---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 26 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND UTILITY RATES."
description: "Public utilities are regulated monopolies. Practically speaking, a public utility has no competition in its service territory and, therefore, does not face the economic risks that a for-profit, non-utility company must face. By law, a public utility is authorized the opportunity to earn a reasonable rate of return on the costs it incurs in operating its business."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "153"
identifier: "SB 59"
citation: "Delaware SB 59 (153)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Brian Pettyjohn", "Bryan Townsend", "Bryant L. Richardson", "Claire Snyder-Hall", "David L. Wilson", "David P. Sokola", "Eric Morrison", "Franklin D. Cooke", "Josue O Ortega", "Kerri Evelyn Harris", "Laura V. Sturgeon", "Mara Gorman", "Marie Pinkney", "Nicole Poore", "Ray Seigfried", "Russell Huxtable", "Spiros Mantzavinos", "Stell Parker Selby", "Stephanie L. Hansen", "William Bush", "William J. Carson"]
version_count: 0
action_count: 7
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2025-02-21"
last_action: "2025-07-16"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/e80060c9-0b85-4f39-9661-9e24d55f66a9"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=141866"
source_hash: "0c538492c3aa1fd9eb81caf3e7192b4506975f5b559a08ec57e4001722195ab7"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
---

# Delaware SB 59 (153) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 26 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO PUBLIC UTILITIES AND UTILITY RATES.

Public utilities are regulated monopolies. Practically speaking, a public utility has no competition in its service territory and, therefore, does not face the economic risks that a for-profit, non-utility company must face. By law, a public utility is authorized the opportunity to earn a reasonable rate of return on the costs it incurs in operating its business.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.


## Votes

- SM — **19–0** (pass) · upper
- SM — **39–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Brian Pettyjohn — primary (person)
- Bryan Townsend — primary (person)
- Bryant L. Richardson — primary (person)
- Claire Snyder-Hall — primary (person)
- David L. Wilson — primary (person)
- David P. Sokola — primary (person)
- Eric Morrison — primary (person)
- Franklin D. Cooke — primary (person)
- Josue O Ortega — primary (person)
- Kerri Evelyn Harris — primary (person)
- Laura V. Sturgeon — primary (person)
- Mara Gorman — primary (person)
- Marie Pinkney — primary (person)
- Nicole Poore — primary (person)
- Ray Seigfried — primary (person)
- Russell Huxtable — primary (person)
- Spiros Mantzavinos — primary (person)
- Stell Parker Selby — primary (person)
- Stephanie L. Hansen — primary (person)
- William Bush — primary (person)
- William J. Carson — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2025-02-21** Introduced and Assigned to Environment, Energy & Transportation Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2025-03-12** Reported Out of Committee (Environment, Energy & Transportation) in Senate with 5 Favorable `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2025-03-20** Passed By Senate. Votes: 19 YES 2 ABSENT `passage`
- **2025-03-25** Assigned to Natural Resources & Energy Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2025-04-09** Reported Out of Committee (Natural Resources & Energy) in House with 9 On Its Merits, 1 Unfavorable `committee-passage, committee-passage-unfavorable`
- **2025-06-26** Passed By House. Votes: 39 YES 1 ABSENT 1 VACANT `passage`
- **2025-07-16** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/e80060c9-0b85-4f39-9661-9e24d55f66a9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).