Tag: California Public Utilities Commission

March 19, 2021

A POLR, essentially a utility or entity that is obliged to serve all customers, isn’t specific to the electric sector — telecommunications carriers of last resort, for instance, have existed since the 1990s. In California, the concept has become especially […]

December 10, 2020

California regulators and utilities want to build microgrids for communities most at threat from the state’s increasingly deadly wildfires, and the widespread public safety power shutoff (PSPS) grid outages meant to prevent them. But despite policies to fund and enable […]

November 16, 2020

The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) initiated rolling blackouts that affected hundreds of thousands of customers this summer after a record-breaking heatwave swept across the Western U.S., leading to a spike in energy demand. The operator simultaneously faced other issues […]

June 2, 2020

PG&E’s broader strategy to reduce the impacts of its shut-offs includes three programs: upgrading certain substations so they can operate as islands when transmission lines are de-energized, providing technical and financial support to communities that want to deploy microgrids, and […]

April 30, 2020

Last year, California utilities rolled out public safety power shut-offs that cut off service to millions of customers during times of high fire risk, when weather conditions could damage their power lines​. PG&E — which has previously said that its […]

April 24, 2020

COVID-19 is unlike any crisis California has seen before, Edward Randolph, deputy executive director at the CPUC, said at the workshop. The agency has seen a lot of parties bring up individual problems, indicating that the customer-focused clean energy sector […]

January 8, 2020

PG&E’s sweeping public safety power shut-off program provoked widespread criticism from lawmakers, regulators and customers in 2019, after millions of Californians were left without electricity for days. But the utility, which has six months to resolve its wildfire liabilities and […]

January 2, 2020

PG&E’s initial general rate case application requested a nearly $1.1 billion increase over its $8.5 billion revenue for 2019, more than half of which was to fund wildfire mitigation measures, as required in Assembly Bill 1054, passed by the California […]

December 17, 2019

The SGIP’s funds are used to incentivize customer-side distributed energy resources in California, and cover technologies like wind turbines, fuel cells and storage systems. Over the last year, as PG&E has deployed more frequent proactive shut-offs to prevent wildfires in […]

December 4, 2019

The CPUC’s proposed decision maintains the utilities’ test-year 2020 ROE at 2018 values: 10.3% for Southern California Edison, down from the requested 11.45%; 10.25% for PG&E, down from the 12% it applied for; and 10.2% for SDG&E, compared to the […]

October 15, 2019

California officials are not happy about Pacific Gas & Electric’s handling of its massive fire-prevention power outage last week. Gov. Gavin Newsom and state regulators on Monday demanded that PG&E address the communications and technology breakdowns that marred its response […]

June 26, 2019

Near- and medium-term renewable integration and reliability resources are “most in need of our immediate attention,” according to the commission’s ruling. “Because of the urgent need, this … will become our first opportunity to design a mechanism to ensure that […]

June 18, 2019

California’s wildfire season is only weeks old, but already PG&E has utilized the new Public Safety Power Shutoff capabilities included in mitigation plans. Looking ahead, regulators say they need to develop tools that can help determine whether or not the […]

May 9, 2019

PG&E announced a sweeping overhaul of its leadership in early April, and now regulators want to make sure those brought on board match up with the NorthStar recommendations PG&E agreed to adopt. The commission will examine whether PG&E’s appointment of […]

November 9, 2018

Approval of PG&E’s landmark energy storage solicitation is the most significant example to date of batteries taking the place of fossil fuel generation on the power grid. Energy storage has helped decrease the California’s reliance on gas for years, particularly […]

January 15, 2018

California regulators rejected an effort to award lucrative “must-run” status to three Calpine gas plants, calling for new energy storage and clean resources instead. The California Public Utilities Commission ruled Thursday to authorize PG&E to procure energy storage or preferred […]

December 15, 2017

As 2017 comes to an end, California can boast that it’s making substantial progress toward reaching its ambitious renewable energy goals, which has renewed calls for the state to pass a 100 percent clean electricity target in 2018. The California […]

July 12, 2016

California’s investor-owned utilities will use a “click-through” electronic signature process for customers signing up to participate in a demand-response pilot instead of “wet” signatures, a requirement that is expected to boost participation in the pilot project. The click-through process is […]

July 11, 2016

The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has proposed that San Diego Gas & Electric increase its renewable energy procurement to make up for a 102 MW generation shortfall, according to SNL. The PUC said SDG&E was required to procure 164.7 […]