Added by Stats. 2023, Ch. 394, Sec. 1. (SB 410) Effective January 1, 2024.
This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Powering Up Californians Act.
Article 14.5 - Powering Up Californians
California Public Utilities Code — §§ 930-940
Sections (13)
Added by Stats. 2023, Ch. 394, Sec. 1. (SB 410) Effective January 1, 2024.
For purposes of this article, the following definitions apply:
(a)“Electrification” means any new, expanded, or change in use of electricity related to the policies described in Section 933, including, but not limited to, in the industrial, commercial, agricultural, housing, or transportation sectors.
(b)“Energization” and “energize” mean connecting customers to the electrical distribution grid and establishing adequate electrical distribution capacity or upgrading electrical distribution or transmission capacity to provide electrical service for a new customer, or to provide upgraded electrical service to an existing customer. The determination of adequate electrical distribution capacity includes
consideration of future load. “Energization” and “energize” do not include activities related to connecting electrical supply resources.
(c)“Energization time period” means the elapsed time beginning when the electrical corporation receives a substantially complete energization project application and ending when the electric service is installed and energized.
Added by Stats. 2023, Ch. 394, Sec. 1. (SB 410) Effective January 1, 2024.
(a)The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1)It is the policy of the state to reach carbon neutrality no later than 2045 and to maintain net negative emissions of greenhouse gases after 2045. To meet these goals and federal, state, regional, and local air quality and decarbonization standards, plans, and regulations, projections from the commission and the Energy Commission show the need for a large increase in both the quantity of electricity used and the functions for which electricity will be used.
(2)To meet these decarbonization goals and federal, state, regional, and local air quality and decarbonization standards, plans, and regulations, the state’s
electrical distribution systems must be substantially upgraded, new customers must promptly connect to the electrical distribution system, and existing customers must have their service level promptly upgraded.
(3)There are many reports of large housing developments that are unable to be promptly energized. California has an urgent need to increase its supply of housing, requiring both new electrical distribution capacity and the prompt energization of new housing.
(4)There are many reports of individual customers who are unable to have their electrical service promptly upgraded or energized and charging stations for light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicles and off-road vehicles, vessels, trains, and equipment that are unable to be promptly energized. These delays may inhibit the state’s ability to meet its decarbonization goals and federal, state, regional, and local
air quality and decarbonization standards, plans, and regulations.
(5)To improve the speed at which energization and service upgrades are performed, each electrical corporation that distributes electricity must improve its advance planning, engineering, and construction of increased distribution and transmission system capacity.
(6)Paragraph (1) of subdivision (s) of Section 712.8 requires the operator of the Diablo Canyon powerplant to submit annually to the commission for its review the amount of compensation earned under paragraph (5) of subdivision (f) of Section 712.8, how it was spent, and a plan for prioritizing the uses of the compensation the next year. Paragraph (1) of subdivision (s) of Section 712.8 also provides that to the extent that it is not needed for Diablo Canyon, that compensation shall be spent on critical public purpose priorities, one of which is
accelerating customer and generator interconnections.
(7)Electrifying transportation and buildings may put downward pressure on rates by spreading fixed costs over more kilowatthours of usage.
(8)Delays in energization, including service upgrades, are costly both to the customers awaiting service and to other customers deprived of the downward pressure on rates.
(9)To carry out the planning, engineering, and construction of electrical distribution systems needed to promptly serve customers, each electrical corporation that distributes electricity must recruit, train, and retain an adequately sized, qualified workforce.
(10)The commission should establish target deadlines for utilities that distribute electricity to energize new customers and upgrade
the service of existing customers.
(11)The commission should establish reporting requirements requiring each electrical corporation that distributes electricity to report the extent to which it complied with the target deadlines and the reasons for its noncompliance.
(b)Nothing in paragraph (6) of subdivision (a) changes the requirements of Section 712.8.
Added by Stats. 2023, Ch. 394, Sec. 1. (SB 410) Effective January 1, 2024.
It is the policy of the state that each electrical corporation does all of the following:
(a)Upgrade the state’s electrical distribution systems as needed and in time to achieve the state’s decarbonization goals and implement federal, state, regional, and local air quality and decarbonization standards, plans, and regulations.
(b)Comply with its obligation to serve, as provided in Section 451, by conducting sufficient advance planning, engineering, and construction of increased distribution system capacity so that customers can be energized without substantial delay.
(c)Promptly energize new customers, including by ensuring that new
housing, new businesses, new electric equipment in buildings, and new charging for light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicles and off-road vehicles, vessels, trains, and equipment can be used without delay caused by a failure of the electrical corporation to implement energization projects.
