Electrical corporations: significant voltage-related incidents: studies.

Senator Hurtado’s measure would require the Public Utilities Commission to impose a temporary, data-driven study obligation on large electrical corporations to examine voltage-related incidents that damage customer-owned property, with public hyperlinks and a legislative report to follow. The approach centers on creating a time-limited, transparent process designed to illuminate how voltage fluctuations affect residential, commercial, and industrial customers and how protections and reporting practices operate within regulated service territories.

The proposal adds a definitional framework for a new regulatory provision: a large electrical corporation is identified by an existing qualification, and a significant voltage-related incident is a deviation outside a plus or minus 5 percent range of nominal voltage that results in damage to customer-owned equipment or property. By January 1, 2027, the commission would require each such corporation to begin a study focusing on incidents causing $5,000 or more in damage, spanning residential, commercial, and industrial customers. Each study must address consumer protections, the frequency and causes of incidents from 2024 through 2026, the impact on operations and service reliability, the distribution of damage claims (filed, approved, denied) across customer classes, trends in customer complaints, response times and resolution of claims, and the adequacy of protections and outreach—including consideration for low-income, rural, and limited-English-proficiency customers. By July 1, 2027, the commission would publish hyperlinks to the studies and report its findings to the Legislature, with the section scheduled for repeal on January 1, 2031.

Enforcement and fiscal mechanics accompany the measure: violations of any commission action implementing the study requirements could constitute a crime, and the act is described as a state-mandated local program, though no local reimbursements are provided. The measure does not include an explicit appropriation, and it ties its temporary framework to a sunset consistent with a Government Code provision. The commission’s role encompasses issuing orders or regulations to require the studies, overseeing data collection across multiple large electrical corporations, and maintaining public access to study results through online hyperlinks and formal reporting to the Legislature. The proposed framework interacts with the existing regulatory context by reaffirming the PUC’s jurisdiction over electrical utilities while introducing a distinct, time-limited data-collection and disclosure regime centered on voltage-related incidents.