WEBVTT 00:00:06.580 --> 00:00:11.955 Morning and welcome. I'm calling the 00:00:11.967 --> 00:00:18.299 California Public Utilities Commission Business Meeting of October 00:00:18.311 --> 00:00:23.976 24, 2019, Public Agenda Item 3448, at the hour of 10:11, to 00:00:23.988 --> 00:00:29.948 order. Everyone, please rise for the pledge of the allegiance. 00:00:29.960 --> 00:00:36.094 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, 00:00:36.106 --> 00:00:41.591 and to the nation, for which it stands, one nation, under 00:00:41.603 --> 00:00:47.270 God, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, everyone. 00:00:47.282 --> 00:00:52.961 First, before we get underway, a few housekeeping items. In 00:00:52.973 --> 00:00:58.716 the case of an emergency, please leave this room through the 00:00:58.728 --> 00:01:04.483 nearest exits and assemble in the public plaza, which is the 00:01:04.495 --> 00:01:10.338 concrete parking lot and grass area between City Hall and the 00:01:10.350 --> 00:01:16.300 council chambers. Designated emergency personnel will be there 00:01:16.312 --> 00:01:22.341 to assist you. And Executive Director Alice Stebbins is trained 00:01:22.353 --> 00:01:27.922 in CPR, so we're good. We will be greeted today by some of 00:01:27.934 --> 00:01:33.402 our local officials. The Redding Vice Mayor, as well as a 00:01:33.414 --> 00:01:39.367 supervisor from Shasta County. Would you like to come forward? 00:01:39.392 --> 00:01:43.761 Absolutely. All right. Are we live? Good morning, 00:01:43.773 --> 00:01:47.696 Commissioners. My name is Adam McElvain. I'm the Vice Mayor 00:01:47.708 --> 00:01:52.017 in Redding, and I want to welcome you. We are honored to have you 00:01:52.029 --> 00:01:56.154 in our city. And we hope that your stay is warm and memorable. 00:01:56.166 --> 00:02:00.342 As you know, last summer, Redding experienced, potentially, the 00:02:00.354 --> 00:02:04.476 worst natural disaster in our history, The Carr Fire. It was a 00:02:04.488 --> 00:02:08.866 tremendously painful event, and much of the grief will linger with 00:02:08.878 --> 00:02:13.006 us for some time. However, I'm proud to report that within the 00:02:13.018 --> 00:02:17.192 first year of the fire, more than half of the homes lost in the 00:02:17.204 --> 00:02:21.325 city have applied for permits to rebuild. There's a far higher 00:02:21.337 --> 00:02:25.320 percentage than any other city in California, which has been 00:02:25.332 --> 00:02:29.786 affected by wildfire and shows real resiliency for our city. As you 00:02:29.798 --> 00:02:34.041 know, we have a municipal electric utility, arguably the best in 00:02:34.053 --> 00:02:38.111 California. We have very low rates and very high reliability. 00:02:38.123 --> 00:02:42.437 In response to the Carr Fire, our City Council adopted a somewhat 00:02:42.449 --> 00:02:46.578 aggressive fire mitigation policy. Because of this new policy, 00:02:46.590 --> 00:02:50.629 our utility has been able to maintain power to the grid while 00:02:50.641 --> 00:02:54.822 our neighbors have been in the dark. We have seen this over the 00:02:54.834 --> 00:02:58.944 past few weeks, and it reminds us to how nice it is to be able 00:02:58.956 --> 00:03:03.077 to keep the lights on. We're also exploring the possibility of 00:03:03.089 --> 00:03:07.458 starting a new broadband utility in Redding, something I have been 00:03:07.470 --> 00:03:11.785 working on personally. Right now, we're in the process of putting 00:03:11.797 --> 00:03:15.910 together a citywide master broadband plan, and it should be in 00:03:15.922 --> 00:03:20.112 front of the council in the next month or so. Finally, I'd like 00:03:20.124 --> 00:03:24.556 to mention a few things about our local economy. Right now, we have 00:03:24.568 --> 00:03:28.686 the lowest unemployment in the history of keeping unemployment 00:03:28.698 --> 00:03:32.612 records. We're also seeing a surge in investment. Today, we 00:03:32.624 --> 00:03:36.682 have over $750 million worth of commercial projects that have 00:03:36.694 --> 00:03:40.933 either been permitted or are pending permits in the city. To put 00:03:40.945 --> 00:03:45.000 that into perspective. For us, that is equivalent to the past 00:03:45.012 --> 00:03:49.257 25 years of investment. So our city is doing great right now and 00:03:49.269 --> 00:03:53.330 again, I want to welcome and thank you for coming to Redding. 00:03:53.355 --> 00:04:00.638 Thank you very much, Vice Mayor. Supervisor? 00:04:00.663 --> 00:04:04.979 Good morning. I'm Leonard Moty, the Chair of the Board 00:04:04.991 --> 00:04:09.380 of Supervisors for Shasta County. Some of my colleagues are here in the 00:04:09.392 --> 00:04:13.958 audience as well. I also want to welcome the CPUC for coming into Redding, 00:04:13.970 --> 00:04:18.610 into Shasta County, so we can meet with you personally and you can hear our 00:04:18.622 --> 00:04:23.368 concerns. I think it's very important that you take the opportunities to move 00:04:23.380 --> 00:04:27.955 about the state and hear from your constituents through all of California. 