On October 30th, RCRC filed a response in support of motions made by the California Community Choice Association (CalCCA) and the California Municipal Utilities Association (CMUA) to require formal filings of Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE) Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) post-event reports.  

RCRC agrees with California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) President Marybel Batjer’s statement in an October 14th letter to PG&E where she states that the execution of the October 9th large-scale PSPS event was a failure.  Furthermore, RCRC members’ experiences with the most recent PSPS events have not shown much improvement from the October 9th protocols for either IOU.  RCRC believes the CPUC and parties would benefit from receiving timely post-PSPS event action reports, and from being given the opportunity to comment on lessons learned, and real-time progress or potential improvements made by IOUs per the CPUC’s instructions, such as improved coordination with county governments and local emergency management, sharing medical baseline customer information without a nondisclosure agreement, advance planning, and embedding empowered local liaisons on county Emergency Operations Centers.

Earlier this year, the CPUC initiated two proceedings to tackle the complex issues surrounding Investor-Owned Utilities (IOUs) and their role in wildfire prevention.  RCRC was granted party status on March 18, 2019.

RCRC’s official response before the CPUC can be accessed here.  Please contact Staci Heaton, RCRC Regulatory Affairs Advocate at (916) 447-4806 with questions.