AB 802: Energy efficiency.

(1)Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission), at least every 2 years, to conduct assessments and forecasts of all aspects of energy industry supply, production, transportation, delivery, distribution, demand, and prices. Existing law requires the Energy Commission to use these assessments and forecasts to develop energy policies that conserve resources, protect the environment, ensure energy reliability, enhance the states economy, and protect public health and safety. Existing law requires the Energy Commission to prepare an integrated energy policy report every 2 years and requires the report to include an assessment and forecast of system reliability and the need for resource additions, efficiency, and conservation that considers certain criteria.

This bill would require the Energy Commission, in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission, to make all reasonable adjustments to its energy demand forecasts conducted pursuant to the above-described provisions to account for its findings of market conditions and existing baselines, and in making those adjustments, would authorize the commission to consider the results from specified programs.

The bill would require the Energy Commission to use the above-described assessments and forecasts relating to various aspects of the energy industry to develop and evaluate energy policies and programs.

(2)Existing law requires electric and gas utilities to maintain records of the energy consumption data of all nonresidential buildings to which they provide service and requires that this data be maintained, in a format compatible for uploading to the United States Environmental Protection Agencys ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, for at least the most recent 12 months. Existing law also requires, upon the written authorization or secure electronic authorization of a nonresidential building owner or operator, an electric or gas utility to upload all of the energy consumption data for the account specified for a building to the United States Environmental Protection Agencys ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager in a manner that preserves the confidentiality of the customer. Existing law requires an owner or operator to disclose the United States Environmental Protection Agencys ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager benchmarking data and rating to a prospective buyer, lessee of the entire building, or lender that would finance the entire building based on a schedule of compliance established by the Energy Commission.

This bill would revise and recast these provisions. The bill would require utilities to maintain records of the energy usage data of all buildings to which they provide service for at least the most recent 12 complete months. Beginning no later than January 1, 2017, the bill would require each utility, upon the request and the written authorization or secure electronic authorization of the owner, owners agent, or operator of a covered building, as defined, to deliver or provide aggregated energy usage data for a covered building to the owner, owners agent, operator, or to the owners account in the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, subject to specified requirements. The bill would also authorize the commission to specify additional information to be delivered by utilities for certain purposes. The bill would delete the requirement of an owner or operator of a building to disclose the above-described information to a prospective buyer, lessee of the entire building, or lender that would finance the entire building. The bill would require the Energy Commission to adopt regulations providing for the delivery to the commission and public disclosure of benchmarking of energy use for covered buildings, as prescribed. The bill would authorize the Energy Commission to impose a civil fine, as provided, for a violation of these data submission requirements.

(3)Existing law requires the Energy Commission to develop and implement a comprehensive program to achieve greater energy savings in existing residential and nonresidential building stock. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to investigate the ability of 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.

This bill would require the PUC, by September 1, 2016, to authorize electrical corporations and gas corporations to provide incentives, rebates, technical assistance, and support to their customers to increase the energy efficiency of existing buildings, as specified, and would authorize electrical corporations and gas corporations to recover the reasonable costs of those programs in rates. The bill would require the PUC to authorize electrical corporations and gas corporations to count all energy savings achieved through the authorized programs, unless determined otherwise, toward overall energy efficiency goals or targets established by the PUC. The bill would authorize the PUC to adjust the energy efficiency goals or targets of electrical corporations and gas corporations to reflect the estimated change in energy savings resulting from those programs.