we are currently awaiting cpuc approval. once we get approval for the funds, we'll have to enter into a contracting process that will take sometime. we are looking to launch the program for customers in spring 2023. so, with that, i will hand it off to lowell to talk about programs available through ben rehn and sfe. thanks lowell. >> thank you julia and mike. good morning commissioners. thank you for the opportunity to previously present bayren energy efficiency programs. i'm lowell chu with the department of the environment, the energy program manager. and as we discussed, bayren represents a major source of grant funding for the team at sfe. the funding is specifically to implement these programs you see like julia said, back to a local needs. i'll start with bayren business, it provides rebates, financing, advice to small and medium businesses, especially important during this time that so many local businesses are financially fragile. the goal is to support resiliency of the businesses by lowering energy and maintenance

charge of this process over the past year is leaving her post she's heading off to the epa so the cpuc has five commissioners. there is a possibility that one the new commissioners coming in or one of the existing commissioners could ultimately introduce what's called an alternate decision which we think could have some better economics. >> i don't mean to belabor this, but in the bottom line here is are monies that are paid to people with solar installations on their house for excess power. that money is paid boy power generators or power companies. and they are balking a the rates they are being asked to pay for that, which would therefore make the solar installations less desirable to the homeowner, right? >> yeah. and for a solar-only customer that's -- you know when they are in the office during the day they are not using the power they are sending it back that will have an impact on those customers, no doubt, if this proceeds. what we think in reality will happen, though, is that it will drive more customers towards solar plus storage storing the power during the day and using it

also today, the cpuc announced new measures to reduce the likelihood of rolling blackouts starting nextear. they include increasing energy supply and paying customers for reducing energy usage during the high demand times. in the north bay, there's anger and exciting over the imminent closure of the cvs pharmacy in marin city. it's scheduled to close days before christmas. committee advocates say it's been a lifeline and its demise is the last thing there underserved community needs. >> i've been here over almost 20 years and this store has been here since i moved in. it's very convenient. we don't have much here in marin city, and this would be a loss to the community. ama: cvs said -- wouldn't say why it's closing the store, but in a statement to abc 7 news, a representative said we have made the difficult decision to close. the closure of this store is not a reflection of the hard work and dedication of our employees. in fact, our colleagues will be given the opportunity to transition into comparable roles at other cvs locations nearby. a man found himself in a precarious place along

the cpuc is poised to drastically reduce incentives for rooftop solar. >> if they change the incentive prohibitively expensive for people to insult rooftop solar. has to have a chilling effect on the entire industry. >> reporter: at stake? net energy metering. the way they calculate the bill for solar customers. here's how it works. during the day, when solar panels produce more electricity than you can use, the excess is sent to the grid. utility buys your electricity and your electric meter spins backwards. at night, when there is no son, you by electricity back, spending the meter forward. under a proposed new net metering system, utilities, including pg&e, will cut the rate they paid rooftop solar customers for the excess power. from about $.25 per kilowatt hour to potentially as little as six cents. you want to add monthly grid access fee. >> they believe it is absolutely important to put solar aquifers. tongue is executive director of torrent utility rate or turn, a consumer group that would supports disincentives. >>> solar comes from two different places, from large- scale oper

also today, the cpuc announced new measures to reduce the likelihood of rolling blackouts starting nextnergy supply and paying customers for reducing energy usage during the high demand times. in the north bay, there's anger and exciting over the imminent closure of the cvs pharmacy in marin city. it's scheduled to close days before christmas. committee advocates say it's been a lifeline and its demise is the last thing there underserved community needs. >> i've been here over almost 20 years and this store has been here since i moved in. it's very convenient. we don't have much here in marin city, and this would be a loss to the community. ama: cvs said -- wouldn't say why it's closing the store, but in a statement to abc 7 news, a representative said we have made the difficult decision to close. the closure of this store is not a reflection of the hard work and dedication of our employees. in fact, our colleagues will be given the opportunity to transition into comparable roles at other cvs locations nearby. a man found himself in a precarious place along the san luis obispo county co