00:04:27.967 --> 00:04:32.231 I also want to thank you for the couple of Commissioners were able to 00:04:32.243 --> 00:04:36.519 meet with yesterday. I think it was very important to have a personal 00:04:36.531 --> 00:04:40.910 conversation and be able to relay our concerns and have a little bit of 00:04:40.922 --> 00:04:45.495 dialogue. Certainly, very important to me and to all of Shasta County. I'd 00:04:45.507 --> 00:04:50.258 like to make a few comments about, obviously, the PG&E and our concerns here. 00:04:50.270 --> 00:04:54.667 I think all of us clearly understand PG&E’s concern about fire. As Adam 00:04:54.679 --> 00:04:59.121 mentioned, you know, we suffered a devastating fire last year, took over 00:04:59.133 --> 00:05:03.588 850 homes just in the county, as well as a couple hundred in the city of 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:08.171 Redding. But I think what PG&E needs to know is the impacts that has on us 00:05:08.183 --> 00:05:12.888 when they cut power for days at a time. Rural areas are especially hit hard. 00:05:12.900 --> 00:05:17.339 They don't have the other resources to back up their situations, such as 00:05:17.351 --> 00:05:21.924 like the city of Redding. Places that have hospitals, for instance, I know 00:05:21.936 --> 00:05:26.625 that Red Bluff in Tehama County, their hospital lost power and was only able 00:05:26.637 --> 00:05:31.033 to run emergency power for the emergency room, very difficult for them. 00:05:31.045 --> 00:05:35.731 I'm also very concerned about the individuals in our county who have medical 00:05:35.743 --> 00:05:40.075 needs and have medical equipment they have to be run by my power, such 00:05:40.087 --> 00:05:44.718 as breathing apparatus, heart monitors, things such as that. Our businesses 00:05:44.730 --> 00:05:48.945 are heavily impacted. Places where they lose their perishable goods. 00:05:48.957 --> 00:05:53.215 There's no way to replace them. It's on the owner to do that, and the 00:05:53.227 --> 00:05:57.984 businesses lose their income for that period of time, and places in the rural 00:05:57.996 --> 00:06:02.503 areas. they count on that single day income that they may get. They can't 00:06:02.515 --> 00:06:06.852 make it up a couple days later with other people driving through their 00:06:06.864 --> 00:06:11.368 area. Very concerned about water for the rural areas. As I have mentioned 00:06:11.380 --> 00:06:15.835 previously, many people have wells, and when their pumps don't run, they 00:06:15.847 --> 00:06:20.358 can't get water, and that can be extremely devastating in the summertime. 00:06:20.370 --> 00:06:25.015 Our water districts are affected by that as well, because they will have to 00:06:25.027 --> 00:06:29.770 go to generators, and if it was during the summer and have a fire, they would 00:06:29.782 --> 00:06:34.355 very quickly deplete their water resources. One issue that I was surprised 00:06:34.367 --> 00:06:38.934 when it came up, was our solid waste collection. Waste management provides 00:06:38.946 --> 00:06:43.219 most of the pickup for solid waste throughout the county. They had to 00:06:43.231 --> 00:06:47.551 stop their service because they no longer could fuel their natural gas 00:06:47.563 --> 00:06:52.321 vehicles because the power was off for those operations as well. And then one 00:06:52.333 --> 00:06:56.720 of the biggest things, I think that will heavily impact our area, which 00:06:56.732 --> 00:07:01.252 was not noticed as much two weeks ago because the temperatures were about 00:07:01.264 --> 00:07:05.704 85 degrees. What if this had been in August, when it's 115? People would 00:07:05.716 --> 00:07:10.351 need their air conditioning up here, particularly are elderly citizens, and 00:07:10.363 --> 00:07:14.809 if they were to have not have power for three or four or five days, they 00:07:14.821 --> 00:07:19.279 would be in desperate straits. I think that PG&E needs to work on better 00:07:19.291 --> 00:07:23.978 communication to alert us and the citizens what they're doing and what their 00:07:23.990 --> 00:07:28.262 plans are in the future. They obviously need to take further steps to 00:07:28.274 --> 00:07:32.723 be able to search, isolate the power that they turn off. I mean, we have 00:07:32.735 --> 00:07:37.319 an area, such as Palacito, which is a fairly flat area without a whole lot 00:07:37.331 --> 00:07:41.770 of trees. That loses its entire power are because they're unable to shut 00:07:41.782 --> 00:07:46.355 off to certain areas of their power. That certainly is something should be 00:07:46.367 --> 00:07:50.934 at the top of their list as they move forward. And obviously they need the 00:07:50.946 --> 00:07:55.220 harden all of their infrastructure. I think they're behind the times. 00:07:55.232 --> 00:07:59.858 We've heard of examples in San Diego, where they've already done this. PG&E 00:07:59.870 --> 00:08:04.263 needs to step up and get theirs done as quickly as possible. And then I 00:08:04.275 --> 00:08:08.968 just like to make a pivot here and throw out one comment that the vice mayor 00:08:08.980 --> 00:08:13.257 also talked about. Shasta County and all the rural areas up here need 00:08:13.269 --> 00:08:17.770 more Internet broadband service. It's very difficult in these mountainous 00:08:17.782 --> 00:08:22.235 areas, and a lot of people don't have service or very slow server. So we 00:08:22.247 --> 00:08:26.755 also would hope that we can continue to push for broadband expansion into 00:08:26.767 --> 00:08:31.226 the North State. And finally just thank you again for the opportunity to 00:08:31.238 --> 00:08:35.865 be here, to speak to you, and to let us share our views. I do have a letter 00:08:35.877 --> 00:08:40.332 that I’d like to pass to, I believe, the, yes, this is a letter from the 00:08:40.344 --> 00:08:45.039 border supervisors and especially some of our concerns, and we want to thank 00:08:45.051 --> 00:08:49.329 you again for coming and seeing us here in Redding and Shasta County. 