SACRAMENTO—A new bill by Assemblymember Dawn Addis (D-Morro Bay) to address soaring utility rates by increasing transparency to consumers successfully passed its first committee today.
The legislation, Assembly Bill 2847, passed out of the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee with bipartisan support.
"It's no secret that energy rates are skyrocketing - impacting real people across California," said Addis. "In just three years, residential electricity rates have increased 63% for PG&E customers and 52% for SoCal Edison customers. Californians deserve to know what to expect when they open their monthly energy bills and that all of the costs included in their bills are fair and reasonable. Having this critical information will ultimately help lower costs for rate-payers."
Specifically, AB 2847 will create new disclosure requirements for electric and gas utilities when they seek approval for long-term capital spending, requiring the full cost to ratepayers to be disclosed during the initial review of the project. This will allow the California Public Utilities Commission and ratepayers to more accurately assess whether any proposal to burden ratepayers with long-term debt outweighs the full cost of imposing the debt, and whether rate increases are reasonable and appropriate.
Addis has prioritized lowering the cost of utilities to ratepayers. Last July, Assemblymember Addis urged the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to reject excessively high fixed utility rates proposed by investor owned utilities. She has since urged the PUC to reject Pacific Gas and Electric Company's request for interim rate relief, in order to prevent additional rate increases for Californians.
AB 2847 is Addis' latest proposal to help increase protections and make utilities affordable to Californians.
AB 2847 now moves to the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Dawn Addis was elected to the California State Assembly in 2022 to represent the coastal 30th Assembly District, which includes San Luis Obispo, Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties.
CONTACT: Julie Cravotto, (916) 319-2030