E) The building owner and utility shall not have any liability
for any use or disclosure by others of usage information delivered
as required by this section.

(d) The commission shall adopt regulations providing for the
delivery to the commission and public disclosure of benchmarking
begin delete results end delete begin insert of energy use end insert for covered buildings, as follows:

(1) This subdivision shall not require the owner of a building
with 16 or fewer residential utility accounts to collect or deliver
begin insert energy end insert usage information to the begin delete commission for public disclosure. end delete
begin insert commission. end insert

(2) The commission may do, but is not limited to doing, all of
the following in regulations adopted pursuant to this subdivision:

(A) Identify and provide for the collection of the energy usage
data for the calculation of benchmarking begin delete results. end delete begin insert of energy use. end insert

(B) Identify and provide for the collection of the covered
building characteristic information deemed necessary by the
commission for the calculation of benchmarking begin delete results. end delete begin insert of energy
use. end insert

(C) Specify the manner in which certain benchmarking begin delete results end delete
begin insert of energy use end insert shall be publicly disclosed.

(D) Determine which covered buildings, in addition to those
described in paragraph (1), are not subject to the public disclosure
requirement.

(E) Set a schedule to implement the requirements for public
disclosure adopted by the commission.

(F) Determine if compliance with a local or county
benchmarking program fulfills the commission’s requirements
adopted pursuant to this subdivision.

(G) Identify categories of information it receives pursuant to
this section that are protected from release under either the
California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code)
or the Information Practices Act of 1977 (Chapter 1 (commencing
with Section 1798) of Title 1.8 of Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil
Code).

(3) The commission shall determine who will deliver the energy
usage data and related information for any covered building to the
commission.

(e) The commission may ensure timely and accurate compliance
with the data submission requirements of this section by using the
enforcement measures identified in Section 25321. An owner of
a covered building, or its agents or operators, shall not be liable
for any noncompliance due to the failure of a utility to provide the
information required for compliance.

(f) For buildings that are not covered buildings, and for customer
information that is not aggregated pursuant to subparagraph (A)
of paragraph (2) of subdivision (c), the commission may adopt
regulations prescribing how utilities shall either obtain the
customer’s permission or determine that a building owner has
obtained the customer’s permission, for the owner to receive
aggregated begin delete customer information end delete begin insert energy usage data end insert or, where
applicable, individual customer usage information, including by
use of electronic authorization and in a lease agreement between
the owner and the customer.

(g) The reasonable costs of an electrical or gas corporation in
delivering electrical or gas usage data pursuant to this section or
other information as required under state or federal law or by an
order of the commission shall be recoverable in rates evaluated
and approved by the Public Utilities Commission.

(h) The reasonable costs of local publicly owned electric utilities
in disclosing electrical usage data pursuant to this section may be
considered “cost-effective demand-side management services to
promote energy efficiency and energy conservation” and thereby
reimbursable by their general fund.

(i) Nothing in this section shall prevent a city or county from
establishing its own benchmarking program requiring collection,
delivery, and disclosure of building information.

SEC. 6.  

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

381.2.  

(a) The commission 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.

(b) Recognizing the already underway 2015 commission work
to adopt efficiency potential and goals, the Energy Commission
work on its 2015 energy demand forecast, and the need to
determine how to incorporate meter-based performance into
determinations of goals, portfolio cost-effectiveness, and authorized
budgets, the commission, in a separate or existing proceeding,
shall, by September 1, 2016, authorize electrical corporations or
gas corporations to provide financial incentives, rebates, technical
assistance, and support 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 adoption of a measure or
installation of 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, as
well as operational, behavioral, and retrocommissioning activities
reasonably expected to produce multiyear savings. Electrical
corporations and gas corporations shall be permitted to recover in
rates the reasonable costs of these programs. The commission shall
authorize an electrical corporation and gas corporation to count
all energy savings achieved through the authorized programs
created by this subdivision, unless determined otherwise, 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 this change in savings estimation consistent with this
subdivision and subdivision (d).

(c) Effective January 1, 2016, electrical corporations and gas
corporations are authorized to implement the provisions of
subdivision (b) for high opportunity projects or programs. The
commission shall provide expedited authorization of high
opportunity projects and programs to apply the savings baseline
provisions in subdivision (b).

(d) In furtherance of subdivision (b), the commission, in
consultation with the Energy Commission, shall consider all of
the following:

(1) The results of any interagency baseline assessment.

(2) Any available results from investor-owned utility baseline
pilot studies ordered in D.14-10-046.

(3) Information necessary to ensure consistency with the energy
forecast and planning functions of the Energy Commission and
the Independent System Operator.

(e) The commission may direct electrical corporations and gas
corporations to make filings that are necessary to ensure
coordination with the energy forecast and planning functions of
the Energy Commission and the Independent System Operator.

(f) The commission shall prioritize energy efficiency activities
consistent with Sections 454.55 and 454.56.

SEC. 7.  

Section 384.2 of the Public Utilities Code is amended
and renumbered to read:

913.7.  

The commission shall submit a report to the Legislature
by July 15, 2009, and triennially thereafter, on the energy efficiency
and conservation programs it oversees. The report shall include
information regarding authorized utility budgets and expenditures
and projected and actual energy savings over the program cycle.

SEC. 8.  

Section 913.8 is added to the Public Resources Code,
to read:

913.8.  

In the report prepared pursuant Section 913.7, 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.