California Regulators Mull Changes to Emergency Power Shut Off Procedure Following Historic Blackout

The California Public Utilities Commission is launching a formal investigation into the recent Public Safety Power Shut-offs (PSPS), utility compliance with CPUC regulations and requirements, as well as series of immediate measures to protect consumers and overhaul the rules governing the mass safety measure, according to an Oct. 28 press release.

The regulator is tackling the issue on five fronts. First, the formal investigation will look into the recent widespread PSPS and evaluate, utility compliance with commission regulations, any resulting violations, and potential actions to ensure utilities are held accountable.

Second, it plans to immediately re-examine how utilities use the PSPS mechanism to prevent long and far-reaching blackouts by the next fire season. This includes an examination of actions that utilities can take in the next six months to minimize impacts of future PSPS events by increasing grid redundancy, segmentation, and equipment hardening.

Third, the California regulator wants to boost consumer protection by preventing utilities from collecting charges for services that consumers don’t receive during PSPS events.

Finally, the regulator wants utilities to expand their upcoming 2020 Wildfire Mitigation Plans to reduce the need for massive power shutoffs, providing results before the next wildfire season. To help achieve this, the regulator will also enlist new technology partnerships that will use data modeling and other advanced technologies to identify specific projects that can be implemented in the short term. This team of experts will also analyze the effectiveness of utility mitigation plans and evaluate past PSPS events.

On the week of October 7, PG&E decided to shut off power to more than 700,000 customers as a last resort prevention measure during a period of strong winds and high temperatures. Throughout the blackout, the company’s website reportedly failed multiple times and its customer support was completely overwhelmed, as customers tried to get more information from the utility. Back in February, the company warned it could proactively cut power more often and to more people to prevent wildfires.