A California Senate committee advanced a bill that would allow CAISO to be transformed into a Western RTO, a change that has been met with heavy opposition.

The California State Senate passed legislation that would allow the state’s investor-owned utilities to pass through the costs of wildfires to ratepayers.

Edison International is hopeful that several California bills will ease the financial pressure stemming from wildfire costs.

A bill that would allow utilities to recover wildfire costs if they conform to state-regulated safety plans moved through the California legislature, but it faces opposition from some who say it lets utilities off the hook.

California lawmakers moved forward with several pieces of energy legislation, but items such as a 100% RPS and CAISO regionalization seem to be on hold.

A California Senate committee on Tuesday approved a bill that would allow publicly owned utilities that meet certain criteria to run their gas-fired plants at a minimal level to ensure that related bond debt is paid off and not passed to taxpayers.

CAISO officials on Wednesday urged California lawmakers to pass legislation that would convert the grid operator into an RTO.

California regulators and lawmakers are sounding the alarm over a possible decline in the financial and credit health of utilities stemming from wildfire risk and liability.

A key California lawmaker is seeking comment this week on a revived effort to regionalize CAISO and create a multistate Western RTO.

Allegations of sexual harassment and workplace retaliation dominated the beginning of the 2018 session of the California State Legislature.