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October 8, 2023 - 2023 - The Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) reports on October 2nd, RCRC provided written comments to the CPUC on PG&E’s 2023 General Rate Case (GRC), which seeks funding for PG&E’s operations, maintenance, and capital improvements for the 2023-2025 period.
As previously reported, the CPUC will consider two alternative decisions in November. Both proposals authorize $1.3 billion for vegetation management and $2.5 billion for capacity upgrades; however, they depart significantly on how to harden PG&E’s infrastructure. As part of their plan to underground 10,000 miles of distribution lines in high fire risk areas, PG&E requested authorization to underground 2,000 miles of lines in the 2023-25 period. The Proposed Decision prepared by staff authorizes undergrounding of just 200 miles of lines, with the remaining 1,800 miles proposed for installation of covered conductor. The Alternative Proposed Decisionauthorizes nearly 1,000 miles for undergrounding and just over 1,000 miles for installation of covered conductors.
RCRC’s comments on PG&E’s 2023 GRC focus on the compelling need to upgrade the utility’s infrastructure (through a mix of undergrounding, installation of covered conductors, recalibration of settings, and vegetation management) to both reduce wildfire risk and improve energy reliability. RCRC encouraged the CPUC to provide PG&E flexibility that allows it to continue and scale up its undergrounding work, assuming it is able to successfully reduce costs and increase the pace of those efforts. RCRC also stressed that the CPUC fund PG&E’s vegetation management program and ensure that wood haul is explicitly and consistently integrated into all those efforts. Finally, RCRC noted that it shares its members’ and residents’ concerns about affordability, pointing out that declining energy reliability and poorly executed vegetation management all pose significant and disproportionate safety and economic burdens on our constituents.
RCRC is not a formal party to this proceeding but continues to engage with various state agencies to ensure the safe, reliable, and affordable delivery of power to rural counties. Public comments can be made here.
ABOUT RURAL COUNTY REPRESENTATIVES OF CALIFORNIA (RCRC)
The Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) is a thirty-seven member county strong service organization that champions policies on behalf of California’s rural counties. RCRC is dedicated to representing the collective unique interests of its membership, providing legislative and regulatory representation at the State and Federal levels, and providing responsible services for its members to enhance and protect the quality of life in rural California counties. To learn more about RCRC, visit rcrcnet.org and follow @RuralCounties on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Source: RCRC
