SB 1131: Electrical and gas corporations: energy efficiency: financing options: industrial and agricultural processes: custom projects.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission), by March 1, 2010, to establish a regulatory proceeding to develop and implement a comprehensive program to achieve greater energy savings in Californias existing residential and nonresidential building stock. Existing law requires the 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. Existing law requires the PUC, by September 1, 2016, to authorize electrical corporations and gas corporations to provide financial incentives, rebates, technical assistance, and support to their customers to increase the energy efficiency of existing buildings, as specified, and to authorize electrical corporations and gas corporations to recover the reasonable costs of those programs in rates. Existing law requires 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 and authorizes 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.

This bill would delete the language explicitly authorizing recovery in rates for the costs of those programs. Commencing July 1, 2019, this bill would require the PUC to authorize electrical corporations and gas corporations to provide incentives, rebates, technical assistance, and support to their customers to increase energy efficiency, pursuant to separate procedures applicable only to custom projects and other custom programs for industrial, agricultural, commercial, residential, and public sector customers. The bill would require the PUC to develop and maintain rules for custom energy efficiency projects that include eligibility criteria and other metrics for determining whether a project is eligible for funding pursuant to the program, and sets forth procedural requirements for the adoption and revision of the criteria or metrics. The bill would require that the criteria or metrics operate prospectively and be applied uniformly and consistently by each electrical corporation and gas corporation. The bill would require each electrical corporation and gas corporation to maintain a custom measure project archive and would require the PUC to develop and maintain requirements for what information is to be included in the archive, including information required to support the applications of customers custom energy efficiency projects. Upon being notified of the filing of a new application, or that a proposed project has moved from the preapplication stage to the application stage, the bill would require the PUC to make a determination of whether the application has been selected for review within 15 days and to notify the electrical corporation or gas corporation of its decision. The bill would require that the review of a proposed project be concluded within 30 business days from when the project documentation is received by the commission, unless the commission determines the supporting information is incomplete and inaccurate. If, as a result of the review, the PUC rejects the proposed project or requests modification of the project, the bill would require the PUC to notify the electrical corporation or gas corporation of the reasons for the rejection or request for modification, including each basis as to why the project is rejected or modification is requested, and would require the PUC to make specific recommendations for the conditions under which the project would be approved. The bill would provide that for projects that were not reviewed, an electrical corporation or gas corporation may rely on its project application review process to determine the forecast energy savings values for the project based on rules adopted by the commission, and base the final customer incentive payment and contractor pay-for-performance payment on postinstallation measurement and verification results. The bill would authorize the PUC to employ postinstallation review of a project to determine if the project was carried out consistent with the application and to obtain information pertaining to whether the eligibility criteria or metrics should be revised.

Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime.

Because the provisions of this bill are within the act and require action by the PUC to implement its requirements, a violation of these provisions would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime.

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 a specified reason.