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The Senate Energy, Utilities, & Communications Committee passed legislation at the end of last week increasing gas pipeline safety and easing the way for agricultural interests to qualify for net metering. SB 705 by Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) gives top priority to gas pipeline safety and directs the development of utility natural gas pipeline safety plans. It requires the California Public Utilities Commission also to apply cost-benefit tests to proposed utility maintenance and pipeline upgrades. “This bill provides accountability,” said Carl Wood, Utility Workers Union of America director of regulatory affairs and former CPUC member. He added that the last 20 years the safety culture at gas utilities has been “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” otherwise known as “crash and burn maintenance.” Leno’s bill passed on a 9-0 vote April 28. That was only after the lawmaker agreed to the request by committee chair Senator Alex Padilla (D-Van Nuys) to remove the provision denying utility cost recovery after a blast or other pipeline accident if the gas utility is found negligent. SB 705 is one of several bills aimed at averting gas pipe accidents following last September’s blast in San Bruno that killed eight and destroyed more than three dozen homes. Leno’s bill heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee. A bill by Senator Fran Pavley (D-Santa Monica) redirects $50 million set aside to support largely defunct regional Property Assessed Clean Energy Programs (PACE) to a low interest energy efficiency revolving loan program. The PACE programs provided property owners up-front financing for renewable and energy efficiency-related upgrades to increase renewable unit installations. The regional programs, however, were gutted by a federal housing mortgage agency’s directive. Pavley’s SB 679 sends the $50 million into the California Energy Commission’s low-interest energy efficiency loan program created in 1979. According to Energy Commission staff, “given pent-up demand, it would take only about 2 to 3 years to award an additional $50 million in loans for approved projects.” The Appropriations Committee is to hear the bill next. SB 370 by Senator Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo) allows the output of a solar system at a winery or agricultural operation to count towards the energy consumption recorded at several electric meters on the land--be they attached to irrigation pumps and/or packaging facilities. This aggregation of meter use extends the economic benefits of net metering by allowing agriculture to “reduce demand at peak periods in summer time by offsetting their own use,” said Blakeslee. Currently, the renewable output can only be credited towards the energy consumed that’s recorded by a single meter. The amount of net metered solar energy fed into the grid is priced higher at times of peak demand. Any surplus not used on site but fed into the grid offsets a property owners’ total consumption over a 12-month period. The bill faced wide support from traditional and alternative agricultural interests. Pacific Gas & Electric raised concerns about the potential shifting of costs to other ratepayers. Net metering customers do not pay transmission and distribution charges, upping the cost to other customers. According to the committee bill analysis, “Transmission and distribution costs typically comprise one-half to two-thirds of a customer’s billing.” The bill passed on a 10-1 vote and heads to the Senate Appropriations Committee. Another bill, winning a 9-2 vote, expands the list of renewable resources eligible for net metering benefits, in particular agricultural interests. SB 489 by Senator Lois Wolk (D-Vacaville) allows biomass and biogas facilities to participate in the net metering programs, which are capped at five percent of a utility’s load. Currently only wind and solar systems up to 1 MW are eligible for net metering. “The bill is about fairness and equity,” Wolk said. “There should be no difference between 1 kilowatt of clean energy from another.” Senator Rod Wright (D-Los Angeles) said bigger agriculture biomass and biogas facilities would “eat up the [net metering] subsidy.” Numerous large and small agricultural interests and environmental groups supported the bill. Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, and PacifiCorp opposed it. The bill is set to heard next in the Senate Appro-priations Committee. The final bill passed was SB 682 by Senator Charles Calderon (D-Montebello), which passed only after the author agreed to limit it to requiring that the California Air Resources Board assess the greenhouse gas impacts of flaring gas released from oil refineries. Calderon attempted to create a set long-term price for generation, known as a feed-in tariff, for trapped gas turned into electricity in place of flaring but won insufficient support. It passed 9-1 and was sent to the Appropriations Committee.

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