Committee approves bill requiring electric suppliers to provide written policies for customers with life‑threatening conditions

Representative Lim introduced a substitute for HB 641 (LC56091S) and said it was pared down to four lines to require that, beginning Jan. 1, 2027, any electric supplier serving residential consumers "shall have a written policy in place addressing specifically, serious life threatening conditions" and "shall furnish such written policy upon request by a consumer or a potential consumer." Representative Lim said those provisions "would have helped in Miss Marsden's case."

An unidentified committee member told the panel the change "would be very beneficial moving forward for all of the utilities to have a policy in place," and Daryl Ingram of Electric Cities of Georgia told the committee the substitute "is a good policy that allows the local communities that are closer to their customers and know their customers to be able to set policy and direction." Representative Lim said most utilities already have similar policies and that the substitute does not mandate a particular written policy, preserving local flexibility.

At the chair's request the committee took a voice vote after a motion and a second. Members responded "Aye," and the chair declared the motion passed. The meeting record does not include a named mover or second, nor an itemized roll‑call tally; the action was approved by voice vote.

Next steps were not specified in the transcript. The bill's substitute lists LC56091S as the working draft and sets an effective date of Jan. 1, 2027; the transcript does not identify further referrals, committee reporting deadlines or implementation steps.