On Wednesday, RCRC submitted comments to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) urging them to refine and improve the guidelines governing how electrical utilities conduct Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events. Adopted in June 2019, the PSPS Guidelines were modified in June 2020 based on experiences from the 2019 events. While utilities have made significant improvements and 2020 PSPS events have been reduced in terms of their size and scope, these events still have an impact on many rural communities, residents, and businesses. While RCRC does not underestimate the risk of wildfire danger and appreciates the role that well-tailored PSPS events play in avoiding catastrophic wildfires, this option should only be used as a last resort and that utilities should make infrastructure improvements to provide local energy resiliency.
In its comments, RCRC suggested the CPUC act to:
- Regularly review whether utilities’ decisions to deenergize and the conduct of PSPS events were reasonable
- Require utilities to identify areas at greatest risk of PSPS events and harden infrastructure and improve resiliency of those circuits
- Require utilities to work with communications providers and the Commission to identify communities served predominantly or exclusively by landline phone service and prioritize strategies to reduce the risk of power loss to those communities
- Place a stronger emphasis on mitigating PSPS impacts for medically sensitive residents rather than merely providing notifications to those individuals
- Prohibit utilities from directing customers to first responders for PSPS mitigation and transportation assistance.
- Develop a standard template and refine content required in utility post-event reports
- Clarify notification expectations
- Add county elections offices and food banks to the list of critical facilities for which utilities must provide
- Require regular reconciliation between utility and local government lists of critical facilities and infrastructure