This actually sounds pretty reasonable to me, and I think would be a positive step forward in terms of transparency and accountability. If I understand the pro

This actually sounds pretty reasonable to me, and I think would be a positive step forward in terms of transparency and accountability. If I understand the proposal correctly, there are some activities that utilities are prohibited from pursuing using ratepayer funds or pushing those costs down into the rate base, and for other types of costs, the burden of proof is borne by the utility to justify whether charging those costs back to the ratepayers (I.e., including them in the rate base) is fair, reasonable and justifiable. If a utility wants to pursue these activities, they certainly can, but the costs to do it will come out of their “discretionary” funds - so that it’ll reduce the reasonable rate of return they’re entitled to receive on their costs to provide services.