It would not be fair to expect Pacific Gas & Electric customers to pay for a wildfire fund if they aren't able to benefit from it, the utility told state regulators seeking comment on a new ratepayer charge that would create the fund.
Clean-energy advocates, utility representatives and fellow regulators discussed the tenure of outgoing California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Picker at his final CPUC meeting on Aug. 15, saying he had greatly contributed to the state's renewables goals.
California's grid operator is seeking federal approval of new market rules meant to address a bidding problem for Northwest hydro resources in the Western Energy Imbalance Market, but is facing some resistance from state regulators.
Energy agencies in California are looking into new definitions for the term "zero-carbon technology" in order to help meet the state's goal to supply 100-percent zero-carbon electricity to customers by Dec. 31, 2045, the California Energy Commission said at a board meeting on Aug. 14.
Pacific Gas & Electric reduced its requested return-on-equity rate for 2020, following the passage of AB 1054, wildfire legislation that passed earlier this year.
The California Public Utilities Commission is considering a biomethane tariff that could help drive consumption of the renewable gas in the state, while last week Southern California Gas Co. announced completion of what is expected to be the largest biomethane facility in the country.
The California Energy Commission is looking to address a “sizable gap” in funding of light-duty electric-vehicle charging stations needed to meet state goals over the next five years, an updated CEC transportation report said.
Retail sales of natural gas-fueled heavy-duty trucks are increasing, as is interest in natural gas as a diesel replacement in both on- and off-road vehicles, according to various organizations tracking the issue.
The Contractors State License Board of California on Aug. 6 approved a rule that would limit the number of contractors who are allowed to install energy storage systems, in the wake of new regulations starting in January 2020 that require nearly all new homes in the state to include rooftop solar.
The California Public Utilities Commission at its Aug. 1 meeting approved a series of modifications to the “three-prong test” used to evaluate whether fuel-substitution programs can access energy-efficiency funding [R13-11-005, D19-08-009].
California’s treatment of “qualifying facilities” within a program meant to spur renewables development violates federal law, a U.S. appeals court ruled.
California regulators are crafting the outlines of two programs that will move the state toward its larger goal of addressing emissions from buildings.
Emerging utility rate designs could constrain the growth of distributed energy resources, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory said in a new report that included an analysis of the situation in California.
California regulators on July 30 expressed concerns about potential increases in diesel generator sales due to utility power shut-offs planned for this wildfire season.
The California Public Utilities Commission on July 26 launched a proceeding to consider the adoption of a nonbypassable charge that would feed into the state’s new wildfire fund.
Persistent problems with Pacific Gas & Electric’s locate-and-mark practices might have contributed to 67 occasions where people hit underground lines while digging, according to new testimony from safety investigators.
The California Energy Commission is using a recently completed microgrid project at Las Positas College to show how battery energy storage can mitigate the “duck curve”—despite a couple of hitches.
Despite increasing greenhouse gas emissions from California’s transportation sector, one thing remains clear about the state’s emissions future: more cars are on their way in.
Incoming California Public Utilities Commission President Marybel Batjer is going to have her work cut out for her.
Attorneys for Pacific Gas & Electric protested a motion by the California Public Utilities Commission ratepayer advocate to consider alternatives to the utility in Northern California, saying in a July 12 filing that the proposal could jeopardize its reorganization process.
The California Public Utilities Commission on July 2 proposed Liberty Power and Gexa Energy pay a combined total of about $2 million in fines for their failure to meet the state’s renewable-energy procurement requirements.
Collaboration with China will drive California’s energy policies more than any other relationship in the world, allowing the two regions to “hold hands” and reduce global greenhouse gases, the California Energy Commission said at its July 15 business meeting.
Pacific Gas & Electric President and CEO Bill Johnson faced a volley of complaints and accusations from the utility’s customers at a July 9 public hearing, including about high rates and failure to prevent wildfires.
The California Public Utilities Commission approved a decision at its July 11 meeting that lays the groundwork for Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison to transition millions of customers to a new time-of-use rate structure beginning in October 2020 [A17-12-011 et al., D…
Southern California Gas Co. overreported natural gas emission reductions by about 8 million therms in 2017, according to a July 2 consultant report to the California Public Utilities Commission.
Sierra Club on July 5 issued a sharp rebuttal to Pacific Gas & Electric’s proposed biomethane pipeline project in the already polluted San Joaquin Valley.
As California strives to reach carbon neutrality by 2045, big businesses and climate-change experts alike say carbon leakage in industries such as food processing needs to be addressed if the state is serious about environmental improvements worldwide.
Pacific Gas & Electric might have committed a series of violations—ranging from vegetation-management issues to “evidence disposal”—in relation to the 2017 North Bay wildfires, state regulators say.
Two normally disparate power entities—Southern California Edison, an investor-owned utility, and Sonoma Clean Power, a community choice aggregator—on June 21 voiced a shared concern: upcoming and uncertain departing loads.
The California Energy Commission is proposing to increase transmission line capacities by installing new conductors that carry more than twice as much current as existing conductors of the same size.
Regulators at the California Public Utilities Commission at a June 27 meeting approved the “stress test”—a mechanism governing how utilities can recover costs from 2017 wildfires—but opted to prevent Pacific Gas & Electric from applying for it [R19-01-006, D19-06-027]
The California Public Utilities Commission launched two investigations during a closed session immediately after its June 27 meeting—one exploring PG&E’s role in the 2017 North Bay wildfires, and another to assess fines on Southern California Gas Co. for natural gas leak at the Aliso Can…
The California Air Resources Board on June 27 approved new regulations to create more accessible and understandable electric vehicle charging stations across the state.
Attorneys for Pacific Gas & Electric criticized a California Public Utilities Commission proposal that would prevent it from accessing the “stress test”—a regulatory provision that limits utility shareholders’ liability for wildfires caused by their equipment—saying in a June 13 filing t…
A proposal from Southern California Gas Company and San Diego Gas & Electric to implement a new renewable natural gas tariff is facing heavy resistance from environmentalists and ratepayer advocates, who argue that the program would simply slap a price on methane that is already being ca…
The California Energy Commission is trying to stimulate the commercial adoption of distributed energy resources as one solution to the future impacts of climate change in vulnerable communities.
Electrification could result in thousands fewer deaths from air pollution and an estimated net benefit of $108 billion per year for the state by 2050, a new California Energy Commission report says.
