November 2, 2024
California PUC Applies New Safety Metrics to PG&E
Can be Used in Enhanced Oversight and Enforcement Process
A photo filed in federal court shows a tree suspected of starting the nearly 1-million-acre Dixie Fire.
A photo filed in federal court shows a tree suspected of starting the nearly 1-million-acre Dixie Fire. | PG&E
|
PG&E could face additional oversight and enforcement if it fails to meet new safety metrics adopted by the California Public Utilities Commission.

The California Public Utilities Commission adopted criteria Thursday allowing it to hold Pacific Gas and Electric (NYSE:PCG) more accountable for starting wildfires or undermining reliability with public safety power shutoffs.

PG&E’s failure to meet the 32 new safety and operational metrics can serve as triggering events in the CPUC’s enhanced oversight and enforcement process. Established as a condition of the utility’s bankruptcy reorganization last year, the six-step process involves increasing oversight and penalties, potentially culminating in the revocation of PG&E’s operating license.

“Each step is triggered by a specific finding or specific events, and the triggering mechanisms include a failure to make specific, sufficient progress on the metrics that we’re adopting today,” Commissioner Clifford Rechtschaffen said of the plan. “It’s a very important part of making sure that we can implement this unique six-step enforcement framework, which we think is very important to holding PG&E accountable.”

PG&E is currently in the first step of the process for failing to prioritize vegetation management around power lines in high-risk fire areas. A tree falling on a PG&E line is suspected of this summer’s immense Dixie Fire. (See CPUC Applies Stricter Oversight to PG&E.)

In August, CPUC President Marybel Batjer warned PG&E it could face additional oversight.

“I have directed California Public Utilities Commission staff to conduct a fact-finding review regarding a pattern of self-reported missed inspections and other self-reported safety incidents to determine whether a recommendation to advance [PG&E] further within the [CPUC’s] enhanced oversight and enforcement process is warranted,” Batjer said in a letter to PG&E CEO Patti Poppe. (See CPUC, Judge Pressure PG&E to Clear High-Risk Lines.)

The new and updated metrics adopted Thursday include injuries and deaths among members of the public caused by PG&E operations, the frequency and duration of unplanned outages, and the number of fire ignitions in high-risk fire areas.

Another factor is the impact on reliability of PG&E’s public safety power shutoffs (PSPS). The intentional blackouts are meant to prevent fires, but PG&E has been criticized recently for using PSPS too often and without warning customers. (See PG&E Expects $1B in Costs from Dixie Fire.)

Starting in March, PG&E must file reports every six months with the CPUC that include data for each metric, a description of progress toward its safety targets and proposed methods for remedying deficiencies.

The measures are part of the CPUC’s Safety Model Assessment Proceeding (S-MAP), a means of applying risk-based, outcome-driven criteria to large investor-owned utilities through their general rate cases. The CPUC on Thursday added metrics for Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas to consider when investing in infrastructure and operations.

“Transparent, risk-based investment decision-making approaches better inform the CPUC and interested parties in evaluating how energy utilities assess, manage, mitigate and minimize safety risks,” the commission said in a statement.

California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)Company News

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *