The bills — Senate Bill 254, sponsored by Sen. Josh Becker, and Assembly Bill 825, sponsored by Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris, both Democrats — aim to lower electricity costs for Californians. Both include provisions that would force the big three utilities to accept public financing for a portion of the tens of billions they plan to spend on their power grids.
The two bills have been passed by their respective legislative chambers. That’s despite opposition from the big investor-owned utilities, which object to using public funding for grid infrastructure projects because they earn guaranteed profits if they invest in infrastructure themselves. The utilities have defeated previous legislative efforts that would have crimped those future profits by having the state assume a portion of the expenses.
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