EGN NEWS DESK
The controversial plan to require California’s three greatest utilities to start out charging their prospects based mostly on how a lot cash they make has been shelved by state regulators — a minimum of for now.
Instead, the California Public Utilities Commission is proposing a much less radical — if not essentially much less controversial — method to complying with a state legislation demanding that it look at new price constructions to cut back the burden of rising electrical energy charges, a downside that can solely deepen because the state additional embraces electrification.
That proposal? Reduce per-kilowatt-hour charges however institute a mounted cost of $24.15 monthly for many prospects of utilities Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric.
The proposal would add smaller mounted month-to-month costs of $6 monthly or $12 monthly to prospects who’re signed up for 2 totally different particular price packages for low-income earners. This carveout for low-income ratepayers is distinct from the income-graduated proposals that have been into account.
Fixed costs are frequent options of utility payments throughout the nation, the CPUC famous in a truth sheet accompanying the discharge of its proposed determination on Wednesday. That’s as a result of utilities pay for a lot of mounted prices that aren’t tied to how a lot electrical energy prospects use, and glued costs are one approach to recoup these prices.
In California, these mounted prices, which embrace the upkeep and growth of distribution and transmission grids, energy-efficiency packages, low-income bill-assistance packages and extra, account for roughly half the prices paid by prospects. But California’s massive three utilities have been barred from instituting mounted costs underneath earlier CPUC selections, forcing them to get well these prices by rising the charges that prospects pay for the electrical energy they eat.
CPUC’s proposal would scale back these charges, often called “volumetric” costs, by 5 to 7 cents per kilowatt-hour. That will make electrical energy cheaper for California residents. But the CPUC hopes it’s going to additionally make it simpler for purchasers to afford the elevated electrical energy consumption of electrical automobiles, electric-powered warmth pumps and family home equipment, which Californians should begin shopping for en masse to satisfy the state’s clean-transportation and building-decarbonization coverage objectives.
This fixed-charge proposal will now be open to remark earlier than the CPUC decides both to approve it or alter it. If authorized, it could begin going into impact for Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric in 2025 and for Pacific Gas & Electric in 2026.
The CPUC’s Public Advocates Office, which is tasked with defending shoppers, issued a assertion in help of the proposal. “It permits for the implementation of a flat price, which can scale back electrical payments for low-income prospects and minimize the worth of electrical energy for all prospects,” Linda Serizawa, the company’s interim director, mentioned in a ready assertion.
But the brand new proposal is already drawing fireplace from some teams who say it’s the mistaken method to coping with California’s skyrocketing electrical energy prices — and people critiques are coming from each side of the talk over income-based charges.