the cpuc is poised to reduce incentives for rooftop solar. if they change the incentive structure it'll make it expensive for people to install rooftop solar. it'll chill the industry. >> at stake net energy metering, the way they work out the bill for customers. during the day when panels produce more power than you can use, the extra is sent to the grid. utility buys the power and your electric meter spins backwards. at night when there is no sun you buy power back, spinning the meter forward. under a proposed new system utilities including pg&e would cut the rate they currently pay customers for that excess power from about 25-cents a hour to as little as six cents. they also want a monthly grid access fee. >> it's important to put sol ar equality first. >> the director of tord utility rate, a consumer group that supports reducing incentives. >> it comes two different places. from large scale operations that is three cents per hour, and the rooftop we are paying 25-cents. that's a huge difference. three cents verses 25. the solar rooftop o

cpuc wants to reduce incentives for rooftop solar. >> if they change the structure, it will make it expensive for people to install rooftop solar. it has got to have a completely chilling effect on the industry. >> reporter: something called energy metering where the utilities calculate the bill for solar customers could happen. here is how it works. when solar panels produce more electricity than you can use, the excess is sent to the grid. the utility buys your electricity and your electric meter spins backwards. at night, when there is no son, you by electricity back, spinning the meter forward. under a new system, utilities include pg&e, they would cut the rate that they pay for the excess power. this would be $.25 a kilowatt hour. this is as little as six cents. they want to add a fee. >> it is important to put solar equity first. >> reporter: mark tony is the director of turn, a consumer group that supports reducing incentives for solar. >> solar comes from two different places, from large- scale operations, that is three cents per kilowatt hour. the solar rooftop, we are paying $.25 pe

cpuc will have final say when it releases else updated plan maybe before the end of the year. >>> inholmes again insisted she never meant to mislead investors, docks doctors or patients. they say the defense never produced an expert witness to support her claims that that could have affected her decisions. >> if they don't lay the foundation for that, then the judge could find it is not relevant and throw it out. >> the next week or so will be spent hashing out jury instructions and the panel could then get the case as early as next friday. >>> new data on coronavirus front. more than 200 million or just over 60% of americans are fully vaccinated. >> joycelyn moran is live in san francisco with why health experts say vaccination rights reached a promising milestone but it is not enough. >> reporter: that's right. we are a little bit more than two weeks from christmastime as people are preparing for holiday gatherings and as health experts are learning about the omicron variant. here is what an infectious disease experts at uc berkeley says. he is encouraged by information released by

cpuc will have final say when it releases updated plan maybe before the end of the year. >>> closingnts in elizabeth holmes fraud trial set for next thursday after the theranos founder defense wrapped up its case. she once again insisted she never meant to mislead patients, doctors, investors about the failed technology. prosecutors are expected to ask the judge to throw out holmes' testimony about being abused by former boyfriend and business partner. prosecutors say the defense never produced an expert witness to support claims that that could have affected decisions. >> if they don't lay the foundation for that, the judge can find it is not relevant and throw it out. >> the next week or so will be spent hashing out jury instructions. the panel could get the case as early as next friday. >>> jury deliberations underway in the trial of jussie smollett. he is charged with six felony counts for allegedly faking a hate crime and falsely reporting to police about three years ago. on the stand he denied staging that attack. >>> new data on the coronavirus front, more than 200 million or