00:08:49.354 --> 00:08:54.090 Thank you so much. I appreciate very much 00:08:54.102 --> 00:08:59.079 your words and greetings from the City of Redding and the County 00:08:59.091 --> 00:09:03.602 of Shasta. We're very happy to be here today. This meeting 00:09:03.614 --> 00:09:08.291 was scheduled approximately almost a year ago. So we've been 00:09:08.303 --> 00:09:13.118 waiting, too, and excited to come to your community, beautiful 00:09:13.130 --> 00:09:18.571 community, beautiful country. And we do, as you both just articulated, 00:09:18.583 --> 00:09:23.404 the Commission really, it learns so much and we're so enriched 00:09:23.416 --> 00:09:27.866 by traveling throughout the state and meeting and sharing 00:09:27.878 --> 00:09:33.074 and talking with our fellow Californians who live in many different 00:09:33.086 --> 00:09:37.452 areas, very different topographies, very different areas 00:09:37.464 --> 00:09:42.130 of rural and urban, and we serve all of you. So we very much 00:09:42.142 --> 00:09:47.127 thank you for the wonderful welcome we have had. I think some of 00:09:47.139 --> 00:09:51.649 my fellow Commissioners may make remarks about the walking 00:09:51.661 --> 00:09:56.490 tour that they took yesterday and some of the other activities 00:09:56.502 --> 00:10:01.478 that we've really so enjoyed being here with you. So I thank you 00:10:01.490 --> 00:10:06.171 very much for the very warm welcome. Also, I want to mention 00:10:06.183 --> 00:10:10.996 before we get underway with public comment, we all have a very 00:10:11.008 --> 00:10:16.063 heavy heart heavy mind this morning, today, with two very serious 00:10:16.075 --> 00:10:20.894 fires that are burning in California. One in the north and one 00:10:20.906 --> 00:10:25.430 in the south. The Kincaid Fire has just exploded overnight 00:10:25.442 --> 00:10:30.411 from when I first was alerted to it, late last night, 300 acres, 00:10:30.423 --> 00:10:34.944 to now over 10,000 acres. We hope the winds will subside a 00:10:34.956 --> 00:10:39.548 bit by noon today. But, as I said, we all have a very heavy 00:10:39.560 --> 00:10:44.394 heart and mind. We also have a Southern California fire that's 00:10:44.406 --> 00:10:48.990 burning. We're at a very large historic PSPS, public safety 00:10:49.002 --> 00:10:53.828 power shut off, throughout the state. All three investor owned 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:58.737 utilities are in a stage, various stages of PSPS. So that means 00:10:58.749 --> 00:11:03.659 many of our fellow Californians are experiencing no electricity 00:11:03.671 --> 00:11:08.488 right now. So, again, we have everyone in our hearts and minds 00:11:08.500 --> 00:11:13.176 this morning as we begin our proceedings. I will now turn to 00:11:13.188 --> 00:11:18.165 the public comment period. The Commission provides three minutes 00:11:18.177 --> 00:11:22.628 to each speaker. There will be a sign held up in front of 00:11:22.640 --> 00:11:27.604 you to alert you of one minute remaining in your remarks. If you 00:11:27.616 --> 00:11:32.361 have written comments, please hand them to Executive Director 00:11:32.373 --> 00:11:36.729 Alice Stebbins who is here. The public can make comments 00:11:36.741 --> 00:11:41.799 addressing items on the consent and regular agendas and including 00:11:41.811 --> 00:11:46.701 items not on the agenda. Please note that there will not be not 00:11:46.713 --> 00:11:51.462 be public comment on any item on the closed session agenda. I 00:11:51.474 --> 00:11:56.139 understand that we have speakers, including public officials 00:11:56.151 --> 00:12:00.982 from the City of Paradise, today, who wish to speak about some 00:12:00.994 --> 00:12:05.499 of the recovery efforts in Paradise. A primary purpose for 00:12:05.511 --> 00:12:10.258 locating today's meeting here in Redding, which as I said, we 00:12:10.270 --> 00:12:15.241 scheduled last October, is to hear from the communities impacted 00:12:15.253 --> 00:12:20.006 by the 2017 and 2018 fires. Although Redding is about an hour 00:12:20.018 --> 00:12:24.603 and a half north of Paradise, we are very grateful that the 00:12:24.615 --> 00:12:29.518 representatives from Paradise made the trip to Redding to speak 00:12:29.530 --> 00:12:34.120 today. Given the unique perspective of Paradise, due to the 00:12:34.132 --> 00:12:39.195 tragic events of the 2018 fires, we’re going to extend the amount 00:12:39.207 --> 00:12:43.941 of time provided to the representatives of Paradise and allow 00:12:43.953 --> 00:12:49.006 them additional time much more than the three minutes, 10 minutes 00:12:49.018 --> 00:12:53.758 for their remarks. And Paradise, you will be commenting after 00:12:53.770 --> 00:12:58.292 the general public comments are taken. I do remind you the 00:12:58.304 --> 00:13:02.888 Commission rules do not allow for parties in proceedings to 00:13:02.900 --> 00:13:07.726 speak about open proceedings at the CPUC. So I remind speakers 00:13:07.738 --> 00:13:12.404 to focus their remarks on the restoration efforts and not on 00:13:12.416 --> 00:13:17.248 the open proceedings that are before the Commission. With that 00:13:17.260 --> 00:13:22.225 guidance in mind, I welcome today's speakers. And as I call your 00:13:22.237 --> 00:13:26.985 name, let me get my list here, I will be calling on the first 00:13:26.997 --> 00:13:31.739 name, mentioning the second. So if you could kind of position 00:13:31.751 --> 00:13:36.888 yourself in such a way that you're prepared to come to the podium, 00:13:36.900 --> 00:13:41.715 that would be terrific and save everyone a little bit of time. 00:13:41.727 --> 00:13:46.401 So with that, I will call the first speaker from the public. 00:13:46.413 --> 00:13:51.312 It is Vice Mayor of the City of Anderson, Melissa Hunt. Oh, I'm 00:13:51.324 --> 00:13:55.850 sorry. And the Vice Mayor will be followed by Edmund Byer. 00:13:55.875 --> 00:13:59.395 Good morning, Commissioners. 00:13:59.407 --> 00:14:01.918 Thank you for coming for Shasta 00:14:01.930 --> 00:14:07.906 County. It's absolutely wonderful to see you. As we call ourselves the real 00:14:07.918 --> 00:14:14.046 Northern California. So welcome. It is beautiful up here. I wanted to address 00:14:14.058 --> 00:14:19.804 the public safety shutoffs, three days in a row in the city of Anderson. 