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 |Add To My Favorites |Track Bill | Version: 05/01/25 - Amended Senate
 03/26/25 - Amended Senate
 02/20/25 - Introduced

 SB-618 Electricity: deenergization events: report: compensation.(2025-2026)

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 Date Published: 05/01/2025 09:00 PM

SB618:v97#DOCUMENTBill Start

 Amended
 IN 
 Senate
 May 01, 2025

 Amended
 IN 
 Senate
 March 26, 2025

 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

 Senate Bill

No. 618

Introduced by Senator Reyes
(Coauthor: Senator Stern)

February 20, 2025

An act to amend Section 8387 of, and to add Section 8386.8 8386.9 to, the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 618, as amended, Reyes.
 Electricity: deenergization events: reimbursement credit. events: report: compensation.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law requires each electrical corporation to annually prepare a wildfire mitigation plan and to submit its plan to the commission for review and approval, as specified. Existing law requires that the wildfire mitigation plan include, among other things, protocols for deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the associated impacts on public safety.

This bill would require each electrical
 corporation to automatically provide a reimbursement credit to all customers affected by a deenergization event in an amount equal to $30 for every 24 hours that a customer experiences a deenergization event. The bill would prohibit the reimbursement credit from being funded with ratepayer moneys. each electrical corporation to file a postdeenergization event report with the commission following a deenergization event that includes the duration of the deenergization event, the circuits affected, the number of customers impacted, and any other information required by the commission. The bill would also require each electrical corporation to include the cost to a customer of the interruption of electrical service, per affected customer, and the aggregated cost for all affected customers in the report, and would require the commission, in a new or existing proceeding, to develop a standardized methodology for calculating
 that cost, as specified. The bill would authorize the commission to assess a fine or penalty on an electrical corporation following its review of a deenergization event if the commission determines the electrical corporation violated deenergization protocols, commission rules, laws, or other requirements. If the commission assesses a fine or penalty on an electrical corporation, the bill would require the commission to consider the impact of the deenergization event on the electrical corporation’s customers and to direct any revenues from the fine or penalty to automatic credits to those customers affected by the deenergization event, as specified.

Existing law requires each local publicly owned electric utility to prepare a wildfire mitigation plan and to verify that the wildfire mitigation plan complies with all applicable rules, regulations, and standards, as appropriate. Existing law requires that the wildfire mitigation plan includes,
 among other things, protocols for deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the associated impacts on public safety.

This bill would require the wildfire mitigation plan to additionally include appropriate and feasible procedures for compensating a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines.

Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.

Because a violation of a commission action implementing this bill’s requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Additionally, by imposing new duties on local publicly owned electric utilities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution
 requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbu