This bill establishes a prohibition against electric and gas public utilities charging meter-reading fees to residents of multi-unit dwellings that exceed the cost of their actual electricity or gas usage for a given billing cycle. The term "meter-reading fee" is defined as a charge applied to customers who have opted out of smart meter installations, which are devices that measure and transmit utility usage data.

The legislation aims to protect residents in multi-unit dwellings from excessive fees related to manual meter readings, ensuring that such fees remain reasonable and directly correlated to their utility consumption. The bill is set to take effect immediately upon enactment.