00:14:19.816 --> 00:14:26.019 Anderson's just south of Redding. 10,000 is our population. Right through, I-5 00:14:26.031 --> 00:14:32.247 goes right through the middle of us, and for three days you drive around town, 00:14:32.259 --> 00:14:38.547 and it was quiet. It was dark. McDonald's was closed. Taco Bell was closed. Mom 00:14:38.559 --> 00:14:44.544 and Pop shops, like Bartel’s Burgers, was closed. We had one hotel who lost 00:14:44.556 --> 00:14:50.837 $100,000 in revenue because of three days of no power. And then you turn around 00:14:50.849 --> 00:14:56.669 and you look at the mom and pop businesses, like Bartels. I don't know if 00:14:56.681 --> 00:15:02.732 Bartels, but I do know that Grocery Outlet lost perishable frozen items. And 00:15:02.744 --> 00:15:08.885 when you don't have that revenue coming in to replace those perishable items, 00:15:08.897 --> 00:15:15.023 it is a huge bang to your budget. And then on top of that, what does Anderson 00:15:15.035 --> 00:15:21.174 do? The city of Anderson. We collect revenue from things that are sold. We've 00:15:21.186 --> 00:15:27.475 lost a huge amount of our budget as well. Because of those shut offs. Also, our 00:15:27.487 --> 00:15:33.395 retirement communities. We have three at least three different communities 00:15:33.407 --> 00:15:39.053 where managers were running around trying to find generators for oxygen 00:15:39.065 --> 00:15:45.352 patients. That is, it's just unacceptable in my book. Let's see, we had schools 00:15:45.364 --> 00:15:51.644 closed as well. A normal, it was a windy day, but schools were closed. You know 00:15:51.656 --> 00:15:57.556 what do parents do with childcare in those situation? It was such a domino 00:15:57.568 --> 00:16:03.688 effect that, my background is education, and when I was teaching, you teach a 00:16:03.700 --> 00:16:09.675 child that if they make a mess of some sort, they clean it up. That's not a 00:16:09.687 --> 00:16:15.814 physical mess. That's a mess you've made with relationships or something. You 00:16:15.826 --> 00:16:21.571 go back and fix it, and you don't pass on a new norm just because you've 00:16:21.583 --> 00:16:27.623 made a mistake. You go back and fix the mistake, and I really feel like PG&E 00:16:27.635 --> 00:16:33.766 needs to go back and work on their maintenance of their lines and not pass on 00:16:33.778 --> 00:16:39.903 all these things to the residents of California. They are powerfully killing, 00:16:39.915 --> 00:16:45.973 slowly. It's a slow death to California. Anderson, we don't know the effects 00:16:45.985 --> 00:16:52.186 just yet, financially, but we're going to, and we need to have that addressed. 00:16:52.198 --> 00:16:58.017 Just don't pass on a new norm. You go back and fix your mistakes. Do your 00:16:58.029 --> 00:17:03.685 maintenance on your lines or whatever, but we need your support in that 00:17:03.697 --> 00:17:09.994 situation. And I think that is it. Thank you again for coming to Shasta County. 00:17:10.019 --> 00:17:15.182 Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor. Edmund 00:17:15.194 --> 00:17:19.722 Mare, followed by Jim Ricket. Rickert. Excuse me. 00:17:19.747 --> 00:17:25.372 Good morning. Today I'd like to speak about the power 00:17:25.384 --> 00:17:30.613 shut off in rural areas. My main concern is fire. With the shut 00:17:30.625 --> 00:17:35.684 off, our community has only one hydrant in Round Mountain and 00:17:35.696 --> 00:17:41.585 Montgomery Creek. That is seasonal. And it is, the water source is from 00:17:41.597 --> 00:17:47.471 Montgomery Creek. Those lines must be removed by October 31st. So after 00:17:47.483 --> 00:17:53.205 that, we have no hydrant in Montgomery Creek or Round Mountain. Since 00:17:53.217 --> 00:17:59.179 we're 19 miles to Bernie, 25 miles from Bella Vista, we have a volunteer 00:17:59.191 --> 00:18:04.265 fire department in Round Mountain and Bernie and one in Bella 00:18:04.277 --> 00:18:09.822 Vista. They are the only ones, Bernie and Bella Vista, are the only 00:18:09.834 --> 00:18:15.473 ones that have municipal water to get year-round. With the shut offs 00:18:15.485 --> 00:18:21.282 in rural residences, we rely on wells or drawn from springs or creeks. 00:18:21.294 --> 00:18:26.693 With no power, we have no way to protect ourselves from fire. The 00:18:26.705 --> 00:18:32.417 power, or comfort centers, PG&E set up were in Redding, 35 miles from 00:18:32.429 --> 00:18:37.907 Round Mountain and Montgomery Creek, where the power was out. This 00:18:37.919 --> 00:18:43.637 area is much like Paradise with a single road out either to Bernie or 00:18:43.649 --> 00:18:49.134 to Redding. PG&E shut to several areas, Simona, er, excuse me, the 00:18:49.146 --> 00:18:54.603 county where the fire is currently. Ah, the Kincaid fire, which is 00:18:54.615 --> 00:19:00.412 currently at 10,000 acres, which you mentioned. The power was shut off 00:19:00.424 --> 00:19:05.969 to them. So anybody living in that area had no way of pumping water 00:19:05.981 --> 00:19:11.538 from their wells or to power pressure to put out any fires that may 00:19:11.550 --> 00:19:16.847 have started from embers on their own property. Line maintenance 00:19:16.859 --> 00:19:22.169 fees have been collected for years and have been misdirected, so 00:19:22.181 --> 00:19:27.811 maintenance has not been done. If PG&E has billions to set aside for 00:19:27.823 --> 00:19:33.546 Paradise lawsuits, they have had the money to do the maintenance. Now 00:19:33.558 --> 00:19:39.018 PG&E claims it will take 10 years to do what they should have been 00:19:39.030 --> 00:19:44.501 doing all along. We have spoke to people that, the gentleman has a 00:19:44.513 --> 00:19:50.059 telephone pole on his property, a power pole, and it's rotten. What 00:19:50.071 --> 00:19:55.794 the company did was send crews out and they drove metal poles down on 00:19:55.806 --> 00:20:01.431 the side of it and strapped that rotten pole to those. It would have 00:20:01.443 --> 00:20:07.081 been cheaper and faster to remove that pole and put another pole in. 00:20:07.093 --> 00:20:12.398 This is ridiculous. I have never seen a company that could be so 00:20:12.410 --> 00:20:18.217 useless. And thank you for your time. I hope you do something to them. 00:20:18.242 --> 00:20:24.563 Thank you, sir. Jim. Ricket followed by Shelley White. 