BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 30, 2001
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Carole Migden, Chairwoman
AB 1 (Aanestad) - As Amended: May 24, 2001
Policy Committee:
UtilitiesVote:13-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill establishes a process for resolving disputes between
the electrical utilities and nonresidential customers applying
to participate in the utilities' energy efficiency programs.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the applicant to provide the utility with a written
notice of any dispute, and requires the parties to meet within
10 business days to resolve the dispute.
2)Authorizes the applicant, if the dispute in not resolved
within 10 business days after the meeting, to notify the
Public Utilities Commission's (PUC's) Consumer Affairs
Division of its complaint.
3)Requires the Consumer Affairs Division to issue findings
responding to the complaint within 30 business days.
4)Requires that any energy efficiency program financial
incentives related to the dispute be held in reserve until the
dispute is resolved.
FISCAL EFFECT
Additional special fund costs to the PUC would depend on the
number of unresolved disputes forwarded to the commission for
resolution. Given the six-week response time provided in the
bill, however, any additional costs should be absorbable.
COMMENTS
AB 1
Page 2
Purpose . Pursuant to current law, the PUC assesses a surcharge
to all electrical utility customers that is used in part to fund
energy efficiency programs. The utilities, using a portion of
these funds, offer a reimbursement program to large customers
for installation of energy efficient technologies. The amount
of reimbursement varies and is based on designated categories of
technologies or appliances used to achieve energy savings. AB 1
is intended to establish a streamlined process to resolve
disputes that occur between the utilities and customers applying
for the program.
According to the author's office, these disputes can last over
one year. By placing a time constraint on resolving disputes,
the author believes that additional energy-efficiency measures
can be in place more quickly.
As heard in the Utilities and Commerce Committee, this bill
would have required the PUC to establish a single reimbursement
rate for large nonresidential users in the energy efficiency
program. Those provisions have been deleted in the current
version of the bill in response to concerns raised in the policy
committee.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)319-2081