California will become the first state in the nation to require greater energy efficiency in the battery chargers that millions of consumers use to power their cellphones, laptops, power tools and other electrical devices.

The California Energy Commission on Thursday unanimously approved new standards for battery chargers, which the agency says waste nearly two-thirds of the energy they collect.

Thursday's decision is the latest in a series of actions by the commission imposing first-in-the-nation energy standards on appliances and consumer products. In 2009, the commission adopted new rules for flat-screen TVs.

Since 1976, the commission says, its efforts to make appliances more energy-efficient have shaved $36 billion from Californians' energy bills.

Energy commissioners said the new rules for chargers will save consumers roughly $300 million a year, conserve enough electricity to power a city the size of Bakersfield and remove 1 million metric tons of greenhouse gas from the atmosphere – the equivalent of taking about 75,000 cars off the road each year.

"Once again, California is setting the standard for energy efficiency, keeping the state's dominance as the most energy-efficient state per capita," said Energy Commission Chairman Robert Weisenmiller.

The new rules were supported by environmentalists and California utilities. But manufacturers and electronics companies argued that they will increase costs for consumers and don't provide businesses with enough time to make the necessary changes to their products.

Consumer products built after February 2013 will have to meet the new standards. Rules for battery chargers that power heavy equipment such as forklifts go into effect in January 2014.

Chargers built and sold before February 2013 are not affected.

According to the commission, there are about 170 million battery charger systems in use in California, or roughly 11 for every home. They're found in products as diverse as computers, cellphones, power tools, electric razors, commercial bar code scanners and battery-powered golf carts and forklifts.

A vast majority of those chargers waste energy by continuing to collect electricity after the batteries have been fully recharged or after the batteries have been disconnected, the commission said.

The state agency said it won't cost much to improve the efficiency of battery chargers by using off-the-shelf switches that turn the power source off once the battery is charged. Such switches might run 40 cents for a toothbrush and 50 cents for a laptop, the commission said.

It said making those fixes will cut energy usage statewide by about 2,200 gigawatt-hours each year, or the amount of electricity used by 350,000 homes.

Sacramento resident Samantha Garcia, interviewed Thursday in the parking lot of the Target store on Riverside Boulevard, said she'd be willing to pay a small upfront cost if it helped benefit the environment and produced savings later.

Garcia said she and her husband tend to be environmentally conscious but sometimes will leave a charger on all day. "I'm definitely for something that may cost a little more but could help save the planet," Garcia said.

Conny Anderson, also of Sacramento, said she thinks the added cost of making chargers more efficient would be lower than the cost of building a new power plant or using more foreign oil.

"That's a small price to pay for the quality of life for my children and their children," said Anderson, who was walking near the Energy Commission headquarters.

Electronics manufacturers disputed the commission's cost estimates and argued that the state exaggerated the savings.

The Consumer Electronics Association, an Arlington, Va.-based trade group, said the commission's estimate of $300 million in savings assumes that millions of existing battery chargers are immediately converted into more efficient ones once the rules go into effect. But that transition could take years, delaying savings for consumers.

Kelly Jensen, lobbyist for the CEA, added that the 2013 start date is unrealistic for manufacturers, who need 18 months to two years to retool their manufacturing processes for the design fixes.

"I think there is an obvious disconnect between the business climate and the commission," said Jensen.

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