No Utility Junk Fees Act

Key Points

• The bill would ban electric utilities from charging extra fees for paying bills by mail, in person, or through automatic bank transfers, since these payment methods cost utilities little or nothing to process.
• States that don't adopt these consumer protections would lose 10 percent of their federal State Energy Program funding starting the first full fiscal year after the law takes effect.
• For payment methods that do cost something to process, like phone credit card payments, fees are capped at whichever is greater: $3 or 150 percent of the utility's actual documented processing cost.
• Utilities must clearly disclose any payment fee, explain why it's being charged, and show customers a fee-free way to pay before they pay their bill.
• States would enforce the rules by investigating complaints, penalizing violations, and letting customers recover money from illegal fees, while the Energy Department tracks state compliance in a public database.