Bill Text: CA SB488 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Amended
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Energy: energy usage information.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2009-10-11 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 352, Statutes of 2009. [SB488 Detail]
Download: California-2009-SB488-Amended.html
Bill Title: Energy: energy usage information.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2009-10-11 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 352, Statutes of 2009. [SB488 Detail]
Download: California-2009-SB488-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 488 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 15, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 15, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 28, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 20, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 5, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 14, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Senator Pavley
FEBRUARY 26, 2009
An act to add and repeal Section 9505 to, and to add and
repeal Chapter 6.1 (commencing with Section 2795) of Part 2 of
Division 1 of, An act to amend Section 25310 of the
Public Resources Code, and to add and repeal Sections 715 and 9615.5
of the Public Utilities Code, relating to energy.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 488, as amended, Pavley. Energy: energy usage information.
(1) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC)
has regulatory authority over public utilities, including
electrical corporations and gas corporations, as defined. The
existing Public Utilities Act requires the PUC to review and
adopt a procurement plan for each electrical corporation. The act
requires the PUC, in consultation with the State Energy Resources
Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission), to
identify all potentially achievable cost-effective electricity
efficiency savings and to establish efficiency targets for an
electrical corporation to achieve pursuant to its procurement plan.
The act requires that an electrical corporation's procurement plan
include a showing that the electrical corporation will first meet
its unmet resource needs through all available energy
efficiency and demand reduction resources that are cost
effective, reliable, and feasible. The act requires the PUC, in
consultation with the Energy Commission, to identify all potentially
achievable cost-effective natural gas efficiency savings and to
establish efficiency targets for the gas corporation to achieve these
targets and to require that a gas corporation first meet its unmet
gas resource needs through all available natural gas efficiency and
demand reduction resources that are cost effective, reliable, and
feasible. The act requires each electrical corporation and each
gas corporation to disclose on the residential customer's billing
statement specified information on usage and cost, and contact
information for the commission's PUC's
Consumer Affairs Branch, and to make available online to residential
customers specified information on usage and energy conservation
measures. The act authorizes the commission
PUC to modify, adjust, or add to these requirements as the
individual circumstances of each electrical corporation or gas
corporation merit, or for master-meter customers, as individual
circumstances merit. The act requires the commission
PUC , as part of the general rate case of an
electrical corporation or gas corporation, to assess opportunities to
improve the quality of information contained in the utility's
periodic billings.
This bill would require the commission, on or before July
1, 2010, to require each electrical corporation and each gas
corporation with more than 55,000 residential customer service
connections that does not already have such a program, to adopt a
pilot program to disclose, not less frequently than quarterly, either
in a separate mailing or on the billing statement of a residential
subscriber, information documenting the amount of energy used by the
metered residence compared to similar residences in the subscriber's
geographical area. The bill would require the commission to require
each electrical corporation and each gas corporation with more than
55,000 residential customer service connections, to identify those
residences that used significantly more energy during the period than
was used by similar residences with comparable household square
footage in the subscriber's geographical area and to ensure that
information is provided most frequently to those subscribers on
energy saving strategies or programs available to assist in financing
energy efficiency improvements, in addition to the above-described
information relative to energy usage. The bill would require that the
cost of any pilot program adopted pursuant to these requirements be
recovered only from the residential ratepayers of the electrical
corporation or gas corporation. The bill would require each
electrical corporation and each gas corporation with more than 55,000
residential customer service connections, on or before July 1, 2011,
and each July 1 thereafter, to submit to the commission and the
Legislature a report on the energy savings resulting from the pilot
program adopted by the utility each electrical
corporation and gas corporation having a comparative energy usage
disclosure program, as defined, to report to the PUC the nature of
the utility's program and the energy savings resulting from that
program on or before March 15, 2010 , and each
March 15 thereafter to, and including,
March 15 , 2015. The bill would
allow an electrical corporation or gas corporation that has not
completed the implementation of its program prior to March 15, 2010,
to make its initial report to the PUC on or before March 15, 2011.
The bill would require the PUC, using an experimental
design, as defined, to evaluate the information supplied by
electrical corporations and gas corporations relative to their
comparative energy usage disclosure programs and to determine the net
energy savings that are currently being
achieved and which could be achieved through expansion of comparative
energy usage disclosure programs. The bill would require the PUC to
report to the Energy Commission and the Legislature on the
results of its evaluation and any action undertaken by the PUC in
response to the evaluation . These requirements would become
inoperative on July 1, 2014 2015 , and
would repeal on January 1, 2015 2016 .
Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any
order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the
commission PUC is a crime.
