BILL REQ. #: S-3955.2
State of Washington | 62nd Legislature | 2012 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/20/12. Referred to Committee on Energy, Natural Resources & Marine Waters.
AN ACT Relating to energy efficient buildings; amending RCW 19.27A.140, 19.27A.150, and 43.330.360; adding a new section to chapter 19.27A RCW; adding a new section to chapter 80.28 RCW; and creating a new section.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1 The legislature finds that improving energy
efficiency in structures is often the most cost-effective means to meet
energy requirements. While there have been significant efficiency
savings achieved in the state over the past quarter century, there
remains enormous potential to achieve even greater savings. Although
increased weatherization and more extensive efficiency improvements in
residential, commercial, and public buildings provides many benefits,
including reducing energy bills, avoiding the construction of costly
new electricity generating facilities with associated climate and other
environmental impacts, and creation of family-wage jobs in performing
energy audits and improvements, the energy efficiency market also faces
unique challenges that require a consistent and sustained effort by
utilities, building owners, our burgeoning energy efficiency business
sector, and the state. To achieve the full societal and financial
potential of energy efficiency, the state shall actively develop
innovative policy tools that support and encourage energy conservation
efforts to achieve the goal identified by the Northwest power and
conservation council of obtaining eighty percent of the region's future
energy needs through 2030 with energy conservation.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2 A new section is added to chapter 19.27A RCW
to read as follows:
(1) Each utility providing gas or electric service to more than one
thousand customers shall provide a statement of energy consumption data
to each residential customer. At a minimum, the statement of energy
consumption must include a year-over-year comparison for that
customer's usage based upon meter data and a ranking of that customer's
usage compared to that of one hundred similarly situated customers.
The statement must be provided quarterly by any utility serving more
than twenty-five thousand customers and twice annually by all other
utilities. When a new customer account is created, that customer must
receive the immediately preceding energy consumption statement provided
to the previous occupant of the residence, unless the previous occupant
has refused permission for the disclosure of such information.
(2) Each utility providing gas or electric service that offers to
provide an asset rating or preliminary energy audit for residential
customers must collect and maintain energy consumption and energy
efficiency information regarding the residential structure. The type
of information required must be established by rule by the energy
policy division of the department of commerce.
(3) Each utility providing gas or electric service to more than
twenty-five thousand customers shall, when requested by a customer in
connection with offering the residence for sale, provide a preliminary
energy audit. The energy audit must be provided at no cost to the
customer and must include a minimum of three recommendations for
reducing energy consumption specific to that residential structure.
Sec. 3 RCW 19.27A.140 and 2011 1st sp.s. c 43 s 245 are each
amended to read as follows:
The definitions in this section apply to RCW 19.27A.130 through
19.27A.190 ((and)), 19.27A.020, and section 2 of this act unless the
context clearly requires otherwise.
(1) "Benchmark" means the energy used by a facility as recorded
monthly for at least one year and the facility characteristics
information inputs required for a portfolio manager.
(2) "Conditioned space" means conditioned space, as defined in the
Washington state energy code.
(3) "Consumer-owned utility" includes a municipal electric utility
formed under Title 35 RCW, a public utility district formed under Title
54 RCW, an irrigation district formed under chapter 87.03 RCW, a
cooperative formed under chapter 23.86 RCW, a mutual corporation or
association formed under chapter 24.06 RCW, a port district formed
under Title 53 RCW, or a water-sewer district formed under Title 57
RCW, that is engaged in the business of distributing electricity to one
or more retail electric customers in the state.
(4) "Cost-effectiveness" means that a project or resource is
forecast:
(a) To be reliable and available within the time it is needed; and
(b) To meet or reduce the power demand of the intended consumers at
an estimated incremental system cost no greater than that of the least-cost similarly reliable and available alternative project or resource,
or any combination thereof.
(5) "Council" means the state building code council.
(6) "Embodied energy" means the total amount of fossil fuel energy
consumed to extract raw materials and to manufacture, assemble,
transport, and install the materials in a building and the life-cycle
cost benefits including the recyclability and energy efficiencies with
respect to building materials, taking into account the total sum of
current values for the costs of investment, capital, installation,
operating, maintenance, and replacement as estimated for the lifetime
of the product or project.
(7) "Energy consumption data" means the monthly amount of energy
consumed by a customer as recorded by the applicable energy meter for
the most recent twelve-month period.
