An overlooked reason for rising energy and water bills in California | Opinion

There are several reasons why your water and electricity bills keep rising. Many increases can be blamed on market forces beyond anyone’s control, but what’s being left out of the affordability discussion is how well-intended but unfunded policy decisions — two in particular — risk making cost of living expenses even worse, especially for the state’s not-for-profit utility customers.

Advanced Clean Fleets

One example of concern to many utilities is the Advanced Clean Fleets regulation, which requires all public agencies, including not-for-profit utilities, to transition their fleets to electric vehicles as soon as 2030. It’s a worthy goal, but it will also contribute to rising utility bills because electric models of utility work trucks cost twice as much and there are fewer available.

Public utilities need more flexibility in vehicle choice to keep the lights on and water flowing. Otherwise, they will be forced to spend millions of more dollars on these vehicles. These mandated costs will have to be passed to 10 million Californians who receive service from a not-for-profit electric utility, and 34 million Californians served by public water systems.

Conservation framework

On the side of water, the “Making Conservation a California Way of Life” framework — which was passed in 2024 to help improve water efficiency across the state — is a necessary regulatory measure that will help ensure that Californians have the tools necessary to use every drop of water wisely.

But policymakers must be mindful that the framework also contains a host of legally-binding requirements, particularly in the areas of landscaping and efficiency. These requirements are estimated to cost in the tens of billions of dollars through 2040. According to California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office, the “costs will be borne primarily by suppliers, wastewater agencies and customers.”

Already, according to a recent survey by the Public Policy Institute of California, 55% of respondents said the rising cost of energy utility bills is a major problem. Meanwhile, water utility bills are also increasing faster than the rate of inflation — and that’s before any impacts from these unfunded mandates take effect.

California’s self-inflicted affordability problem is exacerbated by the federal government’s water and energy priorities. Federal permit reviews for clean energy projects have stalled and funding for them has been phased out, revoked or canceled, making it more expensive to build projects, with public utility customers left to bear the cost.

California’s not-for-profit utilities are working hard to reduce their carbon footprints. They share the state’s commitment to ambitious climate and water sustainability goals and are making real progress toward them. They’re also shouting from the rooftops that we must find balance between aggressive policy and economic realities.

California has taken some positive steps to make utility bills more affordable, but those are mostly offset by these new “death by a thousand cuts” attacks on utility system affordability. We must reassess.

Danielle Blacet-Hyden is executive director of the California Municipal Utilities Association, which represents 86 publicly owned electric and gas utilities and water and wastewater agencies that provide water service to 75% of Californians and electric and gas service to 25% of the state.

This story was originally published April 17, 2026 at 2:53 PM with the headline "An overlooked reason for rising energy and water bills in California | Opinion."