California Bills to Watchdog Utility Spending Pass Through Suspense File

Source: Lake County News  |  By Lake County News Reports

Two bills that proponents say would move the needle on California's electricity rate crisis by increasing oversight of utility spending on wildfire mitigation and other infrastructure investments emerged from the Senate suspense file on Thursday, a key hurdle. SB 1003 (Dodd) would require utilities to demonstrate their wildfire mitigation plans prioritize affordable, timely solutions proven to effectively reduce risk. AB 2054 (Bauer-Kahan) would prevent utilities from automatically passing excessive project costs on to ratepayers for projects like wildfire mitigation.

Instead of prioritizing cost-effective solutions, The Utility Report Network, or TURN, said utilities are incentivized to pursue the most expensive option — undergrounding power lines at a cost of up to $6.1 million per mile — because they can earn a lucrative rate of return. TURN said the consequences have been severe rate shocks for Californians. "SB 1003 and AB 2054 emerged from the suspense file today, an important step towards advancing oversight of utility spending in California,” Katy Morsony, legislative and assistant managing attorney at TURN, said Thursday. “For too long, utilities have treated customers like a credit card — passing along budget overruns without regulator approval and choosing the most expensive option for wildfire mitigation to maximize profits. Enough is enough. It's time for lawmakers to prove they're working for utility customers, not executives,” Morsony said.