BILL NUMBER: SB 488 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 31, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 17, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 15, 2009
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 amend Section 25310 of the Public Resources Code, and to
add and repeal Sections 715 and 9615.5 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 (PUC) has
regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical
corporations and gas corporations, as defined. The existing Public
Utilities Act requires the PUC to review and adopt a procurement plan
for each electrical corporation. The act requires the 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 an electrical corporation to
achieve pursuant to its procurement plan. The act requires that an
electrical corporation's procurement plan include a showing that the
electrical corporation will first meet its unmet resource needs
through all available energy efficiency and demand reduction
resources that are cost effective, reliable, and feasible. The act
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 the gas
corporation to achieve these targets and to require that a gas
corporation first meet its unmet gas resource needs through all
available natural gas efficiency and demand reduction resources that
are cost effective, reliable, and feasible. The 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 PUC's Consumer
Affairs Branch, and to make available online to residential customers
specified information on usage and energy conservation measures. The
act authorizes the PUC 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 PUC, 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 each electrical corporation and gas
corporation having a comparative energy usage disclosure program, as
defined, to report to the PUC the nature of the utility's program and
the energy savings resulting from that program on or before March
15, 2010, or within 90 days of having collected a year's worth of
data, and each March 15, or one year from the last reporting date,
thereafter, up to and including March 15, 2014. The bill would
require the PUC, using an experimental design, as defined, to
evaluate the information supplied by electrical corporations and gas
corporations relative to their comparative energy usage disclosure
programs and to determine the net energy savings that are currently
being achieved and which could be achieved through expansion of
comparative energy usage disclosure programs. The bill would require
the PUC to report to the Energy Commission and the Legislature on the
results of its evaluation and any action undertaken by the PUC in
response to the evaluation. These requirements would become
inoperative on July 1, 2015, and would repeal on January 1, 2016.
Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any
order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC
is a crime.
Because the provisions of this bill are within the act and a
violation of the bill's requirements would be a crime, the bill would
impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime.
(2) The Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Act establishes the Energy Commission and requires it to
prepare an integrated energy policy report on or before November 1,
2003, and every 2 years thereafter. Existing law requires the Energy
Commission, on or before November 1, 2007, and every 3 years
thereafter, in consultation with the PUC and local publicly owned
electric utilities, in a public process that allows input from other
stakeholders, to develop a statewide estimate of all potentially
achievable cost-effective electricity and natural gas efficiency
savings and establish statewide annual targets for energy efficiency
savings and demand reduction over 10 years. Existing law requires the
Energy Commission to include in the integrated energy policy report,
for each electrical corporation and each gas corporation, a
comparison of the public utility's annual energy efficiency targets,
and the public utility's actual energy efficiency savings and demand
reductions.
Existing law requires each local publicly owned electric utility,
as defined, in procuring energy, to first acquire all available
energy efficiency and demand reduction resources that are cost
effective, reliable, and feasible. Existing law requires each local
publicly owned electric utility to report annually to its customers
and to the Energy Commission , its investment in
energy efficiency and demand reduction programs, as specified.
Existing law requires a local publicly owned electric utility, on or
before June 1, 2007, and every 3 years thereafter, to identify all
potentially achievable cost-effective electricity efficiency savings
and to establish annual targets for energy efficiency savings and
demand reduction over 10 years. Existing law requires a local
publicly owned electric utility to report those targets to the Energy
Commission within 60 days of the date of adoption.
This bill would require each local publicly owned electric utility
having a an active comparative
electricity usage disclosure program, as defined, to report to the
Energy Commission the nature of the utility's program and the energy
savings resulting from that program on or before March 15, 2010, or
within 90 days of having collected a year's worth of data, and each
March 15, or one year from the last reporting date, thereafter, up to
and including, March 15, 2014. The bill would authorize the Energy
Commission to request additional information from
a local publicly owned electric utility that the Energy Commission
determines is needed to evaluate the potentially achievable
cost-effective electricity efficiency savings achievable through an
expansion or statewide deployment of comparative electricity usage
disclosure programs. The bill would authorize the PUC, for comparison
purposes in performing the above-described evaluation, to request
that the Energy Commission supply the PUC with the information
supplied by a local publicly owned electric utility about its
comparative electricity usage disclosure program. These requirements
would become inoperative on July 1, 2015, and would repeal on January
1, 2016.
