San Diego City Wire

Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones (R-San Diego) is set to present his Senate Bill 1326, also known as the "Cost of Living Reduction Act," before the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee. The bill aims to immediately repeal an unfair law authorizing the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to impose an uncapped, fixed charge on electrical bills.

The background for this proposed legislation stems from the passage of Assembly Bill 205 in 2022, where Democrat lawmakers mandated the CPUC to add uncapped, income-graduated fixed charges on investor-owned utility ratepayers. The CPUC proposed various fixed charges for different customer categories, with Leader Jones expressing concern over the excessive nature of these charges and the CPUC's ability to increase them arbitrarily.

Jones argues that the current fixed charge, though an improvement from initial proposals, is still too high and unjustified, particularly due to its uncapped nature. Consequently, the Cost of Living Reduction Act aims to repeal the provisions of AB 205 that mandated the CPUC to impose this uncapped, fixed charge on electrical bills.

The presentation of the Cost of Living Reduction Act will take place today at 3:00 PM in the Swing Space Hearing Room 1200, located at 1021 O Street, Sacramento, CA, 95814. For those interested, a live stream of the hearing will be available on the Senate website. Media individuals seeking an interview with Leader Jones can contact Nina Krishel by email at nina.krishel@sen.ca.gov or phone at (818) 274-4305.