A San Diego lawmaker has introduced two bills aimed at lowering electricity costs by limiting utility profits and adding oversight of wildfire prevention spending.
SAN DIEGO — San Diegans pay some of the highest electricity rates in the country, and now a local lawmaker is pushing new legislation aimed at lowering those costs.
Two new bills introduced by San Diego Assemblymember Tasha Boerner aim to cut energy bills by about 25% by limiting utility profits and adding oversight to wildfire prevention spending. Boerner said the legislation is designed to hold energy companies accountable while providing relief for ratepayers.
The first proposal, Assembly Bill 1677, would limit how much utilities can profit from their investments. Currently, California utilities are allowed to earn around a 10 percent profit margin. The bill would instead tie that profit cap to the long-term U.S. Treasury bond rate, plus four percent. The bond rate is currently around 4.7%.
“So that would take us down over a percentage point, and that's a really important savings,” Boerner said. “Our projections are anywhere from $250 million to $1 billion in savings per year for regular Californians.”
The second bill focuses on wildfire mitigation spending, which a state audit identified as a major driver of rising electricity rates across California. The audit also raised concerns that utilities could potentially charge the same expense in multiple categories.
“We do not want any corporation to say there's wildfire mitigation happening, getting reimbursed by the rate payers for it, and maybe that wildfire mitigation isn’t happening,” Boerner said.
The proposal references a 2021 audit of San Diego Gas & Electric’s wildfire mitigation spending. That audit found $240 million set aside for wildfire prevention efforts, but did not clearly show how the money was spent.
The bill would require utilities to conduct independent audits to verify how wildfire mitigation funds are used before those costs are passed on to customers.
“It would mean that for any wildfire mitigation, they actually have to show that they spent the money before it's recovered by California ratepayers,” Boerner said. “It's really not only about affordability, it's about safety issues for Californians.”
An SDG&E spokesperson told CBS 8 in a statement:
"We understand why customers want accountability. The audit being referenced is from 2021 and did not find that wildfire mitigation funds were misused or missing—it analyzed data sets that were not comparable, resulting in a flawed conclusion. SDG&E’s wildfire safety investments continue to be subject to extensive regulatory oversight and independent review, and we remain committed to transparent communication with regulators, policymakers and the public about the investments that protect the communities we serve."
The bills are expected to go before the Utilities and Energy Committee in early April. If they pass the Assembly and Senate, they could reach the governor’s desk by the end of the summer and take effect next year if signed into law.