josh plaisted is the president of flagstaff research, a company that creates and distributes products in the energy market. he also rents an apartment. he says he's the type of person who will be negatively impacted by this change. >> a significant amount of renters are going to pay more. a significant amount of single family detached homes high usage are going to pay less. >> reporter: on thursday, the california public utilities commission approved a two part strategy to restructure residential utility bills. for many pg&e customers, it would be a fixed charge of about $24. but for low income households, they'll pay either $12 or $6. people are already paying these fees to some extent, but it was charged based on kilowatt use. >> basically, you paid for the energy you used and there's no fixed charge. it was like pulling up to a gas pump and you paid by the gallon. so now they're proposing putting in place a fixed charge that's unavoidable and you have to pay it. >> reporter: plaisted says for people with smaller spaces who are not low income like him, they'll likely end up paying m