The California Public Utilities Commission is seeking ways to help the millions of utility customers who collectively owe more than $1.15 billion in past-due energy bills, largely because of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic downturn. The commission continued a moratorium on customers disconnections through June. But without additional action,...

The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday approved a massive increase to its resource-needs projections, which CAISO will use in its transmission planning process for 2021/22, now underway. The 28 GW of generation and storage resources the commission now sees the state needing by 2031 is more than triple the...

Gov. Gavin Newsom named new members Tuesday to the three bodies that govern California energy policy — CAISO, the Public Utilities Commission and the Energy Commission — and reappointed a sitting member of the ISO’s Board of Governors. Newsom appointed former NERC Trustee Jan Schori to fill a seat on...

Eight of California’s community choice aggregators said Monday they will join forces to create one of the state’s largest procurement entities to buy renewable energy and storage capacity. Together the CCAs in Northern and Central California represent 2.6 million customer accounts with load equivalent to about 40% of Pacific Gas...

Pacific Gas and Electric submitted its latest wildfire prevention plan to the California Public Utilities Commission on Friday as it faces threats of more intensive oversight from the CPUC and a federal judge prior to this year’s fire season. PG&E said the key to its $3 billion 2021 Wildfire Mitigation...

The CAISO Board of Governors approved a tribal entity as a participating transmission owner for the first time Wednesday, welcoming the Morongo Band of Mission Indians to a small group that includes Pacific Gas and Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric. The tribe, through its company Morongo Transmission LLC,...

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 Energy Commission updated its 2020-2030 forecast Monday to account for the slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic, increased electric-vehicle charging and a projected doubling of battery storage, among other factors. Commissioners and staff members also paid tribute to Vice Chair Janea Scott, who is leaving for a post...

Legislators in Sacramento introduced a spate of bills this session to ban natural gas from new construction, promote hydrogen as an alternative fuel source and increase demand response to head off future blackouts. A number of bills deal with building decarbonization, including measures by Sen. Dave Cortese, a Democrat who...

The Western Energy Imbalance Market Governing Body waded into the discussion over CAISO’s summer energy shortfalls on Wednesday, asking questions of CAISO management and pondering how the EIM could better serve participants in times of system stress. Governing Body Vice Chair Anita Decker asked whether the EIM, an interstate trading...