(d)Promptly upgrade service when needed by customers.
(e)Recruit, train, and retain an adequately sized and qualified workforce to carry out the planning, engineering, and construction of electrical distribution systems needed to promptly serve customers seeking energization and service upgrades without sacrificing other necessary activities of the workforce.
Added by Stats. 2023, Ch. 317, Sec. 1. (AB 50) Effective January 1, 2024.
(a)The commission shall determine the criteria for timely service for electric customers to be energized. The criteria shall include, but are not limited to, all of the following:
(1)Categories of timely electric service through energization, including, but not limited to, both of the following:
(A)The
timely start of service, and timely fulfillment of requests, for energization, including new service connections and increased load from existing service connections after a customer has submitted a request for new or increased electrical load.
(B)Project types that justify unique or extended energization timelines. These may include, but are not limited to, projects requiring substantial upstream capacity upgrades or substation upgrades, unanticipated engineering or construction work, or projects requiring energization of significant, unanticipated new load.
(2)(A) Establishing annual reporting requirements, while leveraging existing reporting requirements for interconnections of generation and storage wherever possible, for the electrical corporations to report customer energization projects in order to evaluate the electrical corporations fulfillment of timely electric service.
(B)At a minimum, the
reporting requirements shall include all of the following:
(i)The average, median, and standard deviation time between receiving an application for energizing the electrical service.
(ii) Explanations for energization time periods that exceed the target maximum for energization projects.
(iii) Constraints and obstacles to each type of energization, including funding limitations, qualified staffing availability, or equipment availability.
(iv) Any other information required by the commission.
(3)Annually convening a public workshop for the electrical corporations to discuss their reports with interested parties and experts in customer energization, including representatives from local governments, and to examine existing workflows and potential improvements to planning, timelines, processes, and customer communication and education, and criteria for determining timely service of energization requests. The workshops shall inform the commission in its determination of the criteria for timely service of energization for electric customers, and any subsequent revisions to established criteria.
(b)(1) In order to demonstrate improvement in energization performance and the resolution of backlogs of customers waiting for
electricity, each electrical corporation that energized less than 35 percent of customers with completed applications exceeding 12 months in duration by January 31, 2023, shall submit a report to the commission, on or before December 1, 2024, demonstrating that the
electrical corporation has energized 80 percent of customers with applications deemed complete as of January 31, 2023, excluding applications withdrawn, canceled, or with customer-requested energization dates beyond December 1, 2024. The commission may conduct an analysis of current energization status and adjust these thresholds and deadlines.
(2)If an electrical corporation fails to meet the performance metric in paragraph (1), the electrical corporation shall
implement actions necessary to meet the performance metric and include a summary of these actions in the report submitted to the commission.
(3)Reports submitted to the commission pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2) shall meet all of the following requirements:
(A)Be posted online to the commission’s and the electrical corporation’s internet websites.
(B)Include the number of withdrawn applications and aggregated data on the reasons, if any, given by customers for withdrawal.
(C)Include the number of canceled applications and aggregated data
on the reasons for which the electrical
corporation, or, if applicable, the customer, canceled the request.
(D)Include the number of projects delayed due to factors outside the electrical corporation’s control and aggregated data by factors, including, but not limited to, supply shortages and local permitting delays.
(c)(1) To improve the accuracy of projected demand and facilitate achievement of the goal of timely electric service through energization, each electrical corporation shall evaluate and update, as necessary, its existing distribution planning processes.
(2)To improve the accuracy of projected demand, each electrical corporation shall have annual meetings with interested parties and experts in customer energization, including representatives from local governments and the relevant county staff for each interested county in its service territory, which is presumed to include chief administrative officers, planning directors, public works directors, chief building officials, and economic development officials, to discuss relevant information, which may include, but is not limited to, customer service, existing capacity, planned capacity upgrades, projected local demand, local development plans, significant delays in customer energization in the county, distribution planning, existing workflows, and potential improvements to planning, timelines, processes, and customer
communication and education.
(3)To increase the pace and scale of local projects intended to meet state, regional, and local housing and economic development objectives, each electrical corporation shall share relevant information, which may include, but is not limited to, data available through the integrated capacity analysis tool, upon request with local governments about those areas where existing capacity either exists or could be easily added, and where existing capacity is planned to be added, within the distribution system to meet those objectives. Local government employees authorized to request information include chief administrative officers, planning directors, public works directors, chief building officials, economic
development officials, and city managers.
(d)(1) In order to inform the commission’s determination of criteria for timely service pursuant to subdivision (a), the commission shall annually collect the following information from each electrical corporation in the form of a report:
(A) The number of submitted requests for energization of new customer connections and upgraded service during the prior year.
(B) The number of completed requests for energization of new customer connections and upgraded service during the prior year.
(C) The number of pending
and uncompleted requests for energization of new customer connections and upgraded service at the end of the prior year.
(D) The number of days between requests for energization of new customer connections or upgraded service and final service delivery.
(E) A summary of recorded spending on energization of customer connections and service upgrades compared to the amounts authorized for these activities for that year in the most recent general rate case.
(F) Any other information requested by the commission to evaluate the status of energization of customer connections and service upgrades.
(2)This subdivision shall apply only to energization of
customers and does not include interconnection of generation resources to either the distribution or transmission grid.
(3)The reporting requirement in this subdivision shall become inoperative once the commission establishes new reporting requirements for monitoring timely electric service pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a).
(e)The commission may modify or adjust the requirements of this section for any electrical corporation with fewer than 100,000 service connections, as individual circumstances merit.
(f)This section shall not apply to an electrical cooperative, as defined in Section 2776.
(g)For purposes of this section, “energization” and “energize” mean connecting customers to the electrical distribution grid and
establishing adequate electrical distribution capacity or upgrading electrical distribution or transmission capacity to provide electrical service for a new customer, or to provide upgraded electrical service to an existing customer. The determination of adequate electrical distribution capacity includes consideration of future load. “Energization” and
“energize” do not include activities related to connecting electrical supply resources.
Amended by Stats. 2025, Ch. 119, Sec. 36. (SB 254) Effective September 19, 2025.
(a)On or before September 30, 2024, the commission shall do both of the following:
(1)Establish reasonable average and maximum target energization time periods. The targets shall ensure that work is completed in a manner that minimizes delay in meeting the date requested by the customer to the greatest extent possible and prioritizes work in a manner consistent with Sections 932 and 933. The targets may vary depending on the complexity and magnitude of the work required and uncertainties regarding the readiness of the customer project needing energization. The targets may also recognize any factors beyond the electrical corporation’s control.
(2)Establish a procedure for customers to report
energization delays to the commission.
(b)If energization time periods exceed the commission’s target averages or if an electrical corporation has a substantial number of energization projects that exceed the commission’s target maximums, the electrical corporation shall include in its annual report a strategy for meeting the targets in the future. The commission may request modification of the electrical corporation’s strategy to ensure the electrical corporation meets targets promptly and consistent with the policies set forth in Section 933.
(c)Each electrical corporation shall report anonymized or averaged data to the extent necessary to prevent identifying individual customers. The
commission shall require all reports to be publicly available.
(d)The commission shall require
an
electrical corporation to take remedial actions necessary to achieve the targets established pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a).
(e)The commission shall periodically update the energization time periods established in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) and the electrical corporation’s annual reporting requirements to reflect changed circumstances, new information, and experience.
(f)The commission shall evaluate and report to the Legislature, in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code, on or before January 1, 2027, whether to require an electrical corporation to have an executive incentive compensation structure that includes incentive compensation based on meeting the targets adopted in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) for all executive officers.
(g)On or before January 1, 2027, the commission shall establish an enforcement policy for the targets adopted in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) that include penalties for not complying with the remedial actions required pursuant to subdivision (d).
Added by Stats. 2023, Ch. 394, Sec. 1. (SB 410) Effective January 1, 2024.
(a)As part of each annual report, including any updates pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 934, and in each general rate case application, each electrical corporation shall include a detailed analysis of its current qualified staffing level and future required qualified staffing level for each job classification needed to be consistent with the findings and achieve the policies and requirements of this article.
(b)The commission shall require each electrical corporation to have adequate qualified staffing needed to be consistent with the findings and achieve the policies and requirements of this article.
(c)For job classifications that have apprentice training requirements,
the commission shall require each electrical corporation to maintain a pipeline of apprentices sufficient to meet future qualified staffing needs, subject to any limitations based on safe staffing ratios.
Added by Stats. 2023, Ch. 394, Sec. 1. (SB 410) Effective January 1, 2024.
(a)In addition to the requirements of Section 740.21, the commission shall require an electrical corporation to do both of the following:
(1)Consider, in its annual distribution planning process, all of the following:
(A)Federal, state, regional, and local air quality and decarbonization standards, plans, and regulations.
(B)The transportation and building electrification policies of state law.
(C)State agency, local agency, and local government plans and requirements related to housing, economic development, critical facilities, transportation, and
building electrification.
