SB60 • 2025

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 26 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND UTILITY RATES.

Elections

Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor: Hansen
Last action: 2025-07-16
Official status: Signed 7/16/25
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source does not provide specific details on which types of advertising and public relations costs are prohibited, only that certain categories are excluded.

Act to Prevent Utility Companies from Using Customer Money for Unrelated Activities

This act stops utility companies in Delaware from using customer money for activities like lobbying, political contributions, and certain advertising. It also sets a limit on how much electric distribution companies can spend each year on capital expenses.

What This Bill Does

Requires the Delaware Public Service Commission to ensure that regulated utilities do not use customer funds to subsidize unregulated activities such as lobbying or political donations.
Limits annual capital expenses for electric distribution companies to $125 million unless there is an emergency situation approved by the commission.

Who It Names or Affects

Regulated utilities in Delaware
Electric distribution companies in Delaware

Terms To Know

regulated utilities: Companies that provide public services like electricity and water, which are controlled by government rules.
severability clause: A part of a law that says if one section is found to be illegal or invalid, the rest of the law can still work as planned.

Limits and Unknowns

The bill does not specify what happens after 2028 regarding capital expense limits for electric distribution companies.
It is unclear how strictly the commission will enforce these rules.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

HA 1

1 • Heffernan

Stricken 6/25/25

Plain English: This amendment changes how much money an electric company can charge customers to maintain system reliability from 2026 to 2028.

Limits the amount of capital expenses that electric distribution companies can recover in rates to $125 million per year for maintaining system reliability, unless there are emergency or extraordinary circumstances.
Requires any recovery of costs above this limit due to emergencies or extraordinary situations to be reviewed and approved by the Public Service Commission.

The amendment does not specify what qualifies as 'emergency or extraordinary circumstances'.

HA 2

2 • Heffernan

Passed 6/25/25

Plain English: House Amendment No. 2 removes certain parts of Senate Bill No. 60 and its previous amendment, specifically deleting provisions that set a limit on how much money electric distribution companies can spend annually on capital expenses.

Removes the provision that sets an annual cap of $125 million for capital expenses by electric distribution companies.

The amendment does not provide details about what will replace or happen after removing this specific limit, so it's unclear how these companies will manage their spending in the future.

SA 1

1 • Hansen

Stricken 3/20/25

Plain English: This amendment restricts public utilities from recovering certain dues and contributions related to lobbying activities from customers and sets a cap on non-mandatory spending for electric distribution companies.

Public utilities cannot recover from customers organizational or membership dues that are used for lobbying or similar activities intended to influence legislation, rules, ballot measures, or regulatory decisions.
Electric distribution companies must limit their non-mandatory spending category to no more than 5% of the rate base approved by the Public Service Commission.

The amendment text does not specify which organizations are affected beyond those engaging in lobbying activities.

SA 2

2 • Hansen

Passed 3/20/25

Plain English: This amendment restricts public utilities from recovering certain organizational dues used for lobbying activities from customers and sets a $125 million dollar limit on annual capital expenses for maintaining system reliability, with exceptions for emergencies.

Public utilities cannot recover from customers the portion of organizational or membership dues that are used for lobbying or similar activities intended to influence legislation or regulations.
Electric distribution companies can only recover up to $125 million annually in capital expenses for maintaining system reliability, unless there is an emergency situation requiring more spending.

The amendment does not specify what constitutes 'emergency or extraordinary circumstances' beyond mentioning natural disasters and tariffs.
It's unclear how the Public Service Commission will determine if a utility company has exceeded the $125 million cap due to emergency situations.

Bill History

2025-07-16 Delaware General Assembly
Signed by Governor
2025-06-26 Delaware General Assembly
Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES
2025-06-25 Delaware General Assembly
Amendment HA 1 to SB 60 - Stricken in House
2025-06-25 Delaware General Assembly
Amendment HA 2 to SB 60 - Passed In House by Voice Vote
2025-06-25 Delaware General Assembly
Passed By House. Votes: 29 YES 9 NO 2 ABSENT 1 VACANT
2025-06-24 Delaware General Assembly
Amendment HA 2 to SB 60 - Introduced and Placed With Bill
2025-06-24 Delaware General Assembly
Reported Out of Committee (Natural Resources & Energy) in House with 4 Favorable, 4 On Its Merits
2025-06-18 Delaware General Assembly
Amendment HA 1 to SB 60 - Introduced and Placed With Bill
2025-03-25 Delaware General Assembly
Assigned to Natural Resources & Energy Committee in House
2025-03-20 Delaware General Assembly
Amendment SA 1 to SB 60 - Stricken in Senate
2025-03-20 Delaware General Assembly
Amendment SA 2 to SB 60 - Passed By Senate. Votes: 19 YES 2 ABSENT
2025-03-20 Delaware General Assembly
Passed By Senate. Votes: 19 YES 2 ABSENT
2025-03-19 Delaware General Assembly
Amendment SA 2 to SB 60 - Introduced and Placed With Bill
2025-03-12 Delaware General Assembly
Reported Out of Committee (Environment, Energy & Transportation) in Senate with 4 Favorable, 1 On Its Merits
2025-03-11 Delaware General Assembly
Amendment SA 1 to SB 60 - Introduced and Placed With Bill
2025-02-21 Delaware General Assembly
Introduced and Assigned to Environment, Energy & Transportation Committee in Senate

