Bill targets energy deregulation

Measure links governor's solar power incentives to renewed control of utility

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

SACRAMENTO - Environmental groups endorsed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest proposal for an ambitious solar energy incentive program Monday, even as a competing proposal was thrown into the mix as lawmakers hurried to adjourn by week's end.

The late proposal by Sen. Debra Bowen, D-Marina del Rey, would tie the solar incentives to Schwarzenegger's approval of a pending bill he opposes that would reverse the state's experiment with electricity deregulation.

The competing bills were headed for a showdown to day in the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee.

Schwarzenegger's proposal to encourage 1 million solar-powered homes over the next 13 years was amended onto a bill by Sen. Kevin Murray, D-Culver City.

It would apply only to homes, while Bowen's bill would include businesses and apartments and requires that 5 percent of the incentives go to affordable housing. The bills also propose different methods of paying for the incentives.

But key to Bowen's bill is that it would take effect only if Schwarzenegger also approves an energy bill by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles.

"Solar is not a complete energy policy. It only works as part of an energy policy," Bowen said, adding that if the governor vetoes Nunez's bill, he must come up with an alternative to prevent future energy shortages.

Nunez's bill is supported by a coalition of consumer advocates, senior citizen groups and small business owners who are calling for a return to a more regulated electricity system to avoid a repeat of the blackouts and price spikes that hit California's electricity market in 2000 and 2001.

It would require utilities to forecast their electricity needs years into the future and show how they will meet that demand, in part through energy conservation programs.

But Schwarzenegger wants the state to again allow utility customers to shop around for cheaper power. The governor and private energy companies also complain Nunez's bill favors utilities in bidding to build new power plants.

Bernadette Del Chiaro of Environment California, the nonprofit environment organization that is sponsoring Murray's bill, said that bill is better because it requires the building industry to offer solar power to home buyers beginning in 2008, while Bowen's has no mandate.

The group backed the governor's plan, as reflected in amendments to Murray's bill, after the administration accepted some changes proposed by environmental groups Friday, Del Chiaro said.