00:20:24.588 --> 00:20:30.374 Good morning. I'm Jim Rickert. I'm here to speak to you about 00:20:30.386 --> 00:20:35.657 power costs for agricultural producers in the Pacific Power Grid near 00:20:35.669 --> 00:20:41.311 the Oregon border. As a little background, I've been a farmer in that area 00:20:41.323 --> 00:20:46.675 for 40 years. Raise alfalfa, hay and grain and other crops up there. I 00:20:46.687 --> 00:20:52.250 have a friend that is on the same grid with Pacific Power in Oregon. He's 00:20:52.262 --> 00:20:57.762 about 20 miles from our operation, but he's in the Oregon side. We got a 00:20:57.774 --> 00:21:03.871 copy of his power bill for an equivalent pump, which I've put in the information 00:21:03.883 --> 00:21:09.087 I gave you. So I analyzed both bills, same size, pump about the same 00:21:09.099 --> 00:21:14.661 energy usage, and it turns out that, on my side of the border, I'm paying 00:21:14.673 --> 00:21:20.096 46% more than he is on the same grid, with the same company, providing, 00:21:20.108 --> 00:21:25.751 growing the same crops and selling to the same markets at the same prices. 00:21:25.763 --> 00:21:31.494 It puts us at a tremendous disadvantage. And my question is, why are we, in 00:21:31.506 --> 00:21:37.447 California, paying so much more from the same company with the same generating 00:21:37.459 --> 00:21:42.659 facilities, the same everything. Their offices are in Climate Falls, 00:21:42.671 --> 00:21:48.318 Oregon. They aren't in California. So why am I paying so much more for the 00:21:48.330 --> 00:21:53.837 same privilege? It just doesn't make sense to me. So I did analysis here 00:21:53.849 --> 00:21:59.405 and you’d be welcome to look at that. I also took the next step and tried 00:21:59.417 --> 00:22:04.534 to do some alternate energy, and we, for years, our ranch and had a 00:22:04.546 --> 00:22:10.334 hydroelectric plant on it. We, in 1982, we rebuilt the plant. And when Jerry 00:22:10.346 --> 00:22:15.920 Brown had a support for small scale hydros. We had a 30-year contract. We 00:22:15.932 --> 00:22:21.491 operated the 100 kw plant for 30 years. When we got through at the end of 00:22:21.503 --> 00:22:27.225 the contract, Pacific Power offered us to renew the contract instead of the 00:22:27.237 --> 00:22:32.803 13 cents a kilowatt hour we were receiving, they offered us two cents. We 00:22:32.815 --> 00:22:38.317 since tried to put in solar facilities, and they have, and on that hydro 00:22:38.329 --> 00:22:43.961 plant, I wanted to reconnect it to the grid, when we would allow us to use 00:22:43.973 --> 00:22:49.393 it within our system here. They wanted $350,000 to hook back up a power 00:22:49.405 --> 00:22:54.742 plant that had been hooked to the grid for 30 years. We had, they want 00:22:54.754 --> 00:23:00.255 us to upgrade 15 miles of power lines. In addition, they've had another, 00:23:00.267 --> 00:23:06.053 another location. We tried to put a solar facility, and they wanted $550,000 00:23:06.065 --> 00:23:11.337 to connect to the grid there. It's been very difficult for us. Moving 00:23:11.349 --> 00:23:16.840 forward, it’s been really hard on the, when we're growing the same crops 00:23:16.852 --> 00:23:22.657 that folks do in Oregon, to end up paying so much more. Thank you very much. 00:23:22.682 --> 00:23:28.030 Thank you, sir. Shelly White, followed by Edward Smelloff. 00:23:52.345 --> 00:23:59.141 My name's Shelley White, and I actually wrote some comments when I 00:23:59.153 --> 00:24:02.996 found out, last night, I'd have an opportunity 00:24:03.008 --> 00:24:06.125 to speak. During this last power shut 00:24:06.137 --> 00:24:09.895 off, I tried four times to reach the governor 00:24:09.907 --> 00:24:13.185 to speak personally because I represent 00:24:13.197 --> 00:24:20.093 the rural, medically-fragile community that the supervisor spoke about. My daughter 00:24:20.105 --> 00:24:26.657 is 39 years old. I have spent those 39 years trying very diligently to keep her 00:24:26.669 --> 00:24:33.562 alive. She has life threatening seizures frequently, which require oxygen, suction, 00:24:33.574 --> 00:24:40.625 light, telephone for 911. And none of those things are available to us when the power 00:24:40.637 --> 00:24:47.289 is shut down. We are fortunate enough to own a generator. It's a small generator 00:24:47.301 --> 00:24:54.345 and keeps the bare minimum going. This time it failed. So for the days that our power 00:24:54.357 --> 00:25:01.084 was shut off. We had no water because we live in a town of 1000 up on a mountain, 00:25:01.096 --> 00:25:07.899 and we have a well. This could not run the well. So there was no water for her. No 00:25:07.911 --> 00:25:14.808 bathing for a medically fragile child who requires sterile procedures at least four 00:25:14.820 --> 00:25:18.496 times a day. So we had no lights, nothing. I 00:25:18.508 --> 00:25:22.031 understand what you're doing. I understand 00:25:22.043 --> 00:25:28.527 you're playing catch up for what wasn't done or maintained previously. When we 00:25:28.539 --> 00:25:32.299 