Electricity: wildfire mitigation: deenergization events and reliability.

Senator Cervantes crafts a measure that weaves wildfire mitigation, reliability reporting, and protections for the access and functional needs population into California’s electricity policy framework, applying to both investor‑owned utilities and local publicly owned electric utilities. The proposal centers on clarifying planning for deenergization events, expanding post‑deenergization reporting, and introducing new accountability mechanisms, with a named deadline for a CPUC policy review and a heightened emphasis on publicly accessible reliability data.

For investor‑owned utilities, the bill expands annual reliability reporting to require information on the frequency and duration of service interruptions, identified by local reporting areas chosen to avoid splitting circuits. It adds a requirement that utilities conspicuously post the reliability data on their websites and creates a 2027 milestone in which the CPUC must determine whether policies should be revised to broaden reliability metrics (potentially down to census tracts or other geographies), assess patterns affecting tribal, rural, and disadvantaged communities, and consider updates to General Order 166. The measure also introduces a potential for cost‑effective remediation in response to repeated local deficiencies and authorizes the CPUC to order more frequent local‑area trend analyses, while preserving confidentiality to protect electrical system security. It directs utilities to develop plans with state agencies and community‑based organizations serving the access and functional needs population for deenergization events and to submit those plans to the CPUC. After deenergization events, utilities must prepare post‑event reports under existing rulemaking for deenergization oversight, with 2027 guidance on whether to include geospatial data or census tract/disadvantaged‑community breakdowns, and to distribute the reports to affected local governments and publish them publicly.

For local publicly owned electric utilities, the bill adds a new reliability reporting regime that requires annual reporting identifying frequency and duration of interruptions, with optional granularity such as system and division levels or census tract‑level data, and data on customers receiving financial assistance. The reports must highlight worst‑performing circuits and include major event days, then be submitted to the Energy Commission and made publicly available with confidentiality protections. The new regime explicitly designates this as a local program, with no state reimbursement, and envisions ongoing coordination with the Energy Commission on data standards and reporting timelines.

The bill articulates a broader policy context through findings that emphasize protecting electrical system security by limiting public access to sensitive information and providing data under confidentiality protections. Enforcement contemplates criminal penalties for violations of commission actions implementing the act, signaling a stringent accountability framework. By design, the measure links IOU planning and deenergization obligations to existing CPUC processes and deenergization rulemakings while expanding data collection, public disclosure, and local oversight through the new L‑POU reporting regime, all within a timeline that centers the 2027 policy review and potential data enhancements.