The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has improved the distribution planning and execution processes for utilities to make planning for electric grid upgrades more proactive, help utilities meet the rising demand for electricity, and reduce future delays for customer projects requiring distribution upgrades.
The CPUC has introduced longer-term, consistent planning for grid needs, requiring utilities to utilize customer energization data more effectively and implement advanced forecasting methodologies. The CPUC’s decision supports a balanced approach to future grid planning, ensuring that upgrades are identified and completed on schedule.
The decision requires electric utilities to provide information on solutions to help customers producing grid upgrades connect to the grid before completing grid upgrades, such as load flexibility, flexible service connections, temporary solutions, and distributed energy resource strategies. The solutions aim to reduce both costs and wait times for customers.
“The utility distribution planning process must be more adaptable to ensure that the grid can handle a high distributed energy resource future, an increased number of electric vehicles, building decarbonization, and the decommissioning of natural gas infrastructure,” said Commissioner Darcie L. Houck. “This decision not only recognizes that the planning process needs to account for new upcoming loads with better forecasting and mapping, and meaningful engagement with all communities to account for geographic differences and economic growth levels but also ensures that planning incorporates equity metrics and analysis to ensure our most vulnerable communities are not left behind as we transition to a clean energy future.”
The CPUC has established new data reporting requirements for an access to critical information for stakeholders. This includes improvements to technical maps and data portals, allowing customers and developers identify possible locations having distribution capacity to energize customer projects.
The decision represents the result of over two years of work by the CPUC and addresses legislative mandates from Senate Bill 410 and Assembly Bill 50. These bills require utilities to adopt energization timelines, incorporate local government and developer plans into their forecasting, and align grid upgrades with California’s decarbonization and electrification goals.