(8) "Energy service company" has the same meaning as in RCW
43.19.670.
(9) "Enterprise services" means the department of enterprise
services.
(10) "Greenhouse gas" and "greenhouse gases" includes carbon
dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons,
and sulfur hexafluoride.
(11) "Investment grade energy audit" means an intensive engineering
analysis of energy efficiency and management measures for the facility,
net energy savings, and a cost-effectiveness determination.
(12) "Investor-owned utility" means a corporation owned by
investors that meets the definition of "corporation" as defined in RCW
80.04.010 and is engaged in distributing either electricity or natural
gas, or both, to more than one retail electric customer in the state.
(13) "Major facility" means any publicly owned or leased building,
or a group of such buildings at a single site, having ten thousand
square feet or more of conditioned floor space.
(14) "National energy performance rating" means the score provided
by the energy star program, to indicate the energy efficiency
performance of the building compared to similar buildings in that
climate as defined in the United States environmental protection agency
"ENERGY STAR® Performance Ratings Technical Methodology."
(15) "Net zero energy use" means a building with net energy
consumption of zero over a typical year.
(16) "Portfolio manager" means the United States environmental
protection agency's energy star portfolio manager or an equivalent tool
adopted by the department of enterprise services.
(17) "Preliminary energy audit" means ((a quick)) an evaluation by
an energy service company ((of)), utility, or third-party building
performance contractor that provides basic information on the energy
savings potential of a building that is less comprehensive than an
investment grade energy audit.
(18) "Qualifying public agency" includes all state agencies,
colleges, and universities.
(19) "Qualifying utility" means a consumer-owned or investor-owned
gas or electric utility that serves more than twenty-five thousand
customers in the state of Washington.
(20) "Reporting public facility" means any of the following:
(a) A building or structure, or a group of buildings or structures
at a single site, owned by a qualifying public agency, that exceed ten
thousand square feet of conditioned space;
(b) Buildings, structures, or spaces leased by a qualifying public
agency that exceeds ten thousand square feet of conditioned space,
where the qualifying public agency purchases energy directly from the
investor-owned or consumer-owned utility;
(c) A wastewater treatment facility owned by a qualifying public
agency; or
(d) Other facilities selected by the qualifying public agency.
(21) "State portfolio manager master account" means a portfolio
manager account established to provide a single shared portfolio that
includes reports for all the reporting public facilities.
(22) "Asset rating" means a value that represents the energy use of
a building or unit, based on modeled energy use under standardized
weather and occupancy conditions, and adjusted to account for variances
in energy consumption.
Sec. 4 RCW 19.27A.150 and 2010 c 271 s 306 are each amended to
read as follows:
(1) To the extent that funding is appropriated specifically for the
purposes of this section, the department of commerce shall develop and
implement a strategic plan for enhancing energy efficiency in and
reducing greenhouse gas emissions from homes, buildings, districts, and
neighborhoods. The strategic plan must be used to help direct the
future code increases in RCW 19.27A.020, with targets for new buildings
consistent with RCW 19.27A.160. The strategic plan will identify
barriers to achieving net zero energy use in homes and buildings and
identify how to overcome these barriers in future energy code updates
and through complementary policies. Beginning with the strategic plan
update due December 31, 2012, the strategic plan must analyze and
provide recommendations for achieving greater energy efficiency for all
types of buildings in the state.
(2) The department of commerce must complete and release the
strategic plan to the legislature and the council by December 31, 2010,
and update the plan every three years.
