“This will punish people who use less energy,” said Jenn Engstrom, the state director at consumer advocacy group CALPIRG. “This will encourage high consumption and it will increase bills for millions of Californians.”

Commissioner John Reynolds dismissed the concerns before he voted for the proposal. “The public discourse has been disappointing,” he said.

He agreed that under the change some customers’ total bills will go up, while others will see a decline. But the focus, he said, should be on the reduction in the rate per kilowatt hour, which is needed as the state tries to move more people away from fueling their cars and homes with fossil fuels to electricity, which is increasingly coming from wind and solar farms.