Levine Applauds Energy Commission Decision to Drop Programmable Communicating Thermostats Proposal

SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys), the Chairman of the Assembly’s Utilities and Commerce Committee, today made the following statement in response to the announcement that the California Energy Commission (CEC) has abandoned its plan to place programmable communicating thermostats in all new or retrofitted homes and buildings in California:

“I applaud the CEC for removing the programmable communicating thermostats from its 2008 building standards regulations,” Levine said. “In the past few years California has led the rest of the nation in energy efficiency programs, and while more needs to be done to keep up with the needs of our ever-increasing population, it’s not the job of the CEC to go into peoples’ homes and control their thermostats. The state should provide people with incentives and education to do this on their own, and that’s what I suggested to the CEC Commissioners when we spoke earlier in the week.”

The thermostats would have allowed utilities – at their discretion – to take control of heating and air conditioning in homes and businesses via radio signals.