A California Public Utilities Commission judge ruled to increase Pacific Gas & Electric's locate-and-mark penalty from $65 million to $110 million, saying the bankrupt utility knew it had severe problems with its program for more than four years but chose to take no action.
The California Public Utilities Commission's Wildfire Safety Advisory Board on Jan. 21 held its inaugural meeting in Sacramento, which was largely devoted to educating the newly appointed board members about the organization and the status of its development.
The California Energy Commission at its Jan. 22 meeting granted Trinity Public Utility District an exemption from new state building codes mandating that solar-photovoltaic systems be installed on newly constructed low-rise residential buildings.
Electric-vehicle charging stations could be required at existing buildings undergoing major renovations in California, according to a report by the California Air Resources Board. Currently, Level 2 EV charging stations must be installed at new-building construction sites, but not at existin…
The California Public Utilities Commission at its Jan. 16 meeting approved a $16.5-million electric undergrounding project that will deviate from a state tariff rule and place distribution lines underground in a high-fire-hazard zone in the Piedmont area of Oakland.
A joint settlement agreement regarding the decommissioning of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant was filed Jan. 10 with the California Public Utilities Commission.
The California Air Resources Board is considering new regulations to curb greenhouse gas emissions from a transportation sector that has grown heavily over the past decade: on-demand ride-sharing companies, such as Lyft and Uber.
California Public Utilities Commission Administrative Law Judge Sofia Park issued a long list of strong questions to Pacific Gas & Electric about its proposed $1.7-billion wildfire settlement agreement with the CPUC and other stakeholders, including why the utility said it needs up to fi…
Assm. Mark Levine (D-Marin County) is proposing expanded oversight of Pacific Gas & Electric in the aftermath of last year's public-safety power shut-offs that caused "economic losses estimated in the billions," he said Jan. 6.
Power shut-offs in California have resulted in a new point of contention between Pacific Gas & Electric and community choice aggregators: Who should be allowed to purchase electricity for CCA customers during shut-offs?
Energy storage technology is getting a boost from the California Energy Commission, which issued an $11-million solicitation supporting non-lithium-ion battery storage research.
Energy experts are concerned that the California Public Utilities Commission has arbitrarily changed its estimate of how much electricity will be imported into the state in the future, and that the change will lead to excess capacity and higher ratepayer bills.
Many load-serving entities in California are seeking to incorporate energy storage into their portfolios, but what remains an unknown for organizations—namely, community choice aggregators—is the role that California Public Utilities Commission oversight might play in future storage developm…
The California Public Utilities Commission on Dec. 24 notified Southern California Edison it would suspend the utility's Dec. 4 advice letter [AL 4122-E] seeking authorization of $405.5 million in disbursements from SCE's nuclear decommissioning trust fund for SCE's share of forecast costs f…
Federal energy regulators approved the California Independent System Operator's request to make permanent certain tariff changes to deal with system constraints caused by ongoing reduced access to the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility.
Zero-emission-vehicle zones might be coming to the Golden State in the next decade and could be implemented at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles to "show the world what is possible," according to the California Air Resources Board.
California faces reliability concerns in coming years caused by an influx of intermittent solar generation, according to the head of the state's grid operator, who warned that the grid might not be able to handle the demands of the evening generation ramp.
New energy standards and laws go into effect in 2020 that will increase rooftop solar generation in California, which in turn will require changes to the grid to maintain its operations and reliability.
California energy regulators denied return-on-equity requests by investor-owned utilities for 2020, citing AB 1054, legislation that passed earlier this year.
Pacific Gas & Electric would pay nearly $1.7 billion for its roles in the deadly 2018 Camp Fire and other blazes in 2017 under a settlement proposed by California Public Utilities Commission staff Dec. 17.
The California Energy Commission on Dec. 11 approved six local reach codes with various levels of regulation of natural gas in new buildings, part of a new trend rapidly spreading across the state.
The California Air Resources Board is considering ways to expand the use of carbon capture and sequestration equipment at the state's refineries and natural gas generation plants—a process that could allow gas plants to count as "zero-carbon" energy resources under California's SB 100 mandate.
The California Public Utilities Commission's Rail Safety Division is concerned that large quantities of "highly volatile" liquefied natural gas will be transported on trains into California and stored in dense urban areas like Long Beach.
The transmission line that started the deadly Camp Fire last year had 495 repair issues associated with it prior to its failure, according to the California Public Utilities Commission's Safety and Enforcement Division.
State energy regulators on Dec. 5 ordered an increase in natural gas storage capacity and approved 95 MW of energy storage projects to prevent reliability problems in Southern California this winter in the face of decreased gas supply.
Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison are opposing a slew of wildfire safety metrics proposed by the California Public Utilities Commission's Office of the Safety Advocate and other stakeholders.
Opponents of Pacific Gas & Electric's proposed settlement over its locate-and-mark practices, including two offices with the California Public Utilities Commission, are concerned that PG&E customers could end up footing the bill for the utility's failure to comply with the law.
Pacific Gas & Electric found 328 cases of damage or hazards on its system after it conducted public-safety power shut-offs in late October, it told state regulators Nov. 18, in a filing made alongside reports from other utilities.
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Nov. 18 sent a letter to California Public Utilities Commission President Marybel Batjer requesting that the agency commission an independent study on the Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Storage Facility to expedite the timeline for its permanent closure.
State energy regulators are reviewing a surprising new candidate for addition to the state's zero-carbon energy resource definition: natural gas plants.
Federal energy regulators approved the California Independent System Operator's compliance filing for participation of energy storage resources in its wholesale markets, even as the federal rule in question is being challenged in court.
State regulators launched an investigation into whether investor-owned utilities prioritized safety during public-safety power shut-offs last month, and in a separate order asked Pacific Gas & Electric why it shouldn't be sanctioned over the way it conducted its outages.
The California Public Utilities Commission is considering new rules that would connect dairy, landfill and other biomethane point sources to the state's natural gas pipelines. But its proposal to blend biomethane with pipeline natural gas drew caution flags from the California Council on Sci…
The California Energy Commission at its Nov. 13 meeting tabled a resolution that would have approved the Sacramento Municipal Utility District's controversial community solar program.
The California Energy Commission memorialized Charles Warren and presented his family with a resolution in his honor at its Nov. 13 meeting. Warren passed away the week of Nov. 3.
The California Independent System Operator is moving forward with enacting market-power mitigation on a systemwide basis, the result of an extensive deliberative process that has produced opposing viewpoints, even as the real work on the initiative begins.
The California Public Utilities Commission on Nov. 7 recommended that five once-through-cooling natural gas power plants remain on line for up to three years beyond their planned retirement date of Dec. 31, 2020. The commission also approved delaying by up to 2.5 years the start dates of thr…
Community choice aggregators have a "significant task" in meeting renewables portfolio standard procurement shortfalls for 2020, a key state legislator said Nov. 6. But CCAs questioned whether the projected shortfalls are accurate.
The California Public Utilities Commission on Nov. 7 approved about $54 million in funding to build hundreds of new electric-vehicle charging stations at schools, parks and beaches across the state.
A draft California Energy Commission report seeks to answer some of the questions that have been posed about the potential cost, energy-infrastructure and air-quality implications of meeting state climate goals by decreasing natural gas consumption statewide.
Pacific Gas & Electric bondholders that are pitching a competing reorganization plan for the company in bankruptcy court are attempting to become parties in several PG&E-related proceedings at the California Public Utilities Commission—a move that utility attorneys have strongly crit…
State energy regulators are considering peak demand challenges associated with California's policy to significantly increase renewable and zero-carbon electricity generation resources over the next 25 years.
Attorneys for the cities of San Francisco and San Jose asked the California Public Utilities Commission at an Oct. 23 prehearing conference to remain open to alternate options for reorganizing Pacific Gas & Electric—including the possibility of municipalization.
The California Public Utilities Commission at its Oct. 24 meeting approved a monthly charge on utility customers to support the state's new $21-billion wildfire insurance fund.
The California Air Resources Board will eliminate rebates for certain luxury electric vehicles and reduce rebates for all other eligible vehicle types in its clean-transportation program.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Oct. 17 denied the California State Water Resources Control Board's request for rehearing of an earlier FERC decision regarding recertification of the Middle Fork American River Hydroelectric Project.
Pacific Gas & Electric defended its decision to cut off power to about 800,000 customer accounts last week, saying it later found more than 100 incidents of hazards or damage to its infrastructure that could have caused wildfires.
Attorneys for Pacific Gas & Electric strongly criticized a competing bankruptcy reorganization plan for the company pitched last month by its bondholders and a committee of wildfire victims, saying in an Oct. 11 filing to the California Public Utilities Commission that the proposal is "b…
The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station cleared a major hurdle on the path to its decommissioning with the Oct. 17 approval by the California Coastal Commission of Southern California Edison's coastal development permit.
Federal energy regulators upheld California's wholesale electricity market design, for the second time rejecting a complaint by generation interests saying that state planning unfairly prioritizes renewables.