This bill would require that the Energy Commission, in developing
a statewide estimate of all potentially achievable cost-effective
electricity and natural gas efficiency savings and establishing
targets for statewide annual energy efficiency savings and demand
reduction, to consider the information supplied relative to
comparative energy or electricity usage disclosure programs.
(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 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:
SECTION 1. Section 25310 of the Public Resources Code is amended
to read:
25310. On or before November 1, 2007, and by November 1 of every
third year thereafter, the commission in consultation with the Public
Utilities Commission and local publicly owned electric utilities, in
a public process that allows input from other stakeholders, shall
develop a statewide estimate of all potentially achievable
cost-effective electricity and natural gas efficiency savings and
establish targets for statewide annual energy efficiency savings and
demand reduction for the next 10-year period. The commission shall
base its estimate at least in part on information developed pursuant
to Sections 454.55, 454.56, 715, 9615, and 9615.5 of the Public
Utilities Code. The commission shall, for each electrical corporation
and each gas corporation, include in the integrated energy policy
report, a comparison of the public utility's annual targets
established pursuant to Sections 454.55 and 454.56, and the public
utility's actual energy efficiency savings and demand reductions.
SEC. 2. Section 715 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
715. (a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have
the following meanings:
(1) "Comparative energy usage disclosure program" means a program
pursuant to which an electrical corporation or gas corporation
discloses information to residential subscribers relative to the
amount of energy used by the metered residence compared to similar
residences in the subscriber's geographical area.
(2) "Experimental design" with respect to an energy efficiency
evaluation has that meaning as described on pages 30 and 31 of the
commission's publication titled "California Energy Efficiency
Evaluation Protocols: Technical, Methodological, and Reporting
Requirements for Evaluation Professionals" and
Professionals," dated April 2006.
(b) In order for the commission to evaluate potential energy
savings that can be achieved through behavioral change, on or before
March 15, 2010, or within 90 days of having collected a year's worth
of data, and each March 15, or one year from the last reporting date,
thereafter, up to and including March 15, 2014, each electrical
corporation and gas corporation having a comparative energy usage
disclosure program shall report to the commission the nature of the
utility's program and the energy savings resulting from that program.
(c) (1) The commission shall, using an experimental design,
evaluate the information supplied by electrical corporations and gas
corporations relative to their comparative energy usage disclosure
programs and determine the net energy savings that are currently
being achieved and which could be achieved through expansion of
comparative energy usage disclosure programs.
(2) The commission may request additional information from an
electrical corporation or gas corporation that the commission
determines is needed to perform the evaluation pursuant to paragraph
(1). An electrical corporation or gas corporation from which the
commission requests additional information shall timely provide the
commission with the information requested if it is reasonably
available. The commission may, for comparison purposes, additionally
request that the Energy Commission supply the commission with that
information supplied by a local publicly owned electric utility
pursuant to Section 9615.5.
(d) The commission shall report to the Energy Commission and the
Legislature on the results of its evaluation and any action
undertaken by the commission in response to the evaluation.
(e) Nothing in this section limits the authority of the
commission, pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (e) of Section
739, to require an electrical corporation or gas corporation to
disclose comparative energy usage information on the billing
statement of a residential customer.
(f) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2015, and, as
of January 1, 2016, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2016, deletes or
extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 3. Section 9615.5 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
9615.5. (a) For purposes of this section, "comparative
electricity usage disclosure program" means a program pursuant to
which a local publicly owned electric utility discloses information
to residential subscribers relative to the amount of electricity used
by the metered residence compared to similar residences in the
subscriber's geographical area.
(b) In order for the Energy Commission to evaluate potential
cost-effective energy savings and demand reductions that can be
achieved through behavioral change and to incorporate that
information in establishing targets for statewide annual energy
efficiency savings pursuant to Section 25310 of the Public Resources
Code, on or before March 15, 2010, or within 90 days of having
collected a year's worth of data, and each March 15, or one year from
the last reporting date, thereafter, up to and including March 15,
2014, each local publicly owned electric utility having a
an active comparative electricity usage
disclosure program , shall report to the Energy
Commission , in its annual report prepared pursuant to
subdivision (d) of Section 9615, the nature of the utility's
program and the energy savings resulting from that program.
(c) The Energy Commission may request additional
information from a local publicly owned electric utility
that the Energy Commission determines is needed to evaluate the
potentially achievable cost-effective electricity efficiency savings
achievable through an expansion or statewide deployment of
comparative electricity usage disclosure programs.
(d) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2015, and, as
of January 1, 2016, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2016, deletes or
extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 4. 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.