Renting Households Will Be Hardest-Hit by Electric Rate Change

The California Public Utilities Commission has approved a change in electricity rates that will hit hardest the smallest households that pay the power bill directly to investor-owned utilities like Southern California Edison. New for electricity bills in 2025 is a higher fixed charge of $24.15 monthly that will fund improvements to the power grid and the costs of mitigating damage from wildfires. Offsetting the higher charge is a modest decrease in electricity usage rates. The goal is to encourage consumers to buy electric appliances and vehicles but the cost of the policy change will be borne disproportionately by smaller households.

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