Sponsors (3)
The bill increases billing transparency and gives households early and opt-in spending alerts—helpful for budgeting and avoiding bill shocks—while imposing implementation and administrative costs on utilities/regulators that may raise rates and produce uneven or imperfect protections for some communities.
Households (renters, homeowners, middle- and low-income families) will get clearer bills showing the dollar change from the prior bill and average monthly consumption in dollars and energy units (kWh/therms), making price changes and usage easier to spot for budgeting and comparison.
Consumers receive early usage warnings (around day 10/20) for unusually high gas or electricity use, giving households time to reduce consumption and avoid large or dangerous utility situations.
Customers can opt into consumer-selected dollar-threshold alerts tied to their chosen spending amount, helping people stick to budgets and avoid bill shocks.
Electric and gas utilities will face implementation and administrative costs to change billing and notification systems, and those costs could be passed through to consumers in higher rates.
Smaller utilities that receive federal funds may lack the technical or staffing capacity to implement new billing/alert requirements, risking delayed compliance or higher localized costs for customers in rural or underserved areas.
Regulators and utilities will need to dedicate administrative resources to determine covered status and implement compliance rules, creating administrative burdens and potential enforcement challenges.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Requires federally funded electric and gas utilities to show dollar changes and average consumption on bills, send in‑period usage alerts, and offer optional consumer dollar‑threshold alerts.
Introduced February 18, 2025 by Josh S. Gottheimer · Last progress February 18, 2025
Requires electric and gas utilities that receive Federal funding to give customers clearer, timely information about their bills and use. Utilities must show the dollar change from the prior bill and average monthly consumption (in dollars and kWh or therms) on each bill, send notifications during a billing period if average daily use exceeds the prior period, and offer an optional consumer-set dollar alert tied to the utility’s rate and ongoing usage. Applies only to utilities that receive Federal funding as designated by the relevant Commission; it sets specific notice timing rules (notifications triggered around day 10 or day 20 of a billing period or on a consumer‑selected day) and does not appropriate new funds or specify an effective date.