(D)Known load, and projections of load provided by the Energy Commission.
(E)Projections of load that exceed forecasts provided by the Energy Commission.
(2)Adopt and implement plans to satisfy the policies set forth in Section 933, to support achieving the requirements listed in subparagraphs (A) to (C), inclusive, of paragraph (1), and to meet the energization time periods established pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 934, including any updates pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 934.
(b)For purposes of subparagraph (E) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a), an electrical corporation may only use a projection of load that exceeds forecasts provided by the Energy Commission if the electrical
corporation provides to the commission detailed information on how the forecasts are developed and what state or local policies or customer requests necessitated the alternative forecast.
Added by Stats. 2023, Ch. 394, Sec. 1. (SB 410) Effective January 1, 2024. Repealed as of January 1, 2027, by its own provisions.
(a)The commission shall ensure that each electrical corporation has sufficient and timely recovery of costs to be consistent with the findings and achieve the policies and requirements of this article, including for energization projects.
(b)If requested by the electrical corporation, the commission shall authorize, within 180 days of the request, the use of a ratemaking mechanism that does all of the following:
(1)Authorizes the electrical corporation to track costs for energization projects placed in service after January 1, 2024, that exceed the costs included in the electrical corporation’s annual authorized revenue requirement for energization, as established in the
electrical corporation’s general rate case or any other proceeding.
(2)Requires the commission to establish an up-front annual cap on the amount that each electrical corporation can recover within the mechanism. Before establishing the cap, the commission shall review all information submitted by the electrical corporation pursuant to subdivision (c).
(3)Requires the commission to authorize the recovery of costs tracked within the mechanism through an annual rate adjustment until it determines whether the costs are just and reasonable in the electrical corporation’s next general rate case. The commission shall require the electrical corporation to include in its next general rate case application a demonstration that the costs incurred were just and reasonable. Any costs that the commission finds were not just and reasonable shall be subject to refund.
(4)Requires only costs associated with energization to be included in the mechanism and requires costs to be tracked using the same cost categories as used by the electrical corporation in its general rate case application.
(5)Prevents the electrical corporation from recovering any costs through the mechanism in any year until its recorded spending for energization projects exceeds its annualized revenue requirements for energization projects as established in the electrical corporation’s general rate case.
(c)An electrical corporation, as part of its request for a ratemaking mechanism pursuant to subdivision (b), shall include in its request all of the following:
(1)A detailed summary of energization costs authorized in its current general rate case
or any other proceeding.
(2)Requested energization costs in its pending general rate case, if it has a pending case.
(3)Costs authorized for other purposes in its current general rate case or any other proceeding but used for energization.
(4)The number of anticipated energization projects per year that are expected to be started or completed.
(5)If the electrical corporation is an operator, as defined in Section 25548.1 of the Public Resources Code, the amount of the compensation identified in paragraph (1) of subdivision (s) of Section 712.8 that it has forecasted it will spend on energization.
(d)The commission shall ensure that each electrical corporation improves upon
energization planning, consistent with the requirements of Section 936, when requesting an authorized revenue requirement during the electrical corporation’s general rate case, in order to minimize the need for any ratemaking mechanism authorized pursuant to this section.
(e)This section shall be repealed on January 1, 2027.
Added by Stats. 2023, Ch. 394, Sec. 1. (SB 410) Effective January 1, 2024. Inoperative July 1, 2028, by its own provisions. Repealed as of January 1, 2029, by its own provisions.
(a)The commission shall require an electrical corporation that requests the use of a ratemaking mechanism, pursuant to Section 937, as a condition of authorizing the use of the mechanism, to satisfy all of the following requirements:
(1)The electrical corporation shall agree to retain an independent third-party auditor, which shall be selected by the commission based on nonbinding recommendations from the electrical corporation, to review the electrical corporation’s business practices and procedures for energizing new customers and how the electrical corporation is planning for demand growth, including new customer energizations.
(2)The electrical corporation shall not recover
the costs of the third-party auditor from ratepayers.
(3)The third-party auditor shall review all of the following:
(A)The electrical corporation’s customer energization requests for the previous three years.
(B)The electrical corporation’s projections of customer demand growth included in the electrical corporation’s distribution plan, including growth in new customers and growth in demand from existing customers.
(C)The electrical corporation’s qualified staffing levels and future anticipated staffing needs to meet projections for customer demand growth, including the ability of the electrical corporation to sufficiently build its workforce.
(D)Funding requested by the electrical
corporation to support energization requests for the previous three years in the general rate case or any other proceeding, and the efficacy of those previous requests in meeting customer demand.