Because the provisions of this bill require action by the
commission to implement its requirements, a violation of the
commission's requirements are within the act and a
violation of the bill's requirements would be a crime, the bill
would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime.
(2) Existing law defines weatherization and requires each publicly
owned electric and gas utility that provides the energy for space
heating for low-income customers to provide home weatherization
services for those customers if a significant need for those services
exists in the utility's service territory, taking into consideration
both the cost-effectiveness of the services and the public policy of
reducing financial hardships facing low-income households. Existing
law requires each publicly owned electric and gas utility to submit a
biennial report to the State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission (Energy Commission) describing the status of
its low-income weatherization programs.
This bill would require each local publicly owned electric utility
and each local publicly owned gas utility with more than 55,000
residential customer service connections that does not already have
such a program, on or before July 1, 2010, to adopt a pilot program
to disclose, not less frequently than quarterly, either in a separate
mailing or on the billing statement of a residential subscriber,
information documenting the amount of energy used by the metered
residence compared to similar residences in the subscriber's
geographical area. The bill would require each local publicly owned
electric utility and each local publicly owned gas utility adopting a
pilot program pursuant to the above-described requirement, to
identify those residences that used significantly more energy during
the period than was used by similar residences with comparable
household square footage in the subscriber's geographical area and to
ensure that information is provided most frequently to those
subscribers on energy saving strategies or programs available to
assist in financing energy efficiency improvements, in addition to
the above-described information relative to energy usage. The bill
would require each local publicly owned electric utility and each
local publicly owned gas utility adopting a pilot program pursuant to
the above-described requirement, on or before July 1, 2011, and by
July 1 each year thereafter, to report to the Energy Commission on
the energy savings resulting from the pilot program adopted by the
utility pursuant to these requirements. These requirements would
become inoperative on July 1, 2014, and would repeal on January 1,
2015. By placing additional requirements upon local publicly owned
electric and gas utilities, the bill would impose a state-mandated
local program.
(2) The Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Act establishes the Energy Commission and requires it to
prepare an integrated energy policy report on or before November 1,
2003, and every 2 years thereafter. Existing law requires the Energy
Commission, on or before November 1, 2007, and every 3 years
thereafter, in consultation with the PUC and local publicly owned
electric utilities, in a public process that allows input from other
stakeholders, to develop a statewide estimate of all potentially
achievable cost-effective electricity and natural gas efficiency
savings and establish statewide annual targets for energy efficiency
savings and demand reduction over 10 years. Existing law requires the
Energy Commission to include in the integrated energy policy report,
for each electrical corporation and each gas corporation, a
comparison of the public utility's annual energy efficiency targets,
and the public utility's actual energy efficiency savings and demand
reductions.
Existing law requires each local publicly owned electric utility,
as defined, in procuring energy, to first acquire all available
energy efficiency and demand reduction resources that are cost
effective, reliable, and feasible. Existing law requires each local
publicly owned electric utility to report annually to its customers
and to the Energy Commission, its investment in energy efficiency and
demand reduction programs, as specified. Existing law requires a
local publicly owned electric utility, on or before June 1, 2007, and
every 3 years thereafter, to identify all potentially achievable
cost-effective electricity efficiency savings and to establish annual
targets for energy efficiency savings and demand reduction over 10
years. Existing law requires a local publicly owned electric utility
to report those targets to the Energy Commission within 60 days of
the date of adoption.
This bill would require each local publicly owned electric utility
having a comparative electricity usage disclosure program, as
defined, to report to the Energy Commission the nature of the utility'
s program and the energy savings resulting from that program on or
before March 15, 2010, and each March 15 thereafter to, and
including, March 15, 2015. The bill would allow a local publicly
owned electric utility that has not completed the implementation of
its program prior to March 15, 2010, to make its initial report to
the Energy Commission on or before March 15, 2011. The bill would
authorize the Energy Commission to request additional information
from a local publicly owned electric utility that the Energy
Commission determines is needed to evaluate the potentially
achievable cost-effective electricity efficiency savings achievable
through an expansion or statewide deployment of comparative
electricity usage disclosure programs. The bill would authorize the
PUC, for comparison purposes in performing the above-described
evaluation, to request that the Energy Commission supply the PUC with
the information supplied by a local publicly owned electric utility
about its comparative electricity usage disclosure program. These
requirements would become inoperative on July 1, 2015, and would
repeal on January 1, 2016.
This bill would require that the Energy Commission, in developing
a statewide estimate of all potentially achievable cost-effective
electricity and natural gas efficiency savings and establishing
targets for statewide annual energy efficiency savings and demand
reduction, to consider the information supplied relative to
comparative energy or electricity usage disclosure programs.
