The California Energy Commission will hold a regularly scheduled Business Meeting on:
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2009
Beginning at 10 a.m.
CALIFORNIA ENERGY COMMISSION
1516 Ninth Street
First Floor, Hearing Room A
Sacramento, California
(Wheelchair Accessible)
Note: Audio from this meeting will be broadcast over the Internet using our WebEx Internet Conferencing System. For details on how to access the meeting electronically, please see the meeting agenda that will be posted online about two weeks prior to the meeting at: http://www.energy.ca.gov/business_meetings/
The meeting agenda and WebEx log-in instructions will be posted before the meeting date.
Background
As part of the December 16, 2009, Business Meeting, the Energy Commission will consider adopting the California’s State Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program Guidelines (Guidelines). These Guidelines were developed to help implement and administer rebates for specific energy efficient appliances under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. A public workshop to discuss these Guidelines is scheduled for November 19, 2009. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has allocated to the Energy Commission $35.2 million in ARRA funds to implement a State Energy Efficiency Appliance Rebate Program (SEEARP) for California that will provide rebates to encourage the replacement of inefficient residential appliances with new energy efficient residential appliances.
As specified in DOE’s SEEARP Funding Opportunity Announcement (DE-FOA-0000119), U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia ("states") are eligible to receive formula-based grants to support state specific residential appliance rebate programs. Each state may determine the scope of its program, including which appliance categories to include and the rebate amounts that will be provided. States may use federal funds to pay for the rebates and up to 50 percent of the program administrative costs.
The Energy Commission’s proposed Guidelines for the SEEARP will establish the eligibility and procedural requirements to award program funds as rebates to qualifying residential consumers. The adoption of the Guidelines is exempt from the formal rulemaking requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act (Pub. Resources Code Section 25462(a)). The Guidelines focus on the Energy Commission’s implementation of the SEEARP, program eligibility requirements and limitations, available funding, evaluation criteria, and administrative procedures. The Guidelines, environmental assessment, and additional information about the proposed SEEARP are available at [www.energy.ca.gov/recovery/energystar.html].