Utilities: service outages and updates: alerts.

Garcia’s proposal would require California’s electrical, gas, and water utilities, along with local publicly owned electric utilities, to automatically enroll customers in alerts for service outages and updates, with customers retaining the right to opt out. The objective is to establish a default mechanism for delivering outage-related communications, with enrollment targeted to be in place by early March 2026 and opt-out rights preserved for non-essential notifications.

Under the measure, a “utility” encompasses both state-regulated entities and locally owned electric utilities. Each utility would be obliged to enroll customers automatically in outage and update alerts, while ensuring customers can opt out of alerts they do not wish to receive. Utilities would also be required to include, on a yearly basis in customer bills, information about how to update preferred contact methods and would have to allow updates to contact information through the internet or, if feasible, by telephone.

For local publicly owned electric utilities lacking the necessary system to implement automatic enrollment, the bill directs a phased path: by March 1, 2026, these utilities must develop procedures to maximize enrollment; by March 1, 2028, they must develop a plan to upgrade their systems to enable enrollment; and if the governing board determines the plan cost-effective, the upgrade should be implemented during the next significant planned system upgrade or by March 1, 2030, whichever is sooner. Enforcement would follow the existing framework for violations of commission orders, with the bill creating a state-mandated local program that imposes duties on LPOEUs and does not require state reimbursement.

The measure rests on the Public Utilities Act framework, relying on the Public Utilities Commission to regulate rules, practices, and service standards and to enforce compliance through the existing criminal-enforcement pathway for violations of orders. Open questions concern definitions of what constitutes “alerts” and “essential notifications,” the scope of opt-out controls across channels, and data privacy and accessibility safeguards. Regulators and utilities may also need guidance on interpreting terms such as “significant planned upgrade” and “cost-effective” plan determinations, as well as how to coordinate implementation across state-regulated utilities and locally governed entities.