BILL NUMBER: SB 488 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 15, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 28, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 20, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 5, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 14, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Senator Pavley
FEBRUARY 26, 2009
An act to add Chapter 10.9 (commencing with Section
25945) to Division 15 of the Public Resources Code, and to amend
Section 739 of, and to add and repeal Section
9505 to, and to add and repeal Chapter 6.1 (commencing with
Section 2795) of Part 2 of Division 1 of, the Public Utilities
Code, relating to energy.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 488, as amended, Pavley. Energy: energy usage information.
(1) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has
regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical
corporations and gas corporations, as defined. The existing Public
Utilities Act requires each electrical corporation and each gas
corporation to disclose on the residential customer's billing
statement specified information on usage and cost, and contact
information for the commission's Consumer Affairs Branch, and to make
available online to residential customers specified information on
usage and energy conservation measures. The act authorizes the
commission to modify, adjust, or add to these requirements as the
individual circumstances of each electrical corporation or gas
corporation merit, or for master-meter customers, as individual
circumstances merit. The act requires the commission, as part of the
general rate case of an electrical corporation or gas corporation, to
assess opportunities to improve the quality of information contained
in the utility's periodic billings.
This bill would require the commission, on or before July 1, 2010,
to require each electrical corporation and each gas corporation
with more than 55,000 residential customer service connections that
does not already have such a program, to adopt a pilot program
to disclose, not less frequently than quarterly, either in a separate
mailing or on the billing statement of a residential subscriber,
information documenting the amount of energy used by the metered
residence compared to similar residences in the subscriber's
geographical area. The bill would require the commission to require
each electrical corporation and each gas corporation with more
than 55,000 residential customer service connections, to
identify those residences that used significantly more energy during
the period than was used by similar residences with comparable
household square footage in the subscriber's geographical area and to
ensure that information is provided most frequently to those
subscribers on energy saving strategies or programs available to
assist in financing energy efficiency improvements, in addition to
the above-described information relative to energy usage. The bill
would require that the cost of any pilot program adopted pursuant to
these requirements be recovered only from the residential ratepayers
of the electrical corporation or gas corporation. The bill would
require each electrical corporation and each gas corporation
with more than 55,000 residential customer service connections
, on or before July 1, 2011, and each July 1 thereafter, to submit
to the commission and the Legislature a report on the energy savings
resulting from the pilot program adopted by the utility. These
requirements would become inoperative on July 1, 2014, and would
repeal on January 1, 2015.
Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any
order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the
commission is a crime.
Because the provisions of this bill are within the act
and require action by the commission to implement its
requirements, a violation of these provisions
the commission's requirements would impose a state-mandated
local program by creating a new crime.
(2) Existing law defines weatherization and requires each publicly
owned electric and gas utility that provides the energy for space
heating for low-income customers to provide home weatherization
services for those customers if a significant need for those services
exists in the utility's service territory, taking into consideration
both the cost-effectiveness of the services and the public policy of
reducing financial hardships facing low-income households. Existing
law requires each publicly owned electric and gas utility to submit a
biennial report to the State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission (Energy Commission) describing the status of
its low-income weatherization programs.
This bill would require each local publicly owned electric utility
and each local publicly owned gas utility with more than 55,000
residential customer service connections that does not already have
such a program , on or before July 1, 2010, to adopt a pilot
program to disclose, not less frequently than quarterly, either in a
separate mailing or on the billing statement of a residential
subscriber, information documenting the amount of energy used by the
metered residence compared to similar residences in the subscriber's
geographical area. The bill would require each local publicly owned
electric utility and each local publicly owned gas utility
adopting a pilot program pursuant to the above-described requirement,
to identify those residences that used significantly more
energy during the period than was used by similar residences with
comparable household square footage in the subscriber's geographical
area and to ensure that information is provided most frequently to
those subscribers on energy saving strategies or programs available
to assist in financing energy efficiency improvements, in addition to
the above-described information relative to energy usage. The bill
would require each local publicly owned electric utility and each
local publicly owned gas utility adopting a pilot program
pursuant to the above-described requirement , on or before July
1, 2011, and by July 1 each year thereafter, to report to the Energy
Commission on the energy savings resulting from the pilot program
adopted by the utility pursuant to these requirements. These
requirements would become inoperative on July 1, 2014, and would
repeal on January 1, 2015. By placing additional requirements
upon local publicly owned electric and gas utilities, the bill would
impose a state-mandated local program.
(3) 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 specified reasons.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 6.1 (commencing with Section
2795) is added to Part 2 of Division 1 of the Public
Utilities Code , to read:
CHAPTER 6.1. ENERGY USAGE DISCLOSURE PILOT PROGRAM
2795. In order to encourage energy savings through behavioral
change, on or before July 1, 2010, the commission shall require each
electrical corporation and each gas corporation with more than 55,000
residential customer service connections that does not already have
such a program, to adopt a pilot program to disclose, not less
frequently than quarterly, either in a separate mailing or on the
billing statement of a residential subscriber, information
documenting the amount of energy used by the metered residence
compared to similar residences in the subscriber's geographical area.
The commission shall ensure that the pilot program reaches a
statistically significant sampling of utility customers from, where
applicable, diverse geographical areas, climate zones, and
socioeconomic backgrounds.
2796. The commission shall require each electrical corporation
and each gas corporation having a preexisting pilot program or a
pilot program adopted pursuant to Section 2795, to identify those
residences that used significantly more energy during the period than
was used by similar residences with comparable household square
footage in the subscriber's geographical area and ensure that
information is provided most frequently to those subscribers on
energy saving strategies or programs available to assist in financing
energy efficiency improvements, in addition to the information
required pursuant to Section 2795. A utility customer may expressly
consent to receive this information through electronic mail rather
than through the United States Postal Service.
2797. On or before July 1, 2011, and each July 1 thereafter, each
electrical corporation and each gas corporation having a preexisting
program or a pilot program adopted pursuant to Section 2795, shall
submit to the commission and the Legislature a report on the energy
savings resulting from the program. The commission shall assess the
energy savings resulting from the program and include those savings
in the commission's evaluation of the utility's overall energy
efficiency programs and in establishing targets for the utility
pursuant to Section 454.55 or 454.56. Energy savings shall be
measured using methodologies meeting the suggestions of the National
Action Plan for Energy Efficiency, a private-public initiative to
create a sustainable, aggressive national commitment to energy
efficiency through the collaborative efforts of the natural gas and
electrical industries, utility regulators, and other partner
organizations and facilitated by the United States Department of
Energy and the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
2798. The cost of any pilot program adopted pursuant to this
chapter shall be recovered only from the residential ratepayers of
the electrical corporation or gas corporation.
2799. This chapter shall become inoperative on July 1, 2014, and,
as of January 1, 2015, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2015, deletes or
extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SECTION 1. Chapter 10.9 (commencing with
Section 25945) is added to Division 15 of the Public Resources Code,
to read:
CHAPTER 10.9. ENERGY EFFICIENCY FINANCING PROGRAM
25945. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division
25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code)
requires the State Air Resources Board to design emissions reduction
measures in a manner that minimizes costs and maximizes benefits for
California's economy, maximizes additional environmental and economic
cobenefits for California, and complements the state's efforts to
improve air quality.
(b) To achieve the goals of the California Global Warming
Solutions Act of 2006, every sector must explore opportunities to
reduce energy consumption and related greenhouse gas emissions.
(c) There exist significant opportunities for cost-effective
energy efficiency improvements in all types of existing structures,
including residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal.
(d) California needs a systematic approach to providing every
utility-using structure in the state with an energy audit and the
opportunity to increase energy efficiency by 2020, to meet the goals
of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.
SEC. 2. Section 739 of the Public Utilities
Code is amended to read:
739. (a) As used in this section:
(1) "Baseline quantity" means a quantity of electricity or gas
allocated by the commission for residential customers based on from
50 to 60 percent of average residential consumption of these
commodities, except that, for residential gas customers and for
all-electric residential customers, the baseline quantity shall be
established at from 60 to 70 percent of average residential
consumption during the winter heating season. In establishing the
baseline quantities, the commission shall take into account climatic
and seasonal variations in consumption and the availability of gas
service. The commission shall review and revise baseline quantities
as average consumption patterns change in order to maintain these
ratios.
(2) "Residential customer" means those customers receiving
electrical or gas service pursuant to a domestic rate schedule and
excludes industrial, commercial, and every other category of
customer.
