BILL ANALYSIS Ó 1
SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
ALEX PADILLA, CHAIR
SB 1130 - De León Hearing Date:
April 24, 2012 S
As Amended: April 19, 2012 FISCAL B
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DESCRIPTION
Current law requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to
adopt and update every three years energy efficiency building
regulations that specify requirements relating to lighting,
insulation, windows, heating, ventilation and air conditioning
(HVAC) systems, and other construction details designed to
reduce energy consumption and lower energy bills for consumers.
Current law requires the CEC to develop a comprehensive energy
efficiency strategy for residential and commercial buildings
constructed prior to adoption of state building standards.
Current law requires the California Public Utilities Commission
(CPUC) to investigate the ability of electric utilities to
provide energy efficiency financing options to customers to
implement the CEC's strategy for building retrofits.
This bill requires the CEC, on or before January 1, 2016, to
analyze and evaluate standards for commercial energy building
retrofits previously developed by various national and
international
organizations to provide uniformity and transparency for
financial institutions evaluating loan proposals for energy
improvements to commercial properties.
Current law authorizes local governments to implement a Property
Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program and authorizes them to
issue bonds secured by voluntary contractual assessments on
property to finance the installation of distributed generation
renewable energy sources, electric vehicle charging
infrastructure, or energy or water efficiency improvements.
This bill provides that the evaluation required by this bill
shall evaluate existing protocols or combination of elements of
existing measurement protocols and shall be made available in an
electronic format to financial institutions and local
governments initiating PACE bonds.
BACKGROUND
Energy efficiency is California's top strategy for reducing
energy use and meeting the state's energy needs. Energy
efficiency is at the top of the "loading order," and
California's utilities are required to first meet their energy
needs through cost-effective energy efficiency measures before
renewable and conventional generation. The state's investor
owned utilities (IOUs) and, to a lesser extent, the publicly
owned utilities (POUs), administer hundreds of energy efficiency
programs that provide financial incentives and rebates for
installing energy efficient appliances, lighting, windows, HVAC
systems and other technologies or measures.
As reviewed in an informational hearing of this committee on May
17, 2011, California has made substantial investment in a
multitude of energy efficiency programs financed with ratepayer
and taxpayer dollars, including:
$1 billion per year from IOU ratepayers for programs
approved by the CPUC, with about 29 percent for commercial
buildings.
$300 million per year from IOU ratepayers for free
weatherization services for IOU low-income customers
approved by the CPUC.
$30 million per year in federal funding for free
weatherization services for low-income residents
administered by the California Department of Community
Services and Development (CDCS).
$185 million in one-time funding for free weatherization
services for low-income residents from the American
Recovery and Reinvestment and Act of 2009 (ARRA)
administered by CDCS.
$280 million in one-time ARRA funds for energy
efficiency programs administered or coordinated by the CEC.
In addition, the California Alternative Energy and Advanced
Transportation Financing Authority (CAEATFA) within the State
Treasurer's Office is implementing a loan program for financing
energy efficiency upgrades and other clean energy investments
with $25 million in ratepayer funds.
Focus on Buildings - California's Title 24 energy efficiency
building regulations, first adopted by the CEC in 1978 and
updated every three years, specify requirements relating to
lighting, insulation, windows, HVAC systems, and other
construction details designed to reduce energy consumption and
lower energy bills for consumers. The state's Title 20 energy
efficiency appliance regulations specify energy use standards
for most major household and commercial appliances that must be
met in order to be sold in California. There is general
agreement that these building and appliance standards have been
a major contributor to the state making progress toward
achieving energy efficiency goals. An update of the standards
is in progress.
AB 758 (Skinner, 2009) responded to the fact that about 60
percent of California's residential and nonresidential buildings
were built prior to adoption of the building standards. AB 758
requires the CEC to develop a comprehensive energy efficiency
strategy for this old building stock, both residential and
nonresidential. To date, the CEC has used ARRA funds for some
pilot programs to develop and advance the tools, protocols and
workforce to conduct best practice building energy assessments
and retrofits, which the CEC says will generate information for
developing the long-term strategy. As required by AB 758, the
CPUC has opened a rulemaking to investigate the ability of IOUs
to provide energy efficiency financing options to customers to
implement the CEC's strategy for building retrofits and is
considering financing as part of its proceedings governing the
IOU energy efficiency portfolios.
COMMENTS
1. Author's Purpose . According to the author, this bill
will "Ýset] in motion standardization of building
efficiency standards" and will "standardize building
efficiency measurements and standards to provide a better
foundation and surety encouraging private capital
investment in retrofits."
2. What Standards and Why ? The brief text of this bill and
the minimal background information from the author provides
little detail or specificity as to what energy efficiency
standards or protocols the CEC is required to evaluate or
how a CEC evaluation of national or international standards
previously developed will lead to more private capital
investment in California energy efficiency retrofits. The
committee may want to consider how this requirement that
CEC engage in evaluation of minimally specified standards,
and the requirement that this evaluation be made available
in electronic format to banks and local governments with
PACE programs, fits into myriad other energy efficiency
programs being implemented by the CEC, CPUC, and other
federal, state and local agencies. Do the requirements of
this bill duplicate other efforts already underway and
funded with taxpayer and ratepayer dollars?
3. Ratepayer Impact . Because the activities of the CEC are
funded by ratepayer funds, the evaluation that this bill
requires to conduct and to provide to banks and local
governments will be borne by ratepayers.
POSITIONS
Sponsor:
Author
Support:
None
Oppose:
None
Jacqueline Kinney
SB 1130 Analysis
Hearing Date: April 24, 2012