With One Exception, Energy Agencies Duck Budget Ax

If Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has his way, the California Power Authority will disappear in September. Under the state chief?s proposed spending plan for 2004-2005, the other state energy agencies come out relatively unscathed. The rationale for eliminating the power authority was that the energy crisis, which led to its formation, ?has passed, and other state agencies perform similar work.? The seldom-seen Electricity Oversight Board has avoided the chop; it has been used to provide staff to the governor off-sheet, according to critics. The upcoming budgets for the California Public Utilities Commission and California Energy Commission, which are funded solely by special funds, were left intact in the first round of budget negotiations. ?No news is good news,? said Bill Ahern, CPUC executive director. In addition, the state is not planning to go after the energy commission?s pass-through fund for its renewables program to help fill state coffers. The CEC?s Public Interest Renewable Program would grow from $133.2 million this year to $217.7 million next year if left in place. ?This is a positive sign as there will be significantly more money for our constituents,? said Claudia Chandler, energy commission spokesperson. The boost in funding will also help ease the glut of applications in the energy commission?s popular small photovoltaic buy-down program, she added. The CPUC?s proposed 2004-05 budget is $1.2 billion, which is $78,000 less than the tab for the current year. Most of the reduction would come out of the universal telephone programs. Funding for the regulation of utilities and for commission administration is proposed to be nearly on par with the 2003-04 budget, with $333 million for the former and $17 million for the latter. The CEC?s total budget may grow from $307 million to $355 million. The oversight board?s upcoming budget would be $474,000, down slightly from the current $476,000. The budget for the Department of Water Resources? energy-buying arm is expected to be $5.5 billion, down from $6.7 billion. Energy agencies have suffered significant staff reductions because former governor Gray Davis mandated that all state entities cut the number of their positions by 20 percent. Most of the cuts were met by eliminating job vacancies and retirements. Staff size continues to shrink, although the workload has not.

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With One Exception, Energy Agencies Duck Budget Ax

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