These terms are primarily derived from CPUC documents. Each definition is quoted directly from the original source, which is cited at the end of the definition.

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• Disadvantaged communities (DAC): (1) Areas disproportionately affected by environmental pollution and other hazards that can lead to negative public health effects, exposure, or environmental degradation. (2) Areas with concentrations of people that are of low income, high unemployment, low levels of homeownership, high rent burden, sensitive populations, or low levels of educational attainment. See D.18-05-041.

• Disadvantaged vulnerable communities (DVC): “Consist of communities in the 25% highest scoring census tracts according to the California communities Environmental Health Screening Tool (CalEnviroScreen); as well as all California tribal lands, census tracts with median household incomes less than 60% of state median income; and census tracts that score in the highest 5% of Pollution Burden within CalEnviroScreen, but do not receive an overall CalEnviroScreen score due to unreliable public health and socioeconomic data. See CPUC’s ESJ Action Plan Version 2.0.

• Equity: Equity is transforming the behaviors, institutions, and systems that disproportionately harm people of color. Equity means increasing access to power, redistributing, and providing additional resources, and eliminating barriers to opportunity, in order to empower low-income communities of color to thrive and reach full potential. The Greenlining Institute’s definition of equity is specific to racial equity, given the legacy of institutionalized racism by the government. [Our] emphasis on race is not about excluding other marginalized groups. These equity approaches are intended to also be applicable to creating equitable outcomes for other groups such as the elderly and people with disabilities. See Appendix C, CPUC’s ESJ Action Plan Version 2.0.

• Equity Segment: Equity: As defined in D.21-05-031, programs with a primary purpose of providing energy efficiency to hard-to-reach or underserved customers and disadvantaged communities in advancement of the Commission’s Environmental and Social Justice (ESJ) Action Plan. Improving access to energy efficiency for ESJ communities, as defined in the ESJ Action Plan, may provide corollary benefits such as increased comfort and safety, improved indoor air quality, and more affordable utility bills, consistent with Goals 1, 2, and 5 in the ESJ Action Plan. 

• Hard-to-reach: Those customers who do not have easy access to program information or generally do not participate in energy efficiency programs due to a combination of language, business size, geographic, and lease (split incentive) barriers. These barriers to consider include: Language – Primary language spoken is other than English, and/or Geographic – Businesses or homes in areas other than the United States Office of Management and Budget’s Combined Statistical Areas of the San Francisco Bay Area, the Greater Los Angeles Area and the Greater Sacramento Area or the Metropolitan Statistical Areas of San Diego County. For small business added criteria to the above to consider: Business Size – Less than ten employees and/or classified as Very Small (Customers whose annual electric demand is less than 20 kilowatt (kW), or whose annual gas consumption is less than 10,000 therm, or both), and/or Leased or Rented Facilities – Investments in improvements to a facility rented or leased by a participating business customer. For residential added criteria to the above to consider:  Income – Those customers who qualify for the California Alternative Rates for Energy (CARE) or the Family Electric Rate Assistance Program (FERA), and/or  Housing Type – Multi-family and Mobile Home Tenants (rent and lease). See D.18-05-041.

• Non-Energy Benefits (NEBs): include Participant NEBs, which accrue to the program participants, such as reduced building operating costs, increased value, comfort, health and safety; Utility NEBs which are realized as indirect costs or savings to the utility, such as bill payment improvements, infrastructure savings, etc.; Societal NEBs which represent indirect program effects beyond those realized by ratepayers/utility. They accrue to society at large, such as job creation, tax receipts growth, labor productivity, housing value, neighborhood stability, reduced emissions, reduced health care costs and other environmental benefits. See CPUC presentation, The Basics of Cost-Effectiveness Analysis, March 2015.

• Policy Goals: or ESJ Goals are the nine goals listed in the CPUC’s ESJ Action Plan Version 2.0, intended to ensure agency-wide collaboration, accountability, and forward movement in meeting ESJ principles.

• Priority populations: Certain populations are especially vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. At least 35 percent of California Climate Investments must benefit these populations, which include disadvantaged communities, low-income communities, and low-income households, also known as “priority populations.” See CPUC’s ESJ Action Plan Version 2.0 and California Climate Investments Priority Populations 2024 

• Underserved Communities: Underserved community means a community that meets one of the following criteria: Is a “disadvantaged community” as defined by subdivision (g) of Section 75005 of the Public Resources Code. Is included within the definition of “low-income communities” as defined by paragraph (2) of subdivision (d) of Section 39713 of Health and Safety Code. Is within an area identified as among the most disadvantaged 25 percent in the state according to the California Environmental Protection Agency and based on the most recent California Communities Environmental Health Screening Tool, also known as CalEnviroScreen. Is a community in which at least 75 percent of public school students in the project area are eligible to receive free or reduced-price meals under the National School Lunch Program? Is a community located on lands belonging to a federally recognized California Indian tribe? See Assembly Bill No. 841 and CPUC’s ESJ Action Plan Version 2.0