BILL ANALYSIS
SB 488
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 488 (Pavley)
As Amended August 31, 2009
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :34-3
UTILITIES & COMMERCE 13-0 APPROPRIATIONS
15-1
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|Ayes:|Fuentes, Tom Berryhill, |Ayes:|De Leon, Conway, Ammiano, |
| |Buchanan, Carter, Fong, | | Charles Calderon, Coto, |
| |Furutani, Huffman, | |Davis, Fuentes, Hall, |
| |Krekorian, Skinner, | |Miller, John A. Perez, |
| |Smyth, Swanson, Torrico, | |Skinner, Solorio, Audra |
| |Villines | |Strickland, Torlakson, |
| | | |Hill |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | |Nays:|Nielsen |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires publicly-owned utilities (POUs) and
investor-owned utilities (IOUs) that provide individual
residential electricity or gas customers with information
comparing their energy use with similar residences to report to
the state on the energy savings resulting from such programs.
Specifically, this bill requires:
1)IOUs with comparative energy usage disclosure programs to report
to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) by March 15, 2010, or
within 90 days of having collected one year's worth of data, and
annually thereafter until March 15, 2014, on the nature of the
program and the program's energy savings.
2)PUC to evaluate the information provided per 1) above, to
determine the net energy savings being generated by such
programs, and report its findings to the California Energy
Commission (CEC) and the Legislature.
3)POUs with ongoing usage disclosure programs to provide the same
information required of the IOUs to CEC.
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4)CEC to incorporate the information obtained per 2) and 3) above
into its estimate of potentially achievable cost-effective
energy savings, as included in CEC's Integrated Energy Policy
Report (IEPR).
5)Makes all of the above inoperative on July 1, 2015.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires each IOU and each local POU, in procuring energy to
serve the load of its retail end-use customers, to first acquire
all available energy efficiency and demand reduction resources
that are cost effective, reliable, and feasible before procuring
other resources.
2)Requires CEC and PUC to 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 a
10-year period for both POUs and IOUs.
3)Establishes a Public Goods Charge that consumers pay through
their utility bills for cost-effective energy efficiency,
renewable technologies, public interest energy research, and
low-income assistance programs.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)Minor annual costs (about $20,000) for PUC to evaluate IOUs
comparative energy usage programs. [Public Utilities
Reimbursement Account]
2)Minor absorbable costs for CEC to incorporate information from
IOUs and POUs into IEPR.
COMMENTS : Numerous studies have shown that a significant amount
of residential energy efficiency savings can result from
behavioral changes as opposed to new technologies. Research
indicates that the desire to keep up with one's peers can be
highly effective in causing consumers to lower their energy
consumption. A 2004 study conducted in San Diego, which
measured consumers' responsiveness to various reasons to implement
energy efficiency measures, found that peer pressure was more
effective in changing consumer behavior than the
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desire to mitigate negative environmental impacts or even the
desire to obtain financial savings.
This bill would provide for compilation by the state of the
results of existing comparative energy usage programs, presumably
to determine the potential impact and efficacy of expanding such
programs statewide.
Analysis Prepared by : Nina Kapoor / U. & C. / (916) 319-2083
FN: 0002771