SB 1054: Natural gas: customer credit.

Session Year: 2023-2024
House: Senate
Latest Version Date: 2024-05-20

Current Status:

Failed

(2024-08-15: August 15 hearing: Held in committee and under submission.)

Introduced

In Committee

First Chamber

In Committee

Second Chamber

Enacted

Version:

Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to prescribe, by regulation, among other things, lighting, insulation, climate control system, and other building design and construction standards, energy and water conservation design standards, and appliance efficiency standards to reduce the wasteful, uneconomic, inefficient, or unnecessary consumption of energy and to manage energy loads to help maintain electrical grid reliability, as specified. This bill would require the Energy Commission, in consultation with the Department of Community Services and Development, to develop and supervise the Climate Pollution Reduction in Homes Initiative to require gas corporations to jointly award grants for local service providers, as defined, nonprofit organizations, and regional collections of local governments to provide financial assistance to low-income households for the purchase of zero-carbon-emitting appliances. The bill would require the Energy Commission, as part of developing and administering the initiative, to develop guidelines, as specified, and authorize local service providers, nonprofit organizations, and regional collections of local governments to use those grant moneys for outreach and technical assistance, rebates, loans, installation, educational information, and other support services to assist low-income households. The bill would repeal the above-described provisions on January 1, 2029. The bill would also require the Energy Commission, on March 1 of every year from 2026 to 2030, inclusive, to submit a report to the relevant policy committees of the Legislature on the implementation of the initiative, as specified.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including gas corporations. The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms in regulating those emissions. The implementing regulations adopted by the state board provide for the direct allocation of greenhouse gas allowances to electrical corporations and gas corporations pursuant to a market-based compliance mechanism.

This bill would require the PUC commission to direct the balance of the revenues received by a gas corporation as a result of that allocation to be credited directly to the residential customers of the gas corporation, except that, until January 1, 2029, the bill would authorize the PUC to require gas corporations to annually use up to 15% of the revenues received as a result of that allocation to fund the Climate Pollution Reduction in Homes Initiative, as specified.

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

Because certain of the above-described provisions would be part of the act and a violation of a PUC commission action implementing this bills requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

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.

Discussed in Hearing