3 ways to fix California’s utility spending problem — if lawmakers act

SB 905 would curb returns on wildfire costs, seek new financing, and explore performance metrics to curb sky-high electric rates. Can it overcome utility opposition?

California lawmakers are once again contending with how to curb the state’s high energy costs as they hurtle toward the end of this year’s legislative session on Aug. 31. So what’s on the table for utility rate reform in the final stretch?

Enter Senate Bill 905, a complicated package of proposals that are likely to face intense opposition from utilities, which tend to reflexively resist rules that could crimp their profits. But California voters are demanding reform, according to state Senator Josh Becker, the Democrat who wrote the bill.

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