Official Summary Text

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 26 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND UTILITY RATES.
This Act requires the Delaware Public Service Commission to ensure that all regulated utilities do not use customer funds to subsidize unregulated activities for example, lobbying activities, political contributions, charitable contributions, and certain advertising and public relations activities. This Act places a cap on annual capital expenses in the amount of $125 million for electric distribution companies. This Act also contains a severability clause.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

Legislation Document

SPONSOR:

Sen. Hansen & Sen. Sturgeon & Sen. Huxtable & Rep. Heffernan & Rep. Phillips & Rep. Griffith & Rep. Burns & Sen. Townsend & Sen. Hoffner & Rep. K. Williams

Sens. Hocker, Lockman, Pettyjohn, Pinkney, Seigfried; Reps. Bush, Carson, Gorman, Harris, Lambert, Morrison, Neal, Snyder-Hall

DELAWARE STATE SENATE

153rd GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SENATE BILL NO. 60

AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 26 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND UTILITY RATES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE:

Section 1. Amend Subchapter III, Chapter 1, Title 26 of the Delaware Code by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underline as follows:

§ 316. Cost recovery prohibitions.

(a) The Commission shall ensure that all regulated utilities do not use customer funds to subsidize nonregulated activities.

(b) A public utility shall not recover the following costs from its customers, whether as part of proposed base rate costs, a rider, or other charges:

(1) Expenses for lobbying or other activities meant to influence the outcome of any local, state, or federal legislation, ordinance, resolution, or ballot measure.

(2) Organizational or membership dues, or other contributions, to any organization, association, institution, corporation, or other entity that engages in lobbying or other similar activities intended to influence the outcome of any local, state, or federal legislation, ordinance, resolution, rule, ballot measure, or regulatory decision.

(3) Contributions to political candidates, campaign committees, issue committees, or independent expenditure committees or similar political expenses.

(4) Charitable giving expenses, including contributions to organizations qualified under section 501 (c)(3) or 501 (c)(4) of the federal “Internal Revenue Code of 1986”, 26 U.S.C. Sec. 501, as amended.

(5) Advertising and public relations expenses that do not directly relate to a purpose or program that is required or authorized under statute or commission rule or order.

a. Advertising and public relations expenses for which cost recovery is prohibited include:

1. Communications to promote or improve the utility’s brand.

2. Expenses for the purpose of influencing public opinion about the utility.

3. Expenses intended to create good will toward the utility from the general public.

b. For purposes of this section, “advertising” means the act of publishing, disseminating, soliciting, or circulating written, online, video, or audio communication intended to induce a person to patronize a product, service, business, or industry; promote a business’s brand; otherwise emphasize desirable qualities about a product, service, business, or industry; or influence public opinion with respect to legislative, administrative, or electoral matters.

c. “Advertising” does not include:

1. Advertising required or authorized by law, regulation, or order.

2. Advertising directly related to a purpose or program regarding income-based service, special rates, pilot programs, energy conservation, energy efficiency, beneficial electrification, renewable energy, transportation electrification, or other consumer education information.

3. Advertising regarding service interruptions, safety measures, or emergency conditions.

4. Advertising concerning employment opportunities with the utility.

Section 2. Amend § 1008, Chapter 10, Title 26 of the Delaware Code by making deletions as shown by strike through and insertions as shown by underline as follows:

(c) For the years 2026 through and including 2028, the Public Service Commission shall not allow an electric distribution company to recover in rates annual capital expenses in excess of $125 million dollars to maintain system reliability, absent emergency or extraordinary circumstances that require greater capital expenditures by the electric distribution company, which is subject to approval by the Public Service Commission.

Section 3. This Act is severable. If a provision of this Act or the application of this Act to a person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect the provisions or applications of this Act that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.

SYNOPSIS

This Act requires the Delaware Public Service Commission to ensure that all regulated utilities do not use customer funds to subsidize unregulated activities for example, lobbying activities, political contributions, charitable contributions, and certain advertising and public relations activities. This Act places a cap on annual capital expenses in the amount of $125 million for electric distribution companies. This Act also contains a severability clause.

Author: Senator Hansen