Investor-owned utilities in California must amend their electric rules in order to install microgrids at certain facilities in the state, such as shipping ports, to help keep those facilities energized during grid outages, the California Public Utilities Commission ordered on Jan. 14.
A state energy regulator discussed penalties for load-serving entities that don't properly schedule power deliveries in the wake of an updated report showing significant gaps between scheduled and performing power supply during the August 2020 blackouts.
The California Public Utilities Commission began 2021 with a tightly packed agenda at its first voting meeting of the year on Jan. 14.
The California Energy Commission is offering $13 million for projects that reduce electricity usage and greenhouse gas emissions at dairy and wastewater facilities in the state.
Federal energy regulators approved the Southwest Power Pool's Western Energy Imbalance Services tariff, which SPP said paves the way for its planned launch of the real-time balancing market on Feb. 1.
The president of California's utility commission directed certain investor-owned utilities in the state to seek additional power capacity before next summer, despite a cacophony of concerns regarding the true need for more capacity in the Golden State.
The California Public Utilities Commission issued a proposed decision denying a Public Advocates Office request to compel San Diego Gas & Electric to distribute its annual natural gas credits to customers in their July 2020 bills rather than in April 2021.
The California Air Resources Board is searching for alternative fuel types that could replace a proposed backup diesel generation facility at a future data center in San Jose, but the facility's representatives told CARB that its customers, including companies like Zoom, would not utilize a …
The California Energy Commission on Jan. 6 outlined the top nine research areas for its 2021 Electric Program Investment Charge initiatives, starting with an effort to build net-zero-carbon mobile homes in the state.
"Urgency" is the word of the day as the California Independent System Operator rushes to put in place a series of market rules and procedural changes before the searing heat of another California summer drives up power demand.
The California Energy Commission is developing new building design standards that would shift the times at which building appliances, such as dishwashers and clothes dryers, turn on and off.
The California Energy Commission on Dec. 22 granted two zero-interest loans to schools in the San Joaquin Valley to install a solar-photovoltaic system and new light fixtures.
Two of California's investor-owned utilities have agreed to refund ratepayers millions of dollars to settle a scandal involving millions of misplaced high-efficiency lightbulbs that were to be sold at a discount to consumers in the utilities' service areas.
California's grid operator is working on a slew of initiatives to maintain reliability as conditions change on the grid and across the West, efforts made much more urgent by rolling blackouts in August.
Federal energy regulators on Dec. 17 narrowly voted down a proposal that could have forced the California Independent System Operator to replace its tariff to ensure system reliability.
The California Public Utilities Commission on Dec. 17 approved a renewable natural gas tariff pilot program that will allow customers to purchase the fuel and help expand its market. But CPUC member Martha Guzman Aceves rejected the proposal, saying it could further harm the air and water qu…
The California Public Utilities Commission is working with electric utilities to minimize social and economic disruptions from public-safety power shut-offs.
Southern California Edison submitted a petition for modification to the California Public Utilities Commission Dec. 11, asking the commission to remove two operating incentives for the Mountainview Generating Station.
The California Energy Commission this week announced new funding for projects that will help trim back portions of the state's natural gas pipeline system. But giving a pipeline a haircut is not straight-forward: Pipeline decommissioning could require 100 percent of customers on the line to …
The California Energy Commission on Dec. 9 approved a $115-million plan to build more than 100 new hydrogen fueling stations in the state by 2027.
Four months after rolling blackouts spread across California, state energy agencies are adjusting the focus of the state's 100-percent clean electricity goal onto electric service reliability, and will now evaluate how zero-carbon power generation resources will affect the grid in "all 8,760…
Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Liane Randolph chair of the California Air Resources Board. Her appointment, as well as those of other new agency board members, was announced Dec. 9.
Former California Public Utilities Commission Executive Director Alice Stebbins filed a lawsuit against the agency and 20 "Does," alleging she suffered retaliation by CPUC leadership after pursuing nearly $200 million in uncollected funds from utilities.
The California Public Utilities Commission's Wildfire Safety Advisory Board on Dec. 9 approved guidance for publicly owned electric utilities' and cooperatives' 2021 wildfire mitigation plans.
The California Energy Commission this week presented potential building-code changes for heat-pump water and space heater systems that could reduce natural gas usage and increase electricity usage in the state.