(b) The commission shall designate a baseline quantity of gas and
electricity which is necessary to supply a significant portion of the
reasonable energy needs of the average residential customer. In
estimating those quantities, the commission shall take into account
differentials in energy needs between customers whose residential
energy needs are currently supplied by electricity alone or by both
electricity and gas. The commission shall develop a separate baseline
quantity for all-electric residential customers. For these purposes,
"all-electric residential customers" are residential customers
having electrical service only or whose space heating is provided by
electricity, or both. The commission shall also take into account
differentials in energy use by climatic zone and season.
(c) (1) The commission shall establish a standard limited
allowance which shall be in addition to the baseline quantity of gas
and electricity for residential customers dependent on life-support
equipment, including, but not limited to, emphysema and pulmonary
patients. A residential customer dependent on life-support equipment
shall be allocated a higher energy allocation than the average
residential customer.
(2) "Life-support equipment" means that equipment which utilizes
mechanical or artificial means to sustain, restore, or supplant a
vital function, or mechanical equipment which is relied upon for
mobility both within and outside of buildings. "Life-support
equipment," as used in this subdivision, includes all of the
following: all types of respirators, iron lungs, hemodialysis
machines, suction machines, electric nerve stimulators, pressure pads
and pumps, aerosol tents, electrostatic and ultrasonic nebulizers,
compressors, IPPB machines, and motorized wheelchairs.
(3) The limited allowance specified in this subdivision shall also
be made available to paraplegic and quadriplegic persons in
consideration of the increased heating and cooling needs of those
persons.
(4) The limited allowance specified in this subdivision shall also
be made available to multiple sclerosis patients in consideration of
the increased heating and cooling needs of those persons.
(5) The limited allowance specified in this subdivision shall also
be made available to scleroderma patients in consideration of the
increased heating needs of those persons.
(6) The limited allowance specified in this subdivision shall also
be made available to persons who are being treated for a
life-threatening illness or have a compromised immune system, if a
licensed physician and surgeon or a person licensed pursuant to the
Osteopathic Initiative Act certifies in writing to the utility that
the additional heating or cooling allowance, or both, is medically
necessary to sustain the life of the person or prevent deterioration
of the person's medical condition.
(d) (1) The commission shall require that every electrical and gas
corporation file a schedule of rates and charges providing baseline
rates. The baseline rates shall apply to the first or lowest block of
an increasing block rate structure which shall be the baseline
quantity. In establishing these rates, the commission shall avoid
excessive rate increases for residential customers, and shall
establish an appropriate gradual differential between the rates for
the respective blocks of usage.
(2) In establishing residential electric and gas rates, including
baseline rates, the commission shall assure that the rates are
sufficient to enable the electrical corporation or gas corporation to
recover a just and reasonable amount of revenue from residential
customers as a class, while observing the principle that electricity
and gas services are necessities, for which a low affordable rate is
desirable and while observing the principle that conservation is
desirable in order to maintain an affordable bill.
(3) At least until December 31, 2003, the commission shall require
that all charges for residential electric customers are volumetric,
and shall prohibit any electrical corporation from imposing any
charges on residential consumption that are independent of
consumption, unless those charges are in place prior to April 12,
2001.
(e) (1) Each electrical corporation and each gas corporation
shall, in a timeframe consistent with each electrical and gas
corporation's next general rate case, disclose on the billing
statement of a residential customer all of the following:
(A) Cost per kilowatthour or gas therm per tier.
(B) Allocation of kilowatthour or gas therm per tier.
(C) Visual representation of usage and cost per tier.
(D) Usage comparison with prior periods.
(E) Itemized cost components in the bill to identify state and
local taxes.
(F) Identification of delivery, generation, public purpose, and
other charges.
(G) Contact information for the commission's Consumer Affairs
Branch.
(2) An electrical corporation and a gas corporation shall make
available online to residential customers both of the following:
(A) Examples of how conservation measures, including changing
thermostat settings and turning off unused lights, could reduce
energy usage and costs.
(B) Examples of how energy-saving devices and weatherization
measures could reduce energy usage and costs.
(3) The commission may modify, adjust, or add to the requirements
of this subdivision as the individual circumstances of each
electrical corporation or gas corporation merits, or for master-meter
customers, as individual circumstances merit.
(4) The commission shall, as part of the general rate case of an
electrical corporation or gas corporation, assess opportunities to
improve the quality of information contained in the utility's
periodic billings.
