California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Wednesday signed an executive order that aims to provide residents with some respite amid rising electricity prices.
That anticipated relief would be achieved through trimming down several state programs that could be inflating utility bills, while also assessing wildfire mitigation expenses, according to the governor’s office.
“California’s over four decades of work to advance appliance and building energy efficiency standards has kept electric bills lower on average in California than many other states,” Newsom wrote in the order . “But Californians have seen their electric bills rise in recent years, outpacing the rate of inflation.”
Among the key provisions of the executive order was a request for the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to identify underperforming or underutilized programs whose costs to ratepayers might not be justified.
The order asked that the CPUC return any unused energy program funds back to private utility customers, in the form of credits on their bills.