(E)Commission authorized funding for the electrical corporation to support energization for the previous three years, future authorized funding, and authorized changes to the electrical corporation’s business practices or structures to improve its ability to respond to changing customer demand.
(F)The electrical corporation’s performance in meeting energization time periods established by the commission pursuant to this article.
(G)The electrical corporation’s performance in meeting its internally established energization time periods over the prior 10 years or longer, as necessary.
(H)Any other metrics deemed relevant by the commission or third-party auditor to support a thorough evaluation of the electrical corporation’s energization performance, including to identify and correct past flaws and to identify future best practices.
(4)The third-party auditor shall evaluate the electrical corporation’s current and future energization performance and make recommendations as to whether the electrical corporation is adequately meeting and anticipating customer demand, adequately training and retaining an adequate workforce, and is funded at sufficient levels to meet forecasted demand growth.
(5)The third-party auditor shall report to the commission on a biannual basis. The reports of the auditor shall be posted on the commission’s internet website and reported to the appropriate policy committees of
the Legislature.
(b)The electrical corporation shall retain an independent third-party auditor as provided in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) before the commission authorizes use of the ratemaking mechanism pursuant to Section 937. The work of the auditor described in paragraphs (3), (4), and (5) of subdivision (a) may occur after the electrical corporation requests authorization for the ratemaking mechanism but shall occur before July 1, 2028. The commission’s 180-day deadline for authorizing the mechanism provided in paragraph (b) of Section 937 shall not be affected by whether the auditor has completed the work described in paragraphs (3), (4), and (5) of subdivision (a).
(c)This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2028, and, as of January 1, 2029, is repealed.
Added by Stats. 2023, Ch. 394, Sec. 1. (SB 410) Effective January 1, 2024.
The commission may modify or adjust the requirements of this article for any electrical corporation with fewer than 100,000 service connections, as individual circumstances merit.
Added by Stats. 2023, Ch. 394, Sec. 1. (SB 410) Effective January 1, 2024.
This article shall not apply to an electrical cooperative, as defined in Section 2776.
Added by Stats. 2025, Ch. 119, Sec. 37. (SB 254) Effective September 19, 2025. Repealed as of January 1, 2032, by its own provisions.
(a)The commission shall require each electrical corporation to retain an independent third-party auditor, which shall be selected by the commission based on nonbinding recommendations from the electrical corporation, to review the electrical corporation’s business practices and procedures for energizing new customers and how the electrical corporation is planning for demand growth, including new customer energizations.
(b)The third-party auditor shall review all of the following:
(1)The electrical corporation’s customer energization requests for the previous three years.
(2)The electrical corporation’s projections of
customer demand growth included in the electrical corporation’s distribution plan, including growth in new customers and growth in demand from existing customers.
(3)The electrical corporation’s qualified staffing levels and future anticipated staffing needs to meet projections for customer demand growth, including the ability of the electrical corporation to sufficiently build its workforce.
(4)Funding requested by the electrical corporation to support energization requests for the previous three years in the general rate case or any other proceeding, and the efficacy of those previous requests in meeting customer demand.
(5)Commission authorized funding for the electrical corporation to support energization for the previous three years, future authorized funding, and authorized changes to the electrical
corporation’s business practices or structures to improve its ability to respond to changing customer demand.
(6)The electrical corporation’s performance in meeting the reasonable average and maximum target energization time periods pursuant Section 934.
(7)Any other metrics deemed relevant by the commission or third-party auditor to support a thorough evaluation of the electrical corporation’s energization performance, including to identify and correct past flaws and to identify future best practices.
(c)The third-party auditor shall evaluate the electrical corporation’s current and future energization performance and make recommendations as to whether the electrical corporation is adequately meeting and anticipating customer demand, adequately training and retaining an adequate workforce, and is funded at
sufficient levels to meet forecasted demand growth.
(d)The third-party auditor shall report to the commission on a biannual basis. The reports of the auditor shall be posted on the commission’s internet website and reported to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature.
(e)The commission may require an electrical corporation to take remedial actions necessary to address deficiencies identified in the report provided by the third-party auditor pursuant to subdivision (d), or to achieve the targets established pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 934.
(f)For purposes of this section, “energization” means connecting customers to the electrical distribution grid and establishing adequate electrical distribution capacity or upgrading electrical distribution or transmission capacity to
provide electrical service for a new customer, or to provide upgraded electrical service to an existing customer. The determination of adequate electrical distribution capacity includes consideration of future load. “Energization” does not include activities related to connecting electrical supply resources.
(g)This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2032, and as of that date is repealed.