moved here two and a half years ago, we asked 00:25:32.311 --> 00:25:35.510 that PG&E cut down 140 foot pine tree. 00:25:35.522 --> 00:25:42.011 They said, although yes, some of the branches are leaning over the power line, 00:25:42.023 --> 00:25:49.060 because the power line goes right through our property, it wasn't bad enough for them 00:25:49.072 --> 00:25:55.712 to cut down. In the interim, they've now come and said they're cutting 15 of our 00:25:55.724 --> 00:26:02.685 trees down to maintain these power lines. So, we asked for help two and a half years 00:26:02.697 --> 00:26:09.589 ago, and now, suddenly, when there's been loss of life, loss of property and all of 00:26:09.601 --> 00:26:13.273 these horrible, horrible fires, now, is when 00:26:13.285 --> 00:26:16.559 we're playing catch up. I realized, and 00:26:16.571 --> 00:26:20.250 I have asked frequently, why these lines are 00:26:20.262 --> 00:26:23.542 not underground. I realize financially, 00:26:23.554 --> 00:26:26.573 that is probably a huge undertaking. 00:26:26.585 --> 00:26:30.272 However, what is the cost of a life? What is 00:26:30.284 --> 00:26:37.179 the cost of a human life? How many people have to die, including putting my fragile 00:26:37.191 --> 00:26:43.983 child in danger every single time you shut it off? How many people have to die? We 00:26:43.995 --> 00:26:50.636 live in a community that a huge portion is either at or below the poverty level. 00:26:50.648 --> 00:26:57.283 Most don't have transportation. Very few have generators. So when the governor's 00:26:57.295 --> 00:27:04.352 office suggested that we go to one of the refuge stations, I said, what is that going 00:27:04.364 --> 00:27:11.242 to do for us? Can I catheterize her? Can I change her diaper? Can I do any of those 00:27:11.254 --> 00:27:17.733 things in this place? And the answer's no. That does nothing for someone who's 00:27:17.745 --> 00:27:21.585 medically fragile. I implore you to reconsider 00:27:21.597 --> 00:27:24.875 these shutdowns and find an alternative 00:27:24.887 --> 00:27:31.619 to keeping us safe. We rely on you for our power. Thank you for this opportunity. 00:27:31.644 --> 00:27:36.399 Thank you, Miss White. Appreciate your 00:27:36.411 --> 00:27:41.179 words very much. What is your community, Ms White? Shingle? 00:27:41.204 --> 00:27:47.082 It's Shingletown. It's about 1000 people, so it's very rural. 00:27:47.107 --> 00:27:50.373 Do you know how far was the 00:27:50.385 --> 00:27:53.662 nearest community resource center to your where you live? 00:27:53.687 --> 00:27:59.552 40 miles in Redding. And I happen to be fortunate enough again. I 00:27:59.564 --> 00:28:05.226 just lost my husband seven weeks ago, so I'm on a fixed income. I happen to be 00:28:05.238 --> 00:28:10.895 fortunate enough to have transportation. If there had been a refuge that would 00:28:10.907 --> 00:28:16.646 have applied to meeting her needs. So many people don't even have cars. There's 00:28:16.658 --> 00:28:22.437 no way for us to get down to Redding, to get power or water or whatever it is we 00:28:22.449 --> 00:28:28.168 need. I am, again, I'm fortunate. I represent her. But our community is in dire 00:28:28.180 --> 00:28:33.964 need of assistance, either generators or something. I don't know what the answer 00:28:33.976 --> 00:28:39.702 is, but I implore you to to think of something because this just cannot happen. 00:28:39.727 --> 00:28:42.764 This very subject was raised 00:28:42.776 --> 00:28:45.886 to us yesterday by some of your elected officials 00:28:45.898 --> 00:28:48.567 from Shasta County, as well as the city of 00:28:48.579 --> 00:28:51.571 Anderson, where the CRC, there was one location 00:28:51.583 --> 00:28:54.482 only, and it was a great distance from Bernie, 00:28:54.494 --> 00:28:57.405 from Shingletown, from other remote areas. And 00:28:57.417 --> 00:29:00.321 so we have taken note of this and your elected 00:29:00.333 --> 00:29:02.940 officials have raised it with us as well. 00:29:02.940 --> 00:29:07.755 Thank you. We have one grocery store that was 00:29:07.767 --> 00:29:12.283 completely shut down. So if you needed anything, you were 00:29:12.295 --> 00:29:17.350 out of luck. It cost us $100 a day in gasoline for our generator 00:29:17.362 --> 00:29:21.572 to run just the bare minimum. We lost all of our food 00:29:21.584 --> 00:29:26.149 in our freezers, in our refrigerators. Everything. I don't 00:29:26.161 --> 00:29:30.816 have $100 a day to run a generator. I don't have that. So I 00:29:30.828 --> 00:29:35.632 can't be the only one. I imagine this is profoundly affecting 00:29:35.644 --> 00:29:39.916 other people that are far worse off than I. Thank you. 00:29:39.941 --> 00:29:43.213 Thank you very much. 00:29:43.225 --> 00:29:46.829 Edward Smelloff, followed by Beth McKissick. 00:29:46.854 --> 00:29:52.624 Good morning, Commissioners. I'm Ed Smelloff. I work with Vote 00:29:52.636 --> 00:29:58.493 Solar, a nonprofit organization that works on promoting solar energy. I'm also 00:29:58.505 --> 00:30:04.503 a resident of Humboldt County, and I'm here today to urge you to work with local 00:30:04.515 --> 00:30:10.155 governments in planning for improved resiliency. There's a lot of authority 00:30:10.167 --> 00:30:16.015 and capabilities that you have that can work together with local government to 00:30:16.027 --> 00:30:21.738 better plan for local resiliency services and implement them, so that people 00:30:21.750 --> 00:30:27.529 like the person you just heard could be better protected in the event that we 00:30:27.541 --> 00:30:33.332 have, and, you know, I think the reality is, it's very clear, that, you know, 00:30:33.344 --> 00:30:39.116 what's happening today is not an isolated phenomenon. We're going to continue 