Melanie Turner, Sacramento Business Journal

The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday approved a three-year $3.1 billion energy efficiency budget for the state's four major investor-owned utilities. The PUC said it is the largest-ever commitment made by a state to energy efficiency.

The $3.1 billion will pay for energy efficiency programs for Pacific Gas and Electric Co., San Diego Gas and Electric Co., Southern California Edison and Southern California Gas Co.

The programs will create energy savings of close to 7,000 gigawatt hours, 1,500 megawatts and 150 million metric therms of natural gas, the commission estimates. That's roughly the amount of power generated by three 500-megawatt power plants.

Funding from the decision will create between 15,000 and 18,000 jobs, according to the commission.

The decision also:

• Launches a statewide program for residential energy efficiency, under which the commission starts the nation's largest home retrofit program, which aims to reduce energy consumption by 20 percent for up to 130,000 homes by 2012.

• Funds $175 million for programs to deliver "zero net energy" homes and commercial buildings.

• Provides more than $260 million for 64 cities, counties and regional agencies to create more energy efficient public buildings.

• Provides more than $100 million for education and training programs at all levels of the education system.

"This decision implements the goals of the California Long-Term Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan to make energy efficiency a way of life in California and demonstrates California's continued leadership role in the field of energy efficiency," commissioner Dian Grueneich said, in a news release.