the cpuc says the changes are necessary to make sure that everyone is paying their fair share to maintain the power grid. kumasi: an artist in finland is showing off impressive work on ice. but i see what is going on. this is a 295 foot tall fox on a lake. uses a shovel to carve it out and then they disappear when more snowfalls or the ice melts. he has done this for the past six years as a way to make people happy and to encourage them to get out and enjoy nature. this fox took him four hours to make. i thought it would be longer. i guess he just has it down. reggie: it is incredible. mike: beautiful. from what i can see of it. reggie: i am cold just looking at it. kumasi: it looks so nice though. mike: does he do anything else? kumasi: that is enough. reggie: does he do other animals? i thought he meant -- mike: the snow covers it and i was like, but does he do a different animal or something after that? reggie: my guess is he does a sunfish. kumasi: let the sunfish be. mike: let us talk about what is going on weather-wise and here we go, heavy rain falling on kensington and berkeley on

uber will pay $9 million for payment to respond to requests for information from the cpuc. the money will go to the victims compensation fund and to address physical and sexual violence in the industry. larry: coming up, helping the homeless. a last ditch effort for students at san jose state. a big blow to a north bay community after a cvs store announces plans to close its doors. and a new dish, triple layout with something new. but this one is a little unexpected. spencer: i'm spencer christian. record warmth is leaving the area. i'll explain to be a thriver with metastatic breast cancer means asking for what we want. and need. and we need more time. so, we want kisqali. women are living longer than ever before with kisqali when taken with an aromatase inhibitor or fulvestrant in postmenopausal women with hr+, her2- metastatic breast cancer. kisqali is a pill that's significantly more effective at delaying disease progression versus an aromatase inhibitor or fulvestrant alone. kisqali can cause lung problems, or an abnormal heartbeat, which can lead to death. it can caus

the cpuc is poised to drastically reduce incentives for rooftop solar. >> if they change the incentive prohibitively expensive for people to install rooftop solar. it's got to have a completely chilling effect on the entire industry. >> at stake, something called net energy metering. the way utilities currently calculate the bill for solar customers. here's how it works. during the day when solar panels produce more electricity than you can use, the excess is sent to the grid. the utility buys electricity and your electric meter spins backwards. at night, when there is no son, you by electricity back, spinning the meter forward. under a proposed new net ll cut the rate you currently pay rooftop solar customers for that excess power, from about $.25 a kilowatt hour to potentially as little as six cents. they also want to add a monthly grid access fee. >> it's absolutely important to put solar equity first. >> reporter: mark tony is executive director of toward utility rate normalization, or turn, a consumer group that supports reducing incentives for solar. >> solar comes from two diffe

the cpuc says its investigation found several violations of safety regulations for design, construction and maintenance of overhead power lines. the utility still faces criminal charges related to that fire. well contravenes has opened a new lane on highway 1 to 1 in petaluma. commuters drove on a new car pool lane and the northwestern direction this morning. the opening means that there is a 30 mile long, uninterrupted carpool lane between marin county and windsor. work on the final portion of the highway one on one widening project is scheduled to begin in the spring, cal transplants to open the coton carpool lane late next year. all right, if you're looking forward to tension is grab on your holiday table this year. you just might be in luck . the dungeon is crab season just opened in california but only north of the sonoma mendocino county line. still though, that means that many supermarkets and restaurants right here in the bay area could soon have them ready to sell and ready to eat crabbing season, though in the bay area remains delayed because pods of whales are continuing to m

the cpuc says its investigation found several violations of safety regulations for design, constructionines. the utilities still faces criminal charges related to the kincade fire. you speak congressman eric swalwell once communities to prepare better for natural disasters. he has introduced a bill that funds communities vulnerable to hazards such as. flooding wildfires and droughts. provisions include changing fema's grant program to set aside more money for disaster relief. his legislation calls on fema to prioritizents in high hazard areas. swat well, co authored the bipartisan bill with a republican congressional representative from puerto rico . walnut creek police have arrested a person suspected of setting several small fires around the city, including four right inside the downtown library. there were about seven fires altogether. the first was in a dumpster early yesterday morning, right near a park and ride lot at south broadway and newel avenue. another dumpster fire was set less than a mile away. it's cyprus in north main streets. the library fires were reported around noon