00:30:39.128 --> 00:30:44.689 to face public safety power shut offs as a result of the impact of climate 00:30:44.701 --> 00:30:50.701 change. So, yes, we do need to hold PG&E and the other utilities accountable and 00:30:50.713 --> 00:30:56.354 improve the way they communicate. But we also need to rethink about the way 00:30:56.366 --> 00:31:02.141 we invest in our infrastructure here so that we can make our communities more 00:31:02.153 --> 00:31:08.162 resilient. I'm a party to your microgrid proceeding, so I'm not going to comment 00:31:08.174 --> 00:31:13.732 on that, other than to say excellent. That is getting off to a great start 00:31:13.744 --> 00:31:19.463 and that you have a lot of engaged parties in that, but I do want to observe 00:31:19.475 --> 00:31:25.463 my experience. So as a resident of Humboldt County, we were fortunate to have at 00:31:25.475 --> 00:31:31.402 the Blue Lake Rancheria Casino and Hotel, a solar and battery powered microgrid 00:31:31.414 --> 00:31:36.890 that's been in place for a number of years. And it served as a refuge for 00:31:36.902 --> 00:31:42.612 that community and the broader community in Humboldt County to come and have 00:31:42.624 --> 00:31:48.245 a place where they can be protected, where these vital services for fragile 00:31:48.257 --> 00:31:54.112 customers can be provided. So the comment, the advice I wanted, you've done an 00:31:54.124 --> 00:32:00.048 excellent job in the self-generation incentive program. You've redirected funds 00:32:00.060 --> 00:32:05.476 to equity resiliency. Now, I think what you need to do is make sure that 00:32:05.488 --> 00:32:11.256 that is well-planned so that those resources can be used by local governments 00:32:11.268 --> 00:32:17.196 to identify and target the most critical facilities within their service areas, 00:32:17.208 --> 00:32:22.833 within their jurisdiction, so that we are improving the resiliency of those 00:32:22.845 --> 00:32:28.780 communities. You have a lot of ways that you can accomplish that. $100 million, 00:32:28.792 --> 00:32:34.562 which is the initial funding in the SGIP program for equity resiliency, is an 00:32:34.574 --> 00:32:40.431 important and a large starting fund to do that, but it needs to be well spent, 00:32:40.443 --> 00:32:46.443 and it needs to be targeted, so that it gets the most benefits for the community 00:32:46.455 --> 00:32:51.724 as we face, on an ongoing basis, power shut offs. Thank you very much. 00:32:51.749 --> 00:32:57.117 Beth McKissick, followed by Kathy Tipton. 00:32:57.142 --> 00:33:02.949 Good morning and thank you very much to come to visit 00:33:02.961 --> 00:33:08.614 our wonderful area. So my name is Beth Messick, and I am a disabled 00:33:08.626 --> 00:33:14.606 flight nurse that has flown in this community for a number of years for 00:33:14.618 --> 00:33:20.277 local facilities. I also was the first volunteer female firefighter 00:33:20.289 --> 00:33:25.850 in Shasta County at Shasta Lake City for seven years and was voted 00:33:25.862 --> 00:33:31.434 Fireman of the Year. Even though I was a woman. But I thought that 00:33:31.446 --> 00:33:36.846 was great because the guys felt that I was equal to them. I also 00:33:36.858 --> 00:33:42.354 am a board member for Hill Country Community Clinic that actually 00:33:42.366 --> 00:33:47.925 had our own generator. And we have our own solar that we have been 00:33:47.937 --> 00:33:53.758 producing. So we were able to hold the doors open during this crisis. 00:33:53.770 --> 00:33:59.335 And I also am the chairperson that's fighting fountain wind. So we 00:33:59.347 --> 00:34:04.674 had no phones. If you look and fly over the area, you see there 00:34:04.686 --> 00:34:10.082 are canyons and mountains and hidden places, and so there's, not 00:34:10.094 --> 00:34:15.751 only did you have no regular phone, but a lot of people didn't have 00:34:15.763 --> 00:34:21.581 their cell phones. There was no Internet. There was no way for people 00:34:21.593 --> 00:34:27.173 to find out if there was a fire. There was no way for them to call 00:34:27.185 --> 00:34:32.655 if they had started a fire. So what assurances do ratepayers have 00:34:32.667 --> 00:34:37.983 that current and future blackouts will not continue to risk our 00:34:37.995 --> 00:34:43.970 residents with lack of communication from phones, Internet and continue 00:34:43.982 --> 00:34:49.303 to financially burden residents from lost food, medical safety, 00:34:49.315 --> 00:34:55.121 business opportunities, lost wages and educational opportunities? How 00:34:55.133 --> 00:35:00.701 will you assure that an estimated 7000 miles of transmission lines 00:35:00.713 --> 00:35:06.359 are maintained and documented so that the rate payers can track it? 00:35:06.371 --> 00:35:12.111 Given the extreme fire danger in our area, how would you justify the 00:35:12.123 --> 00:35:17.179 approval of proposed fountain wind project or any other high 00:35:17.191 --> 00:35:23.090 generating of power that includes addition of transmission lines to an 00:35:23.102 --> 00:35:28.996 already vulnerable grid that’s self-identified by PG&E themselves? And 00:35:29.008 --> 00:35:34.580 you know, while the power was out to everybody, the windmills were 00:35:34.592 --> 00:35:40.067 pumping out the power. Where was it going? There were two million 00:35:40.079 --> 00:35:45.898 people in that vicinity. So where was that power going to begin with? 00:35:45.910 --> 00:35:51.557 So we hope that today is productive and helpful for you all. And we 00:35:51.569 --> 00:35:57.061 wish you good luck because you have an unenviable job. Thank you. 00:35:57.086 --> 00:36:06.825 Thank you very much. Kathy Tipton followed by Pete Marsh. 