The proposed legislation, General Assembly Raised Bill No. 243, mandates the chairperson of the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to conduct a study on how the public benefits charge is represented on residential electric customer bills. The study aims to evaluate whether the current depiction adequately informs customers about the components of this charge. If the chairperson determines that the information provided is insufficient, they are required to offer detailed recommendations for enhancing customer understanding, which may include redesigning electric bills and creating new cost categories to improve transparency regarding the costs and benefits of programs funded through these charges.

The bill stipulates that the chairperson must solicit written comments from each electric distribution company while developing these recommendations. A report containing the analysis and recommendations must be submitted to the relevant joint standing committee of the General Assembly by January 1, 2027. The act is set to take effect on October 1, 2026, and introduces new legal language to current law, specifically establishing a new section for this study. The bill also includes a deletion of proposed deletions and clarifies that new text is not underlined, indicating that the entire text of the bill is new.