Plain English Breakdown
The official text mentions exceptions for penalties but does not detail them in this summary.
AB-2065: Rules Against Utilities Charging Customers for Prohibited Costs
This law requires the Public Utilities Commission to identify when utilities charge customers for costs that are not allowed and to stop those charges while imposing financial penalties.
What This Bill Does
- Requires the commission to find if a utility has recorded prohibited costs in accounts paid for by ratepayers.
- Defines prohibited cost recovery as recording costs that laws, rules, or decisions say cannot be charged to customers.
- Orders the commission to stop utilities from collecting these amounts from people who pay bills.
- Mandates financial penalties equal to one or three times the amount of the wrongly collected money, with some exceptions.
- Requires each utility to send an annual report listing past mistakes and steps taken to fix them.
Who It Names or Affects
- Electrical, gas, water, sewer system, and telephone corporations
- The Public Utilities Commission
- Ratepayers who pay bills for these services
Terms To Know
- Above-the-line account
- A financial account approved by regulators where utilities record costs that are later charged to customers.
- Prohibited cost recovery
- When a utility tries to get money back from customers for expenses that laws, rules, or decisions say they cannot charge.
Limits and Unknowns
- The bill does not specify the exact date it will take effect.
- The text mentions exceptions to penalties but does not list what those specific cases are in this summary.
- Future changes before signing are possible as a hearing was postponed.