Electricity: rates: unreasonable hardship.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. This bill would require the commission to ensure that each electrical rate schedule does not cause an unreasonable hardship on senior citizens, renters, families with minor children, medically vulnerable customers, or economically vulnerable residential customers in hot climate zones, as specified. The bill would provide that any electrical rate schedule that imposes rates on those identified customers above baseline rates during any hour where the temperature is above 90 degrees Fahrenheit for the duration of the hour is considered an unreasonable hardship.