Coming soon to your electric bill: The Big Utility Tax

August 11, 2025

Starting this Fall, SDG&E, SoCal Edison, and PG&E will begin charging most ratepayers a new $24/month Utility Tax. 

Solar Rights Alliance opposed this big Utility Tax when it was first introduced, and we continue to oppose it in its current form.

Details of the Utility Tax

  • The Utility Tax is $24/month for most ratepayers. Everyone will have to pay the Tax, no matter how little energy you use.
  • The $24/month Tax is twice the national average, and it is uncapped. The utilities have already made it clear they want the Tax to increase to $50/month or more. 
  • The Utility Tax started appearing on SDG&E and Edison bills this fall, and will start showing up on PG&E bills in March 2026. 
  • The utilities are calling it a “base service charge.” We call it a tax because that’s what it actually is.

How the Utility Tax will impact your electricity bill

  • The Utility Tax will increase electricity bills on four million households that do not use much energy.
  • This includes people who live in apartments, condos, and small homes. It includes those who invested in energy conservation. And of course it includes homes with solar panels.
  • On the other end of the spectrum, the Utility Tax will lower bills for those who use a lot of electricity.

Why we oppose the Utility Tax

  • Solar Rights Alliance opposes large Utility Taxes because they punish people who do not use a lot of electricity, and reward those who consume lots of energy.
  • In addition, the Utility Tax doesn’t address the root cause of California’s high electricity rates: out of control utility spending.
  • Instead, the Utility Tax lets the utilities collect a guaranteed income from every ratepayer. That’s unfair, and will only encourage utilities to keep overspending. 

How did the Utility Tax happen?

  • In 2022, the Legislature passed AB 205, a big “budget trailer bill” proposed by Governor Newsom.
  • The Utility Tax was buried deep inside this bill. 
  • AB 205 was proposed and passed in just three days with almost no public discussion. Many lawmakers didn’t even know the Utility Tax was in the bill.

We fought to stop Utility Tax

  • In 2024, in response to massive public opposition to the Utility Tax, Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, Senator Brian Jones, and twenty-nine other legislators introduced AB 1999 and SB 1326.
  • Both bills would have capped the Utility Tax at the national average of $10/mo and limited any increases to inflation. Twenty-nine other legislators from both parties joined as co-authors to these bills. 
  • What followed was an epic fight. Tens of thousands of people and more than 260 nonprofit groups worked relentlessly to get legislators to support these bills. 
  • However, Governor Newsom and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas pressured lawmakers and used sneaky political maneuvers to kill these bills and keep the uncapped Utility Tax. 
Show me a video of how they killed AB 1999

If your legislator is on the list below, please call, thank them for supporting legislation to stop the Big Utility Tax, and ask them to keep fighting.

Note: “Co-author” means they helped sponsor one of the bills to stop the Big Utility Tax.

  • Asm Dawn Addis (co-author)
  • Sen Ben Allen (co-author)
  • Asm Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (co-author)
  • Asm Marc Berman (co-author)
  • Sen Catherine Blakespear (co-author)
  • Asm Tasha Boerner (co-author)
  • Asm Mia Bonta (co-author)
  • Asm Phillip Chen
  • Asm Damon Connolly (co-author)
  • Sen Dave Cortese (co-author)
  • Sen Brian Dahle (co-author)
  • Asm Laura Friedman (co-author)
  • Asm Tim Grayson
  • Sen Shannon Grove (co-author)
  • Asm Chris Holden
  • Asm Jacqui Irwin, lead author AB 1999
  • Sen Brian Jones, lead author SB 1326
  • Asm Alex Lee (co-author)
  • Asm Evan Low (co-author)
  • Asm Brian Maienschein (co-author)
  • Asm Al Muratsuchi (co-author)
  • Sen Stephanie Nguyen (co-author)
  • Sen Roger Niello (co-author)
  • Sen Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (co-author)
  • Asm Dane Papan (co-author)
  • Asm Joe Patterson
  • Asm Gail Pellerin (co-author)
  • Asm Cottie Petrie-Norris
  • Asm Sharon Quirk-Silva (co-author)
  • Asm Pilar Schiavo
  • Sen Kelly Seyarto (co-author)
  • Asm Phil Ting (co-author)
  • Asm Greg Wallis
  • Asm Chris Ward (co-author)
  • Asm Akilah Weber (co-author)
  • Sen Scott Wiener (co-author)
  • Sen Scott Wilk (co-author)

All of the below are the Assemblymembers who helped to kill AB 1999 through an underhanded move called “abstaining.” This is marked as “No Vote Recorded” (NVR) in official records, and it is an all-too-common way for a legislator to defeat a bill without being on record as a “No” vote.

If your legislator is on the list below, please hold them accountable. Here’s a sample phone message:

“My name is ____. I live in ______. I am extremely disappointed that you voted to kill legislation that would have stopped the Big Utility Tax. Abstaining is the same as voting no. You did not listen to your constituents, and you chose to support the Utility Tax that will raise bills on four million households. This is unacceptable.”

The fight to stop the Utility Tax is not over

  • The utilities and their allies wanted a Utility Tax as high as $190/month.
  • The voter backlash helped wrestle the Utility Tax down to $24/month.
  • That’s small comfort since the Utility Tax is uncapped. But continued public pressure will be key to get lawmakers to cap this tax and ensure it doesn’t get any bigger.

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