In their Wildfire Mitigation Plans (WMPs), Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE) indicate plans to spend roughly $18 billion and $5.8 billion respectively over the 2023-2025 WMP cycle....more
On May 20, 2022, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC or Commission) issued a proposed decision (PD) that would, among other things, adopt Southern California Edison’s (SCE) 24-hour-slice proposal as the new...more
In March 2022, Pacific Gas & Electric (“PG&E”) announced a partnership with General Motors to create a bidirectional electric vehicle (“EV”) charging program in California that would allow homes and small businesses to be...more
Audit: California too slow in offering surplus land for affordable housing - Bullet U.S. News & World Report – March 22 California has not effectively used surplus properties owned by the state to help alleviate the...more
PG&E intends to increase average electric rates for its agricultural, commercial, and industrial customers between 7 and 25 percent starting in 2023, with a corresponding increase in average gas rates of up to approximately 4...more
CPUC delays vote on controversial rooftop solar proposal - The San Diego Union-Tribune – January 21 - The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has postponed a vote on a controversial proposal that would...more
California’s latest demand-side emergency plan draws criticism from providers - Greentech Media – March 10 - The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued the latest proposal to prevent rolling blackouts....more
PG&E has announced that it will sell its Pleasant Creek natural gas storage field, has retained an investment banker, and is now publicly soliciting bids. But who will buy the 400 acres of land located between Sacramento and...more
The California power giant, PG&E, has emerged from the country’s largest utility bankruptcy proceeding as a dramatically different company. Not only has PG&E exited Chapter 11, it has completed a restructuring that will have...more
On June 30, 2020, Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 350 (“SB 350”), which is intended to serve as a backstop for customers as Pacific Gas and Electric Company (“PG&E”) completes its restructuring process and begins...more
We’ve reported here and here on the January 2019 bankruptcy filing by Pacific Gas and Electric (“PG&E”), which was primarily the result of potential liability stemming from catastrophic California wildfires. Since then, PG&E...more
Solar and storage advocates call for real-time pricing option in California - PV Magazine – April 13 - With an increasing level of variable renewable generation, California will need “more short-term load flexibility”—and...more
Welcome to 2020! It is a new year and with every new year, comes a lot of new: new goals, new diet, new workout routines that leave every part of you sore... In the professional setting, a new year brings a lot of “chores,”...more
Brad Kuhn was quoted extensively in the Daily Journal article “Century-Old Doctrine Haunts Fire Litigation.” The article provides an overview of how developments in inverse condemnation that occurred in 2019 pose numerous...more
On November 27, 2019, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali issued a Memorandum Decision on Inverse Condemnation (“Memorandum Decision”) in PG&E Corporation and Pacific Gas & Electric’s (together, “PG&E”) Chapter 11 Bankruptcy...more
This ruling formally initiates the “procurement track” as outlined in Decision (D.) 19-04-040. The ruling generally describes the scope and content of the procurement track, and seeks comments from parties on its framing and...more
In this op-ed for pv magazine, David Lazerwitz and Linda Sobczynski of Farella Braun + Martel examine the levels of precaution necessary to ensure fire risk mitigation in project development. Originally published in...more
Pacific Gas and Electric provided its customers in northern California with a glimpse of the future last week. Due to extremely dry conditions coupled with the prospect of strong winds, and cognizant of last year’s massive...more
City Proposals for Funding Due Nov. 4 - In response to the recent and continued utility-initiated power shutoffs that are leaving millions of Californians without power, Gov. Gavin Newsom launched a Local Government Public...more
On June 27, 2019 the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC or the Commission) filed two Orders Instituting Investigations (OII) to investigate (i) the safety culture of Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) and...more
On July 12, 2019, Governor Newsom signed Assembly Bill (“AB”) 1054, which introduces major changes to the way California addresses wildfires in an emergency effort to financially stabilize the State’s electric utilities...more
The unfortunate trend of increased wildfires across the western landscape continued in 2018, both as to the number of fires and the acreage burned. Most disturbing is the growing severity and impacts of these fires in terms...more
Pacific Gas and Electric’s announcement that it intends to file for bankruptcy by the end of January will have a significant impact on public agencies....more
On December 1, 2017, two of the three major California investor-owned utilities (“IOUs”), Pacific Gas & Electricity (“PG&E”) and Southern California Edison (“SCE”), submitted applications for approval of the results of their...more