Assembly committee gives 'do pass' to bill to create state power fund to shift energy policy costs from rates

The California State Assembly Committee on Natural Resources voted to give a “do pass” recommendation to the Appropriations Committee on a bill by Sen. Becker that would create a state “power fund” to move some state-mandated energy-policy costs out of utility rates, the committee said at a hearing.

The bill would direct the state to set up a dedicated fund to pay for specified costs now borne in electric rates, change how the cap-and-trade–derived Climate Credit is allocated and timed, increase credits for low-income CARE customers, and authorize programmatic environmental impact reports for categories of utility projects to speed review. Supporters told the committee the measure could reduce regressive rate impacts and target credits to customers in higher-need periods; opponents said it shifts budgetary risk to the general fund, could unsettle investors and credit markets, and does not guarantee stable funding for mandated spending such as wildfire mitigation.

Sen. Becker, the bill’s author, told the committee that the proposal contains multiple parts: a power fund to take policy costs out of rates when the Legislature appropriates money; a change to the Climate Credit so “100% of that money that electric utilities get from the…