BILL NUMBER: AB 1124 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 10, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 7, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Skinner
(Coauthors: Senators DeSaulnier and Hancock)
FEBRUARY 18, 2011
An act to add Section 383 to the Public Utilities Code, relating
to energy.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1124, as amended, Skinner. Low-Income Energy Efficiency
program.
Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to
establish programs to provide financial assistance for energy
efficiency improvements. The Public Utilities Commission established
the Low-Income Energy Efficiency (LIEE) program to pay for the cost
of energy efficiency improvements for 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 modify the
application of those decisions and would require the commission to
ensure that low-income multifamily rental apartment buildings, as
defined, receive energy efficient furnaces and water heating systems
and energy efficiency measures in common areas recommended by an
energy audit pursuant to the LIEE program, a successor program, or
other energy efficiency program under the jurisdiction of the
commission. The bill would impose additional requirements on the LIEE
program in serving low-income multifamily rental apartment
buildings.
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 sector 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 the 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 rental apartment buildings.
(7) The primary opportunity for energy savings in many multifamily
rental apartment 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."
(9) 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."
(10) 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 these are
the largest potential energy savings in many multifamily rental
apartment 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 rental apartment buildings 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 energy efficient
heating and water heater systems in multifamily rental apartment
buildings and in particular in those that have contracts with
federal, state, or local governmental agencies that require them to
serve low-income households.
(3) Modify the application of 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 383 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
383. (a) (1) As used in this section, "low-income multifamily
rental apartment building" means a building that meets all of the
following requirements prior to receiving assistance:
(A) Has five or more dwelling units.
(B) At least 66 percent of the total dwelling units are occupied
by households with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty
level.
(C) A deed restriction or affordability covenant is held by a
federal, state, or local governmental entity that ensures that the
percentage of units described in subparagraph (B) will be available
at an affordable rent for a period of at least 15 years following
installation of the energy efficiency improvement.
(2) The commission shall establish certification requirements to
implement this subdivision based on the United States
Department of Energy's Weatherization Assistance Program for
Low-Income Persons.
(b) The commission shall ensure that low-income multifamily rental
apartment buildings receive the following forms of assistance
pursuant to the Low-Income Energy Efficiency (LIEE) program, a
successor program, or other energy efficiency program under the
jurisdiction of the commission:
(1) Energy efficient furnaces and water heating systems.
(2) Energy efficiency measures in common areas recommended by an
energy audit.
(c) Financial (1)
Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (2), financial
assistance pursuant to this section shall be for 100 percent of the
cost of the improvement less a percentage equal to the
percent percentage of total dwelling units not
occupied by households with incomes below 200 percent
below of the federal poverty level.
(2) Total expenditures on furnace and water heating replacement
shall not exceed two thousand seven hundred dollars ($2,700) per
dwelling unit.
(d) Financial assistance pursuant to this section only includes
expenditures for equipment and installation costs, and does not
include expenditures for the costs of hiring a consultant to perform
an energy audit or a related service.
(e) The owner or operator of the low-income multifamily rental
apartment building shall pass any cost savings it receives pursuant
to this section to its tenants.
(f) Each gas corporation or electrical corporation implementing a
program pursuant to this section shall publish data on the installed
cost of products funded pursuant to this section.
(d)
(g) The commission shall require the Low-Income Energy
Efficiency (LIEE) program, as implemented by an electrical
corporation or gas corporation, to incorporate all of the following
elements in serving low-income multifamily rental apartment
buildings:
(1) Use a whole building, performance-based approach based on
site-specific measures recommended by an energy audit of the
building.
(2) Provide a single point of entry for low-income multifamily
rental apartment building residents so that they can access
efficiently and effectively the Low-Income Energy Efficiency (LIEE)
program and other energy efficiency program resources.
(3) Eliminate barriers to accessing energy retrofit programs for
owners of low-income multifamily rental apartment buildings.