State Commissions Responsible for Energy: California Energy Commission

The California Energy Commission (CEC) (formally the Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission) is a planning and policy agency. It was established by the Legislature in 1974 and has five major responsibilities:

• Development of the state's energy policy along with the governor, the legislature, and other energy agencies.
• Forecasting future energy needs and evaluating planned acquisitions of electricity resources. The Energy Outlook Report for 2002-2012 (www.energy.ca.gov/electricity_outlook) provides information useful for the development of a new energy policy. Consequences of different choices are analyzed for California and the western region of the United States.
• Licensing thermal power plants of 50 megawatts or more (other plants are licensed by local jurisdictions or, in the case of hydro power, by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC). The licensing process includes environmental assessments, health and safety considerations, and conformity with local and state law. In 2001, the Governor ordered changes in licensing procedures and requirements for certain types of generating plants in order to stimulate new construction. The orders now have lapsed but some of the changes in requirements persist. For example, a plant may have been granted a delay, such as three or five years, before certain air quality standards must be fully met.
• Promoting energy efficiency and developing renewable energy sources and alternative technologies. Deregulation has meant expansion of the commission's renewable energy and public interest energy research programs, since the investor-owned utilities are no longer expected to carry out public benefit programs of this type. Renewable energy programs include subsidies for generators and users of renewable energy, with special attention to the development of new technologies. Other programs promote reduction of electricity use in buildings, industry, agriculture, and water/wastewater systems. These programs are funded by a public goods surcharge on electricity bills from the investor-owned utilities. Municipal utilities are supposed to develop their own programs. Demand side management, the smoothing out of the peaks and valleys in usage, is the responsibility of the Public Utilities Commission.
• Planning for and directing the state's response to energy emergencies.

The commission also has programs in areas such as fuels used in transportation and the export of energy technology.

The five energy commissioners are appointed by the governor with senate approval. They must represent the fields of engineering/physical science, economics, environmental protection, law and the general public. There is an independent Public Advisor who provides information and assists members of the public who wish to participate in commission proceedings.