BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2249
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 2, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2249 (Buchanan) - As Amended: April 17, 2012
Policy Committee:
UtilitiesVote:14-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill expands eligibility under the California Solar
Initiative (CSI) Thermal Program to include non-residential
swimming pool heating systems. Specifically, this bill:
1)Makes heating systems for multifamily residential, municipal,
government, education, and non-profit pool facilities eligible
for incentives under the CSI Thermal Program.
2)State legislative intent that the Public Utilities Commission
(PUC):
a) Monitor and adjust program incentives so they are
sufficient to increase solar water heating markets.
b) Ensure increased, uniform growth in each market sector
is achieved through program structure and incentives in
order to prevent overutilization of program resources by
any one sector.
3)Requires the PUC to:
a) Determine the appropriate division of program funds
between solar water heating systems for pools and for other
applications.
b) Review and report, by July 1, 2013, whether program
rebate levels will be sufficient to spur investment to
reach the program goal of installing 200,000 solar water
heating systems by 2017.
AB 2249
Page 2
FISCAL EFFECT
First-year special fund costs to the PUC of around $150,000
(full-time regulatory analyst and part-time administrative law
judge) to implement the expanded program eligibility
requirements. Ongoing costs would be about $115,000 for one
position to monitor the program and ensure that the new
requirements are met by the utilities' program administrators.
COMMENTS
1)Background . AB 1470 (Huffman)/Chapter 536 established the
Solar Water Heating and Efficiency Act of 2007. In January
2010, the PUC formalized the program as the CSI Thermal
Program and provided approximately $280 million in financial
incentives. There is a current unspent balance of more than
$250 million, however, and the program expires in 2017. In
addition to delayed implementation, according to the author's
office, these funds are not being used due to a number of
other factors. Natural gas prices have remained at
historically low rates, creating little incentive for
ratepayers to invest in gas displacing alternatives. Second,
solar water heating has not enjoyed large federal tax
subsidies and the ease of financing that exists for the solar
PV market. Finally, the most efficient use of solar water
heating technology is for heating swimming pools, but this
application was excluded from AB 1470.
2)Purpose . This bill modifies the program's incentive
eligibility criteria to include non-residential solar pool
heating systems in order to remove upfront cost barriers that
currently prevent municipalities, schools and non-profits from
using solar technology. These organizations can thus benefit
from significant operating cost savings associated with
heating their pools-estimated, for example, at $30,000 to
$60,000 annually for pools in the Bay Area.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081