Electrical corporations: deenergization events.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to establish rules for all public utilities, subject to control by the Legislature. Existing law requires each electrical corporation to annually prepare and submit a wildfire mitigation plan to the commission for review and approval, as specified. Following approval, the commission is required to oversee compliance with the plans. Existing law requires a wildfire mitigation plan of an electrical corporation to include, among other things, protocols for deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the associated impacts on public safety, as well as protocols related to mitigating the public safety impacts of those protocols, including impacts on critical first responders and on health and communications infrastructure. Existing law requires a wildfire mitigation plan of an electrical corporation to also include appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines and requires these procedures to consider the need to notify, as a priority, critical first responders, health care facilities, and operators of telecommunications infrastructure with premises within the footprint of a potential deenergization event. If the commission approves a wildfire mitigation plan that authorizes an electrical corporation to deenergize portions of the electrical grid, this bill would require the commission to adopt rules setting forth the circumstances under which a deenergization event may be undertaken and continued in effect and the appropriate geographic range of a deenergization event. Following a deenergization event, the bill would require the commission to determine whether the electrical corporation complied with the rules and also determine if the entire duration and geographic range of the deenergization event was reasonable, as specified. If the commission determines that the electrical corporation complied with the rules, but that either the duration or geographic range of the deenergization event exceeded that which was reasonable, the commission would be required to consider whether to modify its rules to appropriately limit the circumstances under which a deenergization event shall be undertaken and the geographic range of further deenergization events. If the commission determines that the electrical corporation failed to comply with the rules and the failure resulted in customers of the electrical corporation incurring losses, the bill would require the commission to order the electrical corporation to open an account from which to pay customers for those losses. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because this bill requires action by the commission to implement its requirements, and because a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.