Two state legislators are raising questions about a confidential agreement between the Sierra Club and the state's Public Advocates Office to investigate Southern California Gas Co. for allegedly using ratepayer funds to lobby against natural gas bans, saying the agreement appears to go beyo…
The California Public Utilities Commission at its Dec. 3 voting meeting unanimously approved Pacific Gas & Electric's 2020 general rate case.
The Western Energy Imbalance Market Governing Body on Dec. 2 approved new sets of rules applying to market power mitigation for energy storage resources, as well as other rules aimed at eliminating cost shifting in real-time market settlements.
The California Energy Commission on Dec. 1 asked food production facility operators in the state for project proposals that would replace or retrofit a facility's existing energy-intensive equipment with more efficient equipment.
The state's top utility regulator told Pacific Gas & Electric that shortfalls in its vegetation-management practices have led to an "enhanced oversight and enforcement process" to ensure the utility is operating safely.
The California Air Resources Board voted to bring new facilities into an inventory that requires them to report emissions of certain substances, which regulators say is required under multiple pieces of legislation.
Federal regulators declined to escalate enforcement action or fine Arizona Public Service, operator of the Palo Verde Generating Station, in response to compliance issues uncovered during an inspection earlier this year at the nearly 4-GW nuclear power plant.
California's energy officials are determining how behind-the-meter energy resources, such as solar panels and battery storage equipment, can help reduce resource-adequacy issues in the state and avoid more rolling blackouts next summer.
The California Public Utilities Commission's Wildfire Safety Advisory Board has reviewed all 50 of the 2020 wildfire mitigation plans by the state's publicly owned utilities and electric cooperatives and has arrived at guidelines for improvement in preventing utility-caused wildfires going forward.
The California Public Utilities Commission this week approved a broad rulemaking process aimed at decreasing electricity demand and increasing supply before temperatures rise next summer in the state.
Hundreds of thousands of California utility customers this year have been enrolled in time-of-use pricing plans, and millions more will make the transition in the coming years, investor-owned utility representatives told the California Public Utilities Commission during a workshop this week.
California grid officials are expecting up to 1,500 MW of energy storage capacity to come on line by the end of next year and are refining market rules to more quickly and efficiently integrate storage with other resources.
The California Energy Commission this week denied requests to reconsider small-power-plant exemptions for 75 large diesel generators at two data centers in Santa Clara.
The Geysers Power Co. will pay $2.1 million to California's general fund for allegedly violating fire-protection requirements at six of its geothermal power plants in Northern California, the California Energy Commission decided on Nov. 16.
Retirement of the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility will lead to shortfalls in deliverable natural gas and electricity in coming years, third-party consultants told the California Public Utilities Commission.
More than 500,000 Californians have enrolled in energy utility bill payment assistance programs since the COVID-19 pandemic started earlier this year, and enrollment could continue to spike this winter as economic uncertainty persists and people spend more time indoors, experts said at a Nov…
Investor-owned utilities in California are expected to procure more than enough renewable energy in the coming years, while some community-choice aggregators need to sign more contracts in order to meet the state's renewables procurement requirements, the California Public Utilities Commissi…
The California Public Utilities Commission's Public Advocates Office and the Sierra Club filed briefs asking the CPUC to impose $255.3 million in fines against Southern California Gas Co. and other sanctions related to an alleged misuse of ratepayer funds.
The California Energy Commission this week awarded about $6.5 million in grants for solar power generation and battery storage projects that will "provide a renewable alternative to backup diesel generators," CEC staff said at a Nov. 10 business meeting.
Rainstorms of increasing magnitude could threaten hundreds of miles of California’s natural gas pipelines and expose 45 percent of Los Angeles County’s power plants’ generating capacity to coastal flooding over the century, according to an October report to the California Energy Commission.
California Public Utilities Commission staff is trying to accelerate microgrid installations in the state by providing various tariff options to microgrid project developers and owners. However, staff must address concerns from customer advocacy groups, who say the commission needs to ensure…
The California Public Utilities Commission on Nov. 5 paused an energy efficiency incentive program for investor-owned utilities that critics call a “gravy train.”
Pacific Gas & Electric this month proposed a commercial electric-vehicle charging rate program that offers hourly fluctuating electricity prices to drivers.
The California Public Utilities Commission this week pushed forward a new mobile home park electrification program that, if approved, would convert certain dual-fuel mobile homes to all-electric. But how residents, most of whom are on fixed incomes, would be able to pay for new electric appl…
Indoor cannabis facilities in California are using more electricity than ever before, pushing energy regulators to search for new building-code requirements that will reduce the facilities' carbon footprint.