(3) The strategic plan must include recommendations to the council
on energy code upgrades. At a minimum, the strategic plan must:
(a) Consider development of aspirational codes separate from the
state energy code that contain economically and technically feasible
optional standards that could achieve higher energy efficiency for
those builders that elected to follow the aspirational codes in lieu of
or in addition to complying with the standards set forth in the state
energy code;
(b) Determine the appropriate methodology to measure achievement of
state energy code targets using the United States environmental
protection agency's target finder program or equivalent methodology;
(c) Address the need for enhanced code training and enforcement;
(d) Include state strategies to support research, demonstration,
and education programs designed to achieve a seventy percent reduction
in annual net energy consumption as specified in RCW 19.27A.160 and
enhance energy efficiency and on-site renewable energy production in
buildings;
(e) Recommend incentives, education, training programs and
certifications, particularly state-approved training or certification
programs, joint apprenticeship programs, or labor-management
partnership programs that train workers for energy-efficiency projects
to ensure proposed programs are designed to increase building
professionals' ability to design, construct, and operate buildings that
will meet the seventy percent reduction in annual net energy
consumption as specified in RCW 19.27A.160;
(f) Analyze the ability of each electric utility to offer an asset
rating or investment grade energy audit for a residential building when
required by a customer or when requested by the buyer or seller at the
time the building is sold or offered for sale. The strategic plan must
analyze the benefits of performing the investment grade energy audit or
asset rating as well as recommendations to overcome any statutory,
regulatory, financial, or other barriers to providing the investment
grade energy audit or asset rating;
(g) Address barriers for utilities to serve net zero energy homes
and buildings and policies to overcome those barriers;
(((g))) (h) Address the limits of a prescriptive code in achieving
net zero energy use homes and buildings and propose a transition to
performance-based codes;
(((h))) (i) Identify financial mechanisms such as tax incentives,
rebates, and innovative financing to motivate energy consumers to take
action to increase energy efficiency and their use of on-site renewable
energy. Such incentives, rebates, or financing options may consider
the role of government programs as well as utility-sponsored programs;
(((i))) (j) Address the adequacy of education and technical
assistance, including school curricula, technical training, and peer-to-peer exchanges for professional and trade audiences;
(((j))) (k) Develop strategies to develop and install district and
neighborhood-wide energy systems that help meet net zero energy use in
homes and buildings;
(((k))) (l) Identify costs and benefits of energy efficiency
measures on residential and nonresidential construction; and
(((l))) (m) Investigate methodologies and standards for the
measurement of the amount of embodied energy used in building
materials.
(4) The department of commerce and the council shall convene a work
group with the affected parties to inform the initial development of
the strategic plan.
Sec. 5 RCW 43.330.360 and 2009 c 379 s 209 are each amended to
read as follows:
(1) The legislature finds that the state bond authorities have
capacities that can be applied to financing energy efficiency projects
for their respective eligible borrowers: Washington economic
development finance authority for industry; Washington state housing
finance commission for single-family and multifamily housing,
commercial properties, agricultural properties, and nonprofit
facilities; Washington higher education facilities authority for
private, nonprofit higher education; and Washington health care
facilities authority for hospitals and all types of health clinics.
(2)(a) Subject to federal requirements, the state bond authorities
may accept and administer an allocation of the state's share of the
federal energy efficiency funding for designing energy efficiency
finance loan products and for developing and operating energy
efficiency finance programs. The state bond authorities shall
coordinate with the department on the design of the bond authorities'
program.
(b) The department may make allocations of the federal funding to
the state bond authorities and may direct and administer funding for
outreach, marketing, and delivery of energy services to support the
programs by the state bond authorities.
(c) The legislature authorizes a portion of the federal energy
efficiency funds to be used by the state bond authorities for credit
enhancements and reserves for such programs.
(3) The Washington state housing finance commission may:
(a) Issue revenue bonds as the term "bond" is defined in RCW
43.180.020 for the purpose of financing loans for energy efficiency and
renewable energy improvement projects in accordance with RCW
43.180.150;
(b) Establish eligibility criteria for financing that will enable
it to choose applicants who are likely to repay loans made or acquired
by the commission and funded from the proceeds of federal funds or
commission bonds; and
(c) Participate fully in federal and other governmental programs
and take such actions as are necessary and consistent with chapter
43.180 RCW to secure to itself and the people of the state the benefits
of programs to promote renewable energy technologies and energy
efficiency ((and renewable energy technologies)), including but not
limited to educational programs and programs that encourage the
recognition of energy efficient features in real estate transactions.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6 A new section is added to chapter 80.28 RCW
to read as follows:
A gas company or electric company regulated under this chapter may
provide energy consumption usage information based solely upon meter
records unless the customer opts to refuse permission to allow the
disclosure of this information. The information provided must be
consistent with that required under section 2 of this act. Each
company shall provide notice to customers of the opportunity to opt out
of this disclosure. Companies shall allow sixty days following the
notification to the customer before disclosing energy consumption data
and must provide a written annual notice to customers of the
opportunity to refuse permission to disclose this information.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 7 If any provision of this act or its
application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the
remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other
persons or circumstances is not affected.