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CPUC Ends ‘Enhanced Oversight' of PG&E Safety

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The state Public Utilities Commission voted Thursday to lift PG&E’s regulatory probation after regulatory staff indicated the utility has learned its lesson and is now clearing trees around lines at highest risk of sparking wildfires.

The panel’s action ended, for now, what had been a remote threat of public takeover of the utility had PG&E not satisfied the terms of what regulators called “enhanced oversight and enforcement” imposed in April of last year.

The action came after regulators expressed concerns about PG&E’s failure to clear trees from lines that it had ranked at the highest risk for wildfires. Under the terms, the company had to make 90-day updates about progress in prioritizing vegetation management efforts.

 In urging probation be lifted, CPUC executive director Rachel Peterson told the panel PG&E has satisfied regulators. “Our enhanced oversight led to PG&E correcting this specific safety failure,” she said. “PG&E has now demonstrated to staff satisfaction that in 2021 and 2022, it has been doing the vast majority of its EVM (enhanced vegetation management) work in the areas of its system, posing the greatest risk of igniting a catastrophic wildfire.”

She noted the utility met or exceeded its vegetation clearance targets for the last two years.

PG&E has said the removal from probation would mark “an important milestone” to prove it has evolved its efforts to account for areas at greatest risk of sparking more fires.

“We remain focused on wildfire safety to address the climate risk that we’re facing now and the climate challenges we will face in the future. We are committed to doing our work the right way for our customers and communities,” the utility said in a statement issued when regulators first urged ending its probation.

Critics had sought more oversight, not less, in light of last year’s Dixie Fire, which Cal Fire blamed on tree contact with a PG&E line.

But CPUC commissioners agreed the matter before the panel was only whether the utility satisfied the terms imposed by the enhanced oversight. Oversight they credited for improving safety.

“It did work, it did address an important problem and we should not be bashful about doing it again,” said Commissioner Clifford Rechtschaffen. “It’s a potent tool, that’s why we put it in place. Because PG&E’s operational practices remain a serious concern to us.”

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