Energy: billing.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source does not provide specific details on enforcement mechanisms or the exact process of opting out.

Energy Billing Rules

The bill requires electricity and gas companies to disclose public purpose program charges on bills, provides an annual statement about these programs, creates a website for information, allows customers to opt out of funding non-mandatory programs, suspends fees under certain price conditions, and sets rules for adjusting undercharged customer bills.

What This Bill Does

• Requires electricity and gas companies to disclose all public purpose program charges on customer bills, including an itemized list of each funded program.
• Makes electricity and gas companies provide an annual statement about these programs to their customers.
• Creates a website where information about all public purpose programs can be found.
• Allows ratepayers to opt out of funding non-mandatory public purpose programs that are not required by law or explicitly designated as nonbypassable.
• Suspends fees if the average price of electricity or natural gas in California exceeds 10% of the national average for six months.
• Limits how long local utilities can adjust bills when they undercharge customers to 3 months for residential and small business customers, and up to 3 years for large businesses.

Who It Names or Affects

• Electricity and gas companies
• Ratepayers (customers who pay for electricity or natural gas)
• Local publicly owned electric and gas utilities

Terms To Know

Public purpose program charges

Special fees added to bills that fund programs like energy efficiency, renewable energy, and low-income assistance.

Opt out

The choice for customers not to pay for certain public purpose programs they do not want.

Limits and Unknowns

• Does not specify who will enforce the rules.
• Details about how ratepayers can opt out of funding non-mandatory programs are not fully explained.
• It is unclear what happens if a utility undercharges a customer and the adjustment period has passed.

Official Summary Text

AB 2408, as amended, DeMaio.
Energy: billing.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations, while local publicly owned utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law requires that all electrical bills have a standard bill format, as determined by the commission or the governing board, and contain sufficient detail for customers to recalculate their bills for accuracy. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
This bill would require the commission to require each electrical corporation and gas corporation to
disclose all public purpose program charges to ratepayers, including an itemized list of each public purpose program funded through the ratepayers’ bills, as provided. The bill would require the commission to require each electrical corporation and gas corporation to provide an annual public purpose program statement to ratepayers and
require the commission
to maintain an internet website displaying certain information about all public purpose programs, as provided.
This bill would require the commission to establish a mechanism to allow ratepayers to opt out of funding public purpose programs that are not expressly required by statute for specified purposes or explicitly designated as nonbypassable by statute, and to ensure that those opt-out elections are voluntary and that ratepayers are authorized to annually modify their opt-out elections, as
specified.
Because a violation of a commission action implementing the bill’s requirements would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
This bill would require the commission, if the average price of electricity or natural gas in the state exceeds 10% of the national average price in the preceding quarter, to suspend the collection of all fees charged to ratepayers on electricity or natural gas bills for a period of 6 months. The bill would also require the State Air Resources Board, if the average price of electricity or natural gas in the state exceeds 10% of the national average price in the preceding quarter, to suspend the requirements of the market-based compliance mechanism known as the California Cap-and-Invest Program for a covered entity that is an electrical corporation or gas corporation, and the collection of any moneys under the California Cap-and-Invest Program from those entities,
for a period of 6 months.
This bill would require a local publicly owned electric utility or local publicly owned gas utility to adjust its tariff rules to limit the period for adjusting a customer bill, when the utility has undercharged a customer, to 3 months for its residential customers and small business customers and to 3 years for its large business customers, as specified. By imposing new duties on local publicly owned utilities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for specified reasons.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF