The General Assembly finds that the rising cost and uncertain supply of energy resources require an active program of energy conservation assistance, especially for the residential sector, which often has limited access to expert advice on energy conservation. In response to this need and to the mandate of the National Energy Conservation Policy Act, P.L. 95-619, the former Office of Energy Resources, now the Division of Energy Resources of the Georgia Environmental Finance Authority, on behalf of the Office of Planning and Budget, has developed the state plan for the Residential Conservation Service, which requires certain utilities to offer home energy audits and related services to residential customers. Further, the General Assembly finds that in order to ensure the implementation of the state plan for the Residential Conservation Service and avoid the imposition of the federal plan, adequate authority for state enforcement of the state plan must be instituted. Therefore, in order to provide Georgia's regulated utilities and their customers with the most appropriate and flexible plan for carrying out the Residential Conservation Service, the General Assembly declares that the Office of Planning and Budget shall be authorized to promulgate regulations to establish the Residential Conservation Service and provide for its enforcement.
(Ga. L. 1981, p. 1258, § 2; Ga. L. 1994, p. 1108, § 3; Ga. L. 2010, p. 949, § 1/HB 244.)
The 2010 amendment, effective July 1, 2010, substituted "Georgia Environmental Finance Authority" for "Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority" in the middle of the second sentence.