Bill author: Assembly Member Sam Blakeslee (R-33)

SUMMARY
Requires each electrical and gas corporation to disclose and itemize the charges for each rate block (tier) on residential customers' billing statements and provide information on how the customer can reduce energy usage. Energy charges for residential customers are based on the quantity of electricity or gas used by a customer. This new required tiered structure was viewed as a way of providing ratepayers with an incentive to conserve. Electrical and gas corporations bill for energy using inverted block rates structures, where per-unit prices increase with each successive block of units consumed. Each block is referred to as a tier.

WHY IT MATTERS
A February 2008 Wall Street Journal article, entitled "In the Dark," highlighted an increasingly significant problem for electric and gas customers - utility bills are confusing and hard to decipher. Each of California's utilities provides a different layout and varying degrees of information, and while some bills are more confusing than others, overall the information provided leaves many California consumers ‘in the dark.'

THE GOALS OF AB 1763 INCLUDE:
• Providing the information customers need, in a format they can understand, to determine how to best reduce their energy usage and lower their monthly bills.

• Promoting and advancing energy efficiency and energy conservation through utility programs, by promoting customer awareness and through the rate structures.