Energy: energy efficiency: street light pole.

Under the Public Utilities Act, or the act, the Public Utilities Commission, or the PUC, has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. The act requires the commission to review and adopt a procurement plan for each electrical corporation in accordance with specified elements, incentive mechanisms, and objectives. The act requires that an electrical corporation's proposed procurement plan include certain elements, including a showing that the electrical corporation will first meet its unmet needs through all available energy efficiency and demand-reduction resources that are cost effective, reliable, and feasible. Existing law requires the PUC, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, to identify all potentially achievable cost‑effective electricity efficiency savings and establish efficiency targets. This bill would require the PUC, on or before March 1, 2014, to order electrical corporations to submit, on or before July 1, 2015, a tariff to be used, at the discretion of local governments, to fund energy efficiency improvements in street light poles owned by the electrical corporations. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature that utility-owned street light poles, whose electricity use is paid by local governments, be converted to use cost-effective technology that reduces electricity consumption and may achieve lower utility bills. Under existing law, a violation of the act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because this bill would require electrical corporations, pursuant to an order of the PUC, to submit the specified tariff and a violation of this requirement is a crime, this bill 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.