BILL ANALYSIS 1
1
SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
DEBRA BOWEN, CHAIRWOMAN
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|SB 418 - Bowen |Hearing Date:May 11, 1999 | S|
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|As Amended:April 26, 1999 |NON- | B|
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DESCRIPTION
This bill makes a statement of the Legislature's intent to
provide for the future funding and administration of
energy-related public purpose programs and makes a
technical change to a related provision.
KEY QUESTIONS
1.Which of the electric utilities' public purpose programs
deserve continued funding?
2.What levels of funding are appropriate?
3.How should they be administered?
BACKGROUND
AB 1890 (Brulte), Chapter 854, Statutes of 1996, required
utilities to devote a share of their revenues to a variety
of system reliability, in-state benefit and low-income
customer programs at specified levels from 1998 through
2001. The largest set of programs consists of
"cost-effective energy efficiency and conservation
activities," for which the three investor-owned utilities
are required to collect and spend a total of $872 million
over the four-year period. Another $250 million is
designated for research, development and demonstration to
advance technologies that have public benefits but would
not otherwise be developed by market forces. Finally, a
total of $540 million goes toward operation and development
of renewable energy sources, divided among existing, new
and emerging technologies. A spending plan for the funds
set aside for renewables was subsequently developed by the
California Energy Commission and authorized by SB 90
(Sher), Chapter 905, Statutes of 1997.
The AB 1890 funding was intended to ensure that public
purpose energy programs continued (at least in the short
term) in the restructured electric industry. Prior to AB
1890, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)
required utilities to administer the various services
provided by these programs as part of their regulated
service.
This bill contemplates extending the funding and providing
for the administration of these programs beyond 2001. The
author is awaiting evaluations of the public value and
cost-effectiveness of the programs prior to proposing
specific funding levels or mechanisms for any programs that
may deserve continued support.
COMMENTS
1) Related legislation . AB 1393 (Wright), currently in
the Assembly Appropriations Committee, and SB 1194
(Sher), approved by the Committee on April 13 and
currently in the Senate Appropriations Committee, both
address the energy efficiency and conservation portion
of the public purpose programs. AB 1393 continues
funding for these activities beyond 2001 by requiring
utilities to collect a 1.5 mill/kwh surcharge. SB 1194
requires the CPUC to study administration of the
activities by a special purpose non-profit corporation.
SB 418 intends to address both funding and
administration of the full range of public purpose
programs currently funded through AB 1890. However, to
the extent that AB 1393 or SB 1194 address funding
and/or adminstration of energy efficiency and
conservation programs, SB 418 may not need to address
those specific issues.
2) Further policy review will be needed . Should the
Committee approve this bill, it may wish to request the
author's commitment to return the bill to the Committee
for further review after more substantive provisions
have been added.
POSITIONS
Support:
None reported to Committee.
Oppose:
None reported to Committee.
Lawrence Lingbloom
SB 418 Analysis
Hearing Date: May 11, 1999