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When a gas utility plans to replace an aging line, AB 2313 (Berman) lets that customer take the money instead, as a cash incentive to electrify their home and drop gas service. The catch: every other gas customer helps pay for it through their rates. Governor Newsom can stop it with a veto.
Instead, it redirects that funding house by house, and the union jobs it supported vanish.
A utility has already planned and budgeted to replace an aging gas line, as part of coordinated maintenance.
AB 2313 (Berman) lets that customer pocket the money as an incentive to electrify their home and drop gas service.
That cash comes out of the fund ratepayers already pay to repair and replace California's aging gas lines, the safety work performed by union crews.
Paying to electrify one scattered home at a time is wasteful, and every ratepayer helps foot the bill.
As the households that can afford to electrify leave the gas system, the fixed cost of the pipes is spread across a shrinking pool of remaining customers. Their rates climb, which pushes more people to leave, and drives rates higher.
In 2024, the Legislature passed SB 1221 to run a small set of pilot projects and learn how to move neighborhoods off gas without spiking everyone's bills. The state has barely begun. No pilots have even been proposed, and it will be years before there is meaningful data.
Until SB 1221's pilot programs are complete to show how to protect the customers left behind, this bill puts the cart before the horse. The result? Higher gas bills for the people who can least afford it.
Protect the jobs. Protect the ratepayers. Veto AB 2313 (Berman).
AB 2313 (Berman) threatens thousands of union jobs and risks raising gas bills on the Californians who can least afford it. Fill in your details and we'll send your email straight to the Governor's office. It takes under a minute.