The California Public Utilities Commission and state emergency officials told Southern California Edison this week that it had mishandled its public safety power shutoffs (PSPS) in 2020 and needs to work quickly to improve its communications with customers and government agencies. CPUC President Marybel Batjer | CPUC "I called this...

The California Public Utilities Commission ordered the state’s investor-owned utilities to take steps to hasten the creation of microgrids Thursday, including establishing a $200 million incentive program for communities most at risk from public safety power shutoffs (PSPS). It was the latest in a series of measures the commission pushed...

CAISO and the California Public Utilities Commission entered the new year trying to get ready for summer and avoid the shortfalls and rolling blackouts that plagued the state in August and September. The CPUC on Friday proposed ordering the state’s three big investor-owned utilities — Pacific Gas and Electric, Southern...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday appointed Liane Randolph, a member of the state’s Public Utilities Commission, as the next chair of the California Air Resources Board. CARB oversees vehicle emissions, among other roles, and has battled with the Trump administration in recent years. Its policies have influenced manufacturing in...

Pacific Gas and Electric canceled forecasted blackouts Monday after saying it might shut off power to nearly 400,000 residents to prevent wildfires. The move would have been an extraordinary step in December, when fire season is normally over in the utility’s Northern California service territory. Over the weekend, Southern California...

The California Public Utilities Commission might implement, for the first time, the strict regimen of oversight and enforcement that Pacific Gas and Electric agreed to last year as part of its bankruptcy plan, the commission’s president told the utility last week. The commission is concerned about alleged lapses in PG&E’s...

The California Public Utilities Commission opened a proceeding Thursday to help prevent energy emergencies next summer like those that occurred in August and September. The rulemaking is intended to identify and institute near-term measures that could limit energy consumption and boost generation during heat waves that strain the Western grid.

Pacific Gas and Electric on Thursday acknowledged it needs to get better at notifying local authorities and customers before shutting off power to prevent wildfires, but the utility said it performed far better this fall than it did last year. In its report to the California Public Utilities Commission on...

A former president of the California Public Utilities Commission said Tuesday that the state attorney general should look into the rolling blackouts of mid-August with an eye toward signs of market manipulation in CAISO’s grid. Loretta Lynch, CPUC president from 2000 to 2002 and a commissioner through 2005, spoke during...

The California Public Utilities Commission voted unanimously Thursday to enact a moratorium on a longstanding program that provides $30 million to $75 million annually to shareholders of the state’s three big investor-owned utilities for administering energy efficiency programs. The commission’s decision represented a rare disagreement with one of its own...