BILL NUMBER: AB 802 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 590
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 8, 2015
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 8, 2015
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 11, 2015
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 11, 2015
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
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 of, 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, 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 of energy use 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 those programs.
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 data 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 energy usage
data 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 data 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 energy
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 of
energy use 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
energy usage information to the commission.
(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 of energy use.
(B) Identify and provide for the collection of the covered
building characteristic information deemed necessary by the
commission for the calculation of benchmarking of energy use.
(C) Specify the manner in which certain benchmarking of energy use
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
energy usage data 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.