State regulators must carefully scrutinize PG&E’s wildfire-safety strategy shift.
The giant utility has a long and criminal history of putting profits before safety. And the state has an equally long, ugly history of failing to perform its oversight role. This time regulators must get it right.
Lives depend on it. PG&E is responsible for more than 100 wildfire deaths in the past six years. Northern Californians are sick and tired of paying some of the highest utility rates in the nation for substandard and life-threatening service.
Now, the utility is cutting back on its troubled tree-trimming program and instead increasing installation of devices that shut down power immediately when branches strike lines or there is an electrical fault on a line.
PG&E says its initial efforts in 2022 to rely on the devices resulted in fewer and smaller fires despite dry conditions. The utility also plans to continue its work to bury power lines underground and replace power poles in high-risk areas.
The strategic shift raises three critical questions:
• Will the end result be fewer devastating wildfires?
• Will customers face an unacceptable number of shutdowns?
• Is the utility’s new approach the most cost-effective way to increase safety?
Few Californians have heard of the new regulatory body charged with evaluating, approving and enforcing PG&E’s plans.
The Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety was created in July 2021 by state lawmakers frustrated with PG&E’s shortcomings and the California Public Utilities Commission’s inability to fulfill its oversight role. The new office is charged with ensuring “a sustainable California, with no catastrophic utility-ignited wildfires, that has access to safe, affordable and reliable electricity.”
In June, the new regulators told PG&E that its new 2023-25 wildfire mitigation plan was inadequate. PG&E on Monday filed a 127-page response. Energy Safety is allowing public comments to be filed until Aug. 22 before releasing a draft decision Sept. 29.
The regulators should carefully consider charges leveled by watchdog The Utility Reform Network (TURN), which contends that PG&E continues to avoid cheaper, effective alternative approaches, including insulating power lines in high-risk wildfire areas. TURN executive director Mark Toney says undergrounding power lines is too expensive and takes an inordinately long time to complete. He maintains that Southern California Edison’s and San Diego Gas and Electric’s use of insulated lines is cost-effective and reduces the need to shut off power when tree limbs fall on electric lines.
PG&E is a convicted felon. Since 2017, the utility has been directly blamed for a staggering 31 wildfires, burning 23,956 structures and nearly 1.5 million acres — and killing 113 Californians. Any claims or assurances the company provides about its new wildfire-prevention plan should be suspect and must be independently verified.
This year, Northern Californians have experienced a relatively light wildfire season. It’s unclear if that is due to this winter’s heavy rains, lower summer temperatures, PG&E efforts or plain luck. Regardless, the wildfire threat remains. It’s essential that the state’s Energy Safety office fulfill its oversight obligations and hold PG&E responsible for meeting its safety responsibilities.
—The Editorial Board, Bay Area News Group
