From the article > In the power companies’ joint submission to the California Public Utilities Commission, they suggest these fixed fees for each customer’s in

From the article > In the power companies’ joint submission to the California Public Utilities Commission, they suggest these fixed fees for each customer’s income range. > Households with incomes earning less than $28,000 a year would pay a $15 monthly fee in the Edison and PG&E service territories and a $24 monthly fee in SDG&E service territory. > Households earning $28,000 to $69,000 a year would pay $20 to Edison, $30 to PG&E or $34 to SDG&E each month. Households earning $69,000 to $180,000 would pay $51 to Edison or PG&E, or $73 to SDG&E. > Households earning more than $180,000 would pay $85 to Edison, $92 to PG&E or $128 to SDG&E. Additional quotes that for some reason seem funny to me from the article. > But the utility companies say the measure would reduce electricity bills for the lowest income customers. Those residents would save about $300 per year, utilities estimate. > California households earning more than $180,000 a year would end up paying an average of $500 more a year on their electricity bills, according to the proposal from utility companies. It seems like this is just a fee the utilities companies want to charge that is based on income. Am I misunderstanding that? Is this intended to incentivize something or help anyone? It just seems to give more money to the utility companies.