BILL NUMBER: AB 1124 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Skinner
(Coauthors: Senators DeSaulnier and Hancock)
FEBRUARY 18, 2011
An act to add Section 385.5 to the Public Utilities Code, relating
to the Low-Income Energy Efficiency program.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1124, as introduced, Skinner. Low-Income Energy Efficiency
program.
Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to
establish programs to provide financial assistance for energy
efficiency improvements for existing residential and nonresidential
building stock. Pursuant to this authorization, the Public Utilities
Commission established the Low-Income Energy Efficiency (LIEE)
program to pay for the cost of energy efficiency improvements to
dwellings occupied by low-income households. Decisions issued by the
commission held, among other things, that repairs or replacements of
furnaces or water heating systems for a multifamily building occupied
by low-income households do not qualify for financial assistance
under the LIEE program.
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to disapprove
the above holding of those decisions and would provide that the
energy efficiency improvements to furnaces or water heating systems
for multifamily buildings occupied by low-income households in a
majority of the units are eligible for financial assistance under the
LIEE program and other energy efficiency programs under the
jurisdiction of the commission.
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. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) The Legislature enacted Chapter 470 of the Statutes of 2009
(Chapter 470) and directed the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and
the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission
(Energy Commission) to develop policies and plans to encourage
improvement to all existing buildings in California.
(2) Pursuant to Chapter 470, the Energy Commission is required to
develop a comprehensive program to achieve greater energy savings in
the state's existing residential and nonresidential building stock
and energy efficiency financing options.
(3) Pursuant to Chapter 470, the PUC is required to investigate
the ability of the 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 and to assess the implementation of the program
by the electrical corporations and the gas corporations.
(4) The residential sectors represents approximately 32 percent of
the total electricity usage and 36 percent of the total natural gas
consumption, and low-income households consume 27 percent more energy
due to the age and condition of the housing they can afford to live
in.
(5) The PUC has approved the use of ratepayer funds to pay for 100
percent of the cost of certain energy efficiency improvements to
dwellings occupied by low-income households with incomes below 200
percent of the federal poverty level in the form of Low-Income Energy
Efficiency (LIEE) program.
(6) More than one-half of the eligible low-income households with
incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level live in
multifamily buildings.
(7) The primary opportunity for energy savings in many multifamily
buildings is in increasing the efficiency of the heating and hot
water systems.
(8) Decision 07-12-051 issued by the PUC on December 12, 2007,
stated that "w]e are not convinced that utility ratepayers should
assume the costs of appliance repairs and replacements."
(8) Decision 08-11-031 issued by the PUC on November 10, 2008,
reaffirmed the position of the PUC stated in Decision 07-12-051 by
ruling that "no furnace repair and replacement or water heater repair
or replacement work shall occur in violation of our holding in
D.07-12-051 that heating and water heating in rental housing are the
responsibility of the landlord."
(9) The PUC has interpreted that decision to mean that, with
respect to the LIEE program, only minor repairs and adjustments may
be made to furnaces and water heaters for the purpose of increasing
energy efficiency. As a consequence, contractors implementing the
LIEE program have generally avoided investing LIEE funds in improving
the efficiency of furnaces and water heaters even though this is the
largest potential energy saving in multifamily buildings.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature to do all of the
following:
(1) Promote the investment of existing ratepayer energy efficiency
funds to increase the efficiency of furnace and water heating
systems in multifamily housing occupied by low-income households to
achieve the maximum potential energy savings in the residential
sector.
(2) Promote the use of ratepayer funds to pay for improvements to
heating and water heater systems in multifamily properties and in
particular in those that have contracts with federal, state, or local
agencies that require them to serve low-income households in a
majority of the units for not less than 30 years.
(3) Disapprove the Decision 07-12-051 and Decision 08-11-031,
insofar as those decisions disallowed the repair or replacement of
furnaces and water heaters through the LIEE or other residential
energy efficiency programs under the PUC's jurisdiction.
SEC. 2. Section 385.5 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
385.5. (a) Energy efficiency improvements to furnaces and water
heating systems for multifamily buildings occupied by low-income
households in a majority of the units shall be eligible for financial
assistance pursuant to the Low-Income Energy Efficiency (LIEE)
program and other energy efficiency program under the jurisdiction of
the commission.
(b) The commission shall give priority consideration in the
approval of an eligible energy efficiency improvement as specified in
subdivision (a) that has all of the following objectives:
(1) Demonstrate the greater cost-effectiveness of energy retrofits
to larger multifamily buildings using a whole building,
performance-based approach.
(2) Demonstrate the advantage of a program with a single point of
entry for low-income multifamily properties, recognizing the unique
needs of low-income multifamily housing.
(3) Eliminate barriers to accessing energy retrofit programs for
providers of low-income multifamily properties.
(4) Align income eligibility and other programmatic requirements
with other federal and state energy rebate and incentive programs to
maximize leveraging opportunities.