8. Workforce Education and Training (WE&T)

In D.07-12-051, the Commission stated "[t]he LIEE portion of the statewide strategic plan should include specific training strategies for reaching disadvantaged communities. Utilities should also work with community stakeholders to assist them in the development of training strategies."⁶³ We also stressed the importance of targeted outreach and training efforts to teach minority, low income, and other disadvantaged communities skills needed to succeed at such jobs. The Plan sets forth the goal of giving all eligible customers the opportunity to participate in LIEE by 2020. To accomplish this goal, the Plan envisions that "IOUs will act as a catalyst to change by implementing several foundational activities that are necessary to accurately identify specific WE&T needs and recommendations for action."⁶⁴

The IOUs should form one of several parts of a statewide WE&T strategy. Stakeholders supporting action toward developing "green jobs" in California are numerous, and ratepayers will fund but a part of these efforts. Other funding and training will come from taxpayers, community-based and nonprofit organizations, educational institutions, the business community, and labor organizations. The IOUs are not in a position to effectuate the level of change needed to create a comprehensive WE&T program, nor can IOU ratepayers fully fund the effort. However, the Commission and IOUs should focus on training for LIEE installation workers so those expanded programs also benefit from a trained workforce.

The Plan contains a specific chapter on WE&T. The Vision described in this chapter states that "by 2020, California's workforce is trained and engaged to provide the human capital necessary to achieve California's economic energy efficiency and demand-side management potential. The Plan sets forth two goals: (1) establish energy efficiency education and training at all levels of California's educational systems, and (2) ensure that minority, low income and disadvantaged communities fully participate in training and education programs at all levels of the energy efficiency industry.

In order to reach these goals, the Plan describes several near term actions. The first involves conducting an in-depth formal statewide training and education resource inventory and needs assessment. In our general Energy Efficiency docket, we are taking steps to commence that assessment. After that assessment is completed, there is a need to develop a WE&T plan that includes a low income-specific section to train qualified diverse business enterprises from minority, low income and disadvantaged communities. We direct the IOUs to cooperate in the inventory and needs assessment to ensure it addresses low income WE&T issues.

Concurrently, the Commission plans to seek out an optimum training program that works within the low income community to recruit people looking to improve their skills. To do so, we will issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the development of low income-focused WE&T programs. Specifically, the Commission will request, review and select certain proposals to recruit and train residents of disadvantaged, low income communities to install energy efficiency measures in households as part of the LIEE program. As part of this proposal, a LIEE contractor and an educational institution will work with a utility to develop and implement an in-class and hands-on curriculum to be used as part of a certificated program through an educational institution.

The selected proposals will receive partial funding required to carry out their WE&T programs. The funding will be distributed by the utility in the pilot's service territory. We initially allocate $300,000 across all the IOUs, covering three years, toward this effort, allocated across the large IOUs proportionately according to the size of their total budgets.

To qualify, each proposal must be able to fund 60% of the project through other sources such as local, state or federal grants. Proposals must include collaboration between an educational institution and a current LIEE contractor. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) regarding each party's responsibilities is required between the educational institution, the LIEE contractor, and the utility.

We will use the results of the WE&T pilots carried out during the 2009-11 budget cycle to determine whether to expand the pilots statewide during the 2012-14 cycle. The training program should expand and enhance the LIEE workforce, resulting in skill development and job opportunities for residents of disadvantaged, low income communities.

We also require the IOUs to better track the training and hiring of a low income energy efficiency workforce. No IOU currently keeps track of this data, or mandates such hiring. SDG&E states that in 2009-11 it will continue to encourage contractors and CBOs to hire and train from the local low income communities, and that it and SoCalGas will explore the feasibility of coordinating with other existing job training programs for minority and disadvantaged groups, such as the Employment Development Department (EDD). The EDD focuses on the needs of low income and displaced workers in general, and also provides grants to governmental units, nonprofits and private companies that engage in job training.

SoCalGas will also work with the Los Angeles Trade Tech College Utilities and Construction Prep Program, a program that creates an industry driven pathway providing adults the full range of skills and competencies needed to secure entry level jobs and enter apprenticeships or other continuing education programs with public and private utilities, unions, and construction trades employers. Further, SoCalGas plans to initiate discussions with the California Employment Training Panel (ETP), which provides funding to California businesses to support customized worker training, and to assess the potential for collaboration. We applaud these efforts, and ask the other IOUs to implement similar efforts.

Within legal limits, hiring of low income workers should be a mandatory part of the LIEE program. The RFP discussed above shall address this issue directly.

⁶³ D.07-12-051, p. 48.

⁶⁴ Plan, p. 80.