(3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for specified reasons.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 25310 of the Public
Resources Code is amended to read:
25310. On or before November 1, 2007, and by November 1 of every
third year thereafter, the commission in consultation with the Public
Utilities Commission and local publicly owned electric utilities, in
a public process that allows input from other stakeholders, shall
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 the next 10-year period. The commission shall
base its estimate at least in part on information developed pursuant
to Sections 454.55, 454.56, and 9615 715,
9615, and 9615.5 of the Public Utilities Code. The commission
shall, for each electrical corporation and each gas corporation,
include in the integrated energy policy report, a comparison of the
public utility's annual targets established pursuant to Sections
454.55 and 454.56, and the public utility's actual energy efficiency
savings and demand reductions.
SEC. 2. Section 715 is added to the
Public Utilities Code , to read:
715. (a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have
the following meanings:
(1) "Comparative energy usage disclosure program" means a program
pursuant to which an electrical corporation or gas corporation
discloses information to residential subscribers relative to the
amount of energy used by the metered residence compared to similar
residences in the subscriber's geographical area.
(2) "Experimental design" with respect to an energy efficiency
evaluation has that meaning as described on pages 30 and 31 of the
commission's publication titled "California Energy Efficiency
Evaluation Protocols: Technical, Methodological, and Reporting
Requirements for Evaluation Professionals" and dated April 2006.
(b) In order for the commission to evaluate potential energy
savings that can be achieved through behavioral change, on or before
March 15, 2010, and each March 15 thereafter to, and including, March
15, 2015, each electrical corporation and gas corporation having a
comparative energy usage disclosure program shall report to the
commission the nature of the utility's program and the energy savings
resulting from that program. An electrical corporation or gas
corporation that has not completed the implementation of its
comparative energy usage disclosure program prior to March 15, 2010,
may make its initial report to the commission pursuant to this
subdivision on or before March 15, 2011.
(c) (1) The commission shall, using an experimental design,
evaluate the information supplied by electrical corporations and gas
corporations relative to their comparative energy usage disclosure
programs and determine the net energy savings that are currently
being achieved and which could be achieved through expansion of
comparative energy usage disclosure programs.
(2) The commission may request additional information from an
electrical corporation or gas corporation that the commission
determines is needed to perform the evaluation pursuant to paragraph
(1). An electrical corporation or gas corporation from which the
commission requests additional information shall timely provide the
commission with the information requested if it is reasonably
available. The commission may, for comparison purposes, additionally
request that the Energy Commission supply the commission with that
information supplied by a local publicly owned electric utility
pursuant to Section 9615.5.
(d) The commission shall report to the Energy Commission and the
Legislature on the results of its evaluation and any action
undertaken by the commission in response to the evaluation.
(e) Nothing in this section limits the authority of the
commission, pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (e) of Section
739, to require an electrical corporation or gas corporation to
disclose comparative energy usage information on the billing
statement of a residential customer.
(f) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2015, and, as
of January 1, 2016, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2016, deletes or
extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 3. Section 9615.5 is added to the
Public Utilities Code , to read:
9615.5. (a) For purposes of this section, "comparative
electricity usage disclosure program" means a program pursuant to
which a local publicly owned electric utility discloses information
to residential subscribers relative to the amount of electricity used
by the metered residence compared to similar residences in the
subscriber's geographical area.
(b) In order for the Energy Commission to evaluate potential
cost-effective energy savings and demand reductions that can be
achieved through behavioral change and to incorporate that
information in establishing targets for statewide annual energy
efficiency savings pursuant to Section 25310 of the Public Resources
Code, on or before March 15, 2010, and each March 15 thereafter to,
and including, March 15, 2015, each local publicly owned electric
utility having a comparative electricity usage disclosure program,
shall report to the Energy Commission the nature of the utility's
program and the energy savings resulting from that program. A local
publicly owned electric utility that has not completed the
implementation of its comparative energy usage disclosure program
prior to March 15, 2010, may make its initial report to the Energy
Commission pursuant to this subdivision on or before March 15, 2011.
(c) The Energy Commission may request additional information from
a local publicly owned electric utility that the Energy Commission
determines is needed to evaluate the potentially achievable
cost-effective electricity efficiency savings achievable through an
expansion or statewide deployment of comparative electricity usage
disclosure programs.
