Pursuant to Public Utilities Code 8386.3, CPUC’s role is to ratify the action taken by the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety if it approves the Wildfire Mitigation Plan. Utilities file their Wildfire Mitigation Plans with the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, which is responsible for reviewing and approving or denying them. Wildfire Mitigation Plans document the initiatives utilities propose for reducing utility-caused catastrophic wildfire risk. Under this new framework, the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety is responsible for reviewing, approving or denying and overseeing compliance with Wildfire Mitigation Plans, while CPUC evaluates the reasonableness of costs associated with implementation of the Wildfire Mitigation Plans for purposes of cost recovery and has enforcement authority with regard to utilities’ performance of their Wildfire Mitigation Plans and utility-caused wildfire. The special process focuses on developing and implementing Wildfire Mitigation Plans (described below) that utilities develop and submit to the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety. Because wildfire represent such a considerable risk, and wildfires started by utility equipment have had such harmful consequences, the state created a special process, and a separate state agency (Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety) specifically focused on reducing that one risk (see: AB 1054 (Holden, Chapter 29, Statutes of 2019) and AB 111 (Budget Committee, 2019)). ![]() Wildfire represents the single most significant risk for all of California’s investor-owned electric utilities. After rates are approved, CPUC reviews reports that show what utilities spent their approved funding on to see if it aligns with what the utilities planned. CPUC also reviews the proposed risk mitigation activities and the cost before determining what rates to allow the utility to charge as part of the utility’s and allows utilities to keep track of their safety-related costs in various ways for later CPUC review. That work is part of each utility’s general rate case (GRC), and helps CPUC assess whether utilities are properly directing resources to wildfire and other safety risks. One crucial requirement that CPUC imposes is that utilities must undertake a comprehensive review of the risks associated with running their businesses and their proposed actions to mitigate those risks.ĬPUC oversees the development of the risk framework each utility uses as basis for analyzing their risks. To ensure that utilities are operating in the public interest, CPUC has established a variety of requirements that utilities must meet to justify the rates the utilities propose to charge. This page presents information on the CPUC’s role in addressing the risk of utility-involved wildfires, including critical areas of current and historical regulatory activity and CPUC-reportable fire incident data.Īs the primary regulator of investor-owned electric utilities in California, CPUC must approve the rates utilities charge customers for providing power. The Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety is the primary state agency responsible for reducing the likelihood of utility-involved wildfires. However, fires attributed to power lines consist of roughly half of the most destructive fires in California history. ![]() Historically, utility infrastructure has been responsible for less than 10% of reported wildfires. Other common sources include debris and yard waste burning, motorized equipment and vehicles, campfires, lightning, arson and playing with fire, and smoking. ![]() Electric utility infrastructure represents one potential cause of wildfire ignition. Recent fires have resulted in a devastating loss of life and billions of dollars in property and infrastructure damage. The more extended dry season also increases the chance that the strong offshore winds in the fall coincide with dry conditions, further increasing wildfire risk. The drier fuels also enable fires to spread more rapidly, making them difficult to contain. Hotter, drier conditions during summer and a longer dry season have resulted in lower moisture levels in vegetation, making it easier to ignite. Land use and resource management policies, together with climate change, have increased the likelihood of wildfires starting and the severity of their consequences. In recent decades, the number of fire incidents and acres burned has increased considerably. Wildfire has long been a feature of California’s landscape.
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