(f) (1) In order to encourage energy savings through behavioral
change, on or before July 1, 2010, the commission shall require each
electrical corporation and each gas corporation to adopt a pilot
program to disclose, not less frequently than quarterly, either in a
separate mailing or on the billing statement of a residential
subscriber, information documenting the amount of energy used by the
metered residence compared to similar residences in the subscriber's
geographical area. The commission shall ensure that the pilot program
reaches a statistically significant sampling of utility customers
from, where applicable, diverse geographical areas, climate zones,
and socio-economic backgrounds.
(2) The commission shall require each electrical corporation and
each gas corporation to identify those residences that used
significantly more energy during the period than was used by similar
residences with comparable household square footage in the subscriber'
s geographical area and ensure that information is provided most
frequently to those subscribers on energy saving strategies or
programs available to assist in financing energy efficiency
improvements, in addition to the information required pursuant to
paragraph (1).
(3) The cost of any pilot program adopted pursuant to this
subdivision shall be recovered only from the residential ratepayers
of the electrical corporation or gas corporation.
(g) On or before July 1, 2011, and each July 1 thereafter, each
electrical corporation and each gas corporation shall submit to the
commission and the Legislature a report on the energy savings
resulting from the pilot program adopted by the utility pursuant to
subdivision (f). The commission shall assess the energy savings
resulting from the pilot program and include those savings in the
commission's evaluation of the utility's overall energy efficiency
programs and in establishing targets for the utility pursuant to
Section 454.55 or 454.56. Energy savings shall be measured using
methodologies meeting the suggestions of the National Action Plan for
Energy Efficiency, a private-public initiative to create a
sustainable, aggressive national commitment to energy efficiency
through the collaborative efforts of the natural gas and electrical
industries, utility regulators, and other partner organizations and
facilitated by the United States Department of Energy and the United
States Environmental Protection Agency.
(h) Wholesale electrical or gas purchases, and the rates charged
therefor, are exempt from this section.
(i) Nothing contained in this section shall be construed to
prohibit experimentation with alternative gas or electrical rate
schedules for the purpose of achieving energy conservation.
SEC. 3. SEC. 2. Section 9505 is
added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:
9505. (a) In order to encourage energy savings through behavioral
change, on or before July 1, 2010, each local publicly owned
electric utility and each local publicly owned gas utility with
more than 55,000 residential customer service connections that does
not already have such a program, shall adopt a pilot program to
disclose, not less frequently than quarterly, either in a separate
mailing or on the billing statement of a residential subscriber,
information documenting the amount of energy used by the metered
residence compared to similar residences in the subscriber's
geographical area. The governing board of the utility shall ensure
that the pilot program reaches a statistically significant sampling
of utility customers from, where applicable, diverse geographical
areas, climate zones, and socio-economic backgrounds.
(b) Each local publicly owned electric utility and each local
publicly owned gas utility with more than 55,000 residential
customer servi ce connections that adopts a pilot program
pursuant to this section shall identify those residences that
used significantly more energy during the period than was used by
similar residences with comparable household square footage in the
subscriber's geographical area and ensure that information is
provided most frequently to those subscribers on energy saving
strategies or programs available to assist in financing energy
efficiency improvements, in addition to the information required
pursuant to subdivision (a). A utility customer may expressly
consent to receive this information through electronic mail rather
than through the United States Postal Service.
(c) On or before July 1, 2011, and each July 1 thereafter, each
local publicly owned electric utility and each local publicly owned
gas utility with more than 55,000 residential customer service
connections that adopts a pilot program pursuant to this section
shall report to the Energy Commission on the energy savings
resulting from the pilot program adopted by the utility pursuant to
subdivision (a). Energy savings shall be measured using methodologies
meeting the suggestions of the National Action Plan for Energy
Efficiency, a private-public initiative to create a sustainable,
aggressive national commitment to energy efficiency through the
collaborative efforts of the natural gas and electrical industries,
utility regulators, and other partner organizations and facilitated
by the United States Department of Energy and the United States
Environmental Protection Agency.
(d) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2014, and, as
of January 1, 2015, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2015, deletes or
extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 4. SEC. 3. No reimbursement is
required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution for certain costs that may be incurred by a
local agency or school district because, in that regard, this act
creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction,
or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning
of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of
a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution.
With respect to certain other costs, no reimbursement is required
by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution because a local agency or school district has the
authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to
pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act, within
the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code.