(d) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2015, and, as
of January 1, 2016, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2016, deletes or
extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SECTION 1. Chapter 6.1 (commencing with Section
2795) is added to Part 2 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code,
to read:
CHAPTER 6.1. ENERGY USAGE DISCLOSURE PILOT PROGRAM
2795. In order to encourage energy savings through behavioral
change, on or before July 1, 2010, the commission shall require each
electrical corporation and each gas corporation with more than 55,000
residential customer service connections that does not already have
such a program, to adopt a pilot program to disclose, not less
frequently than quarterly, either in a separate mailing or on the
billing statement of a residential subscriber, information
documenting the amount of energy used by the metered residence
compared to similar residences in the subscriber's geographical area.
The commission shall ensure that the pilot program reaches a
statistically significant sampling of utility customers from, where
applicable, diverse geographical areas, climate zones, and
socioeconomic backgrounds.
2796. The commission shall require each electrical corporation
and each gas corporation having a preexisting pilot program or a
pilot program adopted pursuant to Section 2795, to identify those
residences that used significantly more energy during the period than
was used by similar residences with comparable household square
footage in the subscriber's geographical area and ensure that
information is provided most frequently to those subscribers on
energy saving strategies or programs available to assist in financing
energy efficiency improvements, in addition to the information
required pursuant to Section 2795. A utility customer may expressly
consent to receive this information through electronic mail rather
than through the United States Postal Service.
2797. On or before July 1, 2011, and each July 1 thereafter, each
electrical corporation and each gas corporation having a preexisting
program or a pilot program adopted pursuant to Section 2795, shall
submit to the commission and the Legislature a report on the energy
savings resulting from the program. The commission shall assess the
energy savings resulting from the program and include those savings
in the commission's evaluation of the utility's overall energy
efficiency programs and in establishing targets for the utility
pursuant to Section 454.55 or 454.56. Energy savings shall be
measured using methodologies meeting the suggestions of the National
Action Plan for Energy Efficiency, a private-public initiative to
create a sustainable, aggressive national commitment to energy
efficiency through the collaborative efforts of the natural gas and
electrical industries, utility regulators, and other partner
organizations and facilitated by the United States Department of
Energy and the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
2798. The cost of any pilot program adopted pursuant to this
chapter shall be recovered only from the residential ratepayers of
the electrical corporation or gas corporation.
2799. This chapter shall become inoperative on July 1, 2014, and,
as of January 1, 2015, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2015, deletes or
extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 2. Section 9505 is added to the Public
Utilities Code, to read:
9505. (a) In order to encourage energy savings through behavioral
change, on or before July 1, 2010, each local publicly owned
electric utility and each local publicly owned gas utility with more
than 55,000 residential customer service connections that does not
already have such a program, shall adopt a pilot program to disclose,
not less frequently than quarterly, either in a separate mailing or
on the billing statement of a residential subscriber, information
documenting the amount of energy used by the metered residence
compared to similar residences in the subscriber's geographical area.
The governing board of the utility shall ensure that the pilot
program reaches a statistically significant sampling of utility
customers from, where applicable, diverse geographical areas, climate
zones, and socio-economic backgrounds.
(b) Each local publicly owned electric utility and each local
publicly owned gas utility with more than 55,000 residential customer
service connections that adopts a pilot program pursuant to this
section shall identify those residences that used significantly more
energy during the period than was used by similar residences with
comparable household square footage in the subscriber's geographical
area and ensure that information is provided most frequently to those
subscribers on energy saving strategies or programs available to
assist in financing energy efficiency improvements, in addition to
the information required pursuant to subdivision (a). A utility
customer may expressly consent to receive this information through
electronic mail rather than through the United States Postal Service.
(c) On or before July 1, 2011, and each July 1 thereafter, each
local publicly owned electric utility and each local publicly owned
gas utility with more than 55,000 residential customer service
connections that adopts a pilot program pursuant to this section
shall report to the Energy Commission on the energy savings resulting
from the pilot program adopted by the utility pursuant to
subdivision (a). Energy savings shall be measured using methodologies
meeting the suggestions of the National Action Plan for Energy
Efficiency, a private-public initiative to create a sustainable,
aggressive national commitment to energy efficiency through the
collaborative efforts of the natural gas and electrical industries,
utility regulators, and other partner organizations and facilitated
by the United States Department of Energy and the United States
Environmental Protection Agency.
(d) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2014, and, as
of January 1, 2015, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2015, deletes or
extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
SEC. 3. SEC. 4. No reimbursement is
required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution for certain costs that may be incurred by a
local agency or school district because, in that regard, this act
creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction,
or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning
of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of
a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution.
With respect to certain other costs, no reimbursement is required
by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution because a local agency or school district has the
authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to
pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act, within
the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code.