00:36:06.850 --> 00:36:13.473 Yes. My name is Kathy Tipton, and I'm a resident of Redding, 00:36:13.485 --> 00:36:19.431 California. I have watched PG&E continue to get away with not paying 00:36:19.443 --> 00:36:25.469 up, so to speak. They were caught in lies back in 2001 when they were 00:36:25.481 --> 00:36:31.692 called on the carpet for causing the energy, I'm sorry, for creating an 00:36:31.704 --> 00:36:37.727 energy crisis, saying that they couldn't, they didn't have the energy 00:36:37.739 --> 00:36:44.119 that they had to do it. And we bailed them out on the backs of the people 00:36:44.131 --> 00:36:50.591 that paid the rates. When they did the Bruno, the people died in San Bruno 00:36:50.603 --> 00:36:56.903 with the gasses because they had not maintained the lines that they knew 00:36:56.915 --> 00:37:03.195 that were bad. The fire in Paradise started with a transformer that they 00:37:03.207 --> 00:37:09.413 knew was outdated. They had told people that they were going to shut it 00:37:09.425 --> 00:37:15.797 off, and they did not during the high winds, and now the town of Paradise 00:37:15.809 --> 00:37:21.849 is suffering tremendously because of that. When is PG&E gonna have to 00:37:21.861 --> 00:37:28.144 pay for their mistakes? They have been taking money from the people that 00:37:28.156 --> 00:37:34.624 pay the rates. The rates keep getting, keep allowing them to get the rates 00:37:34.636 --> 00:37:40.925 higher, so they could get the big bucks, so they can get their all their 00:37:40.937 --> 00:37:46.893 different bonuses, and that they're people that get their shares can 00:37:46.905 --> 00:37:53.438 get their profits from them. It just doesn't make sense. It's on the backs, 00:37:53.450 --> 00:37:59.477 mostly, of the working poor, because they're the ones that can afford 00:37:59.489 --> 00:38:05.769 it the least. You've heard from person after person here in this meeting 00:38:05.781 --> 00:38:11.987 that they can't do it. When you shut them off, you're shutting people's 00:38:11.999 --> 00:38:18.190 lives to, their oxygen, their food. And people on a fixed income or who 00:38:18.202 --> 00:38:24.405 are working poor, who have a family and are on minimum wage, which this 00:38:24.417 --> 00:38:30.441 area is, basically, what you have to look at. You're talking, you are 00:38:30.453 --> 00:38:36.662 affecting people's lives. People are dying. We already had, know of one 00:38:36.674 --> 00:38:42.605 death because he couldn't get to his oxygen on the battery operated. 00:38:42.617 --> 00:38:48.818 Within 12 minutes, he was dead because he had a heart attack. So you're 00:38:48.830 --> 00:38:55.284 supposed to be our watchdogs for us. You're supposed to make sure that the 00:38:55.296 --> 00:39:01.503 PG&E does not does not continue to take and start being responsible and 00:39:01.515 --> 00:39:07.966 take care of the problem. And that's putting in the proper lines, changing 00:39:07.978 --> 00:39:14.269 them as needed. Don't hold them up with sticks, but change them and make 00:39:14.281 --> 00:39:20.565 them right and make them healthy. I pray that you guys please, please do 00:39:20.577 --> 00:39:26.701 something and don't allow them to get away with this again. Thank you, 00:39:26.726 --> 00:39:31.428 Thank you very much, Miss 00:39:31.440 --> 00:39:36.051 Tipton. Pete Marsh, followed by Chuck Palmer 00:39:36.076 --> 00:39:41.486 Good morning, Commissioners. Thank you for coming to Redding 00:39:41.498 --> 00:39:46.559 and Shasta County. As Supervisor Moty and Vice Mayor McElvain said, I 00:39:46.571 --> 00:39:51.770 think it's great that you get out into communities around the state and 00:39:51.782 --> 00:39:56.994 thank you for that. I'm Pete Marsh. I'm a resident of Shasta County and 00:39:57.006 --> 00:40:02.419 a solar contractor in Redding and Shasta County. I served proudly 25 years 00:40:02.431 --> 00:40:07.350 in the U. S. Coast Guard and 10 more years as a defense contractor. 00:40:07.362 --> 00:40:12.636 And in my fifties, after driving ships and desks, I changed careers into 00:40:12.648 --> 00:40:17.790 solar energy because I had decided that was critical for the future of 00:40:17.802 --> 00:40:23.069 my grandkids and everybody's here. I also advocate locally with Citizens 00:40:23.081 --> 00:40:28.216 Climate Lobby and a group called North State Climate Action. Today, my 00:40:28.228 --> 00:40:33.863 comments primarily focused on a criticality of energy storage and microgrids. 00:40:33.875 --> 00:40:38.726 Both batteries, but perhaps even more importantly, longer-duration 00:40:38.738 --> 00:40:43.719 storage up to seasonal and even multi-seasonal. Basically, these are 00:40:43.731 --> 00:40:49.230 critical to solving both the duck curve and some of the resiliency problems 00:40:49.242 --> 00:40:54.301 that we're hearing a lot about today. I think battery storage, in the 00:40:54.313 --> 00:40:59.601 short term, can play an outsized role in helping with distributed energy 00:40:59.613 --> 00:41:04.658 resources. And microgrids can help improve the posture in many of our 00:41:04.670 --> 00:41:09.944 rural communities. So with that in mind, I appreciate your leadership in 00:41:09.956 --> 00:41:15.079 creating and recently extending, and that of the Legislature, the-self 00:41:15.091 --> 00:41:20.443 generation incentive program. And we need storage to follow through smart 00:41:20.455 --> 00:41:26.154 incentives like that, to follow a path similar to that that solar has followed 00:41:26.166 --> 00:41:31.226 over the last 40 years. 40 years ago, in the seventies, a solar panel 00:41:31.238 --> 00:41:36.726 was about $101 per watt. Now it's about 40 cents per watt, and as a result, 00:41:36.738 --> 00:41:41.804 solar and wind are now the least expensive forms of energy generation 00:41:41.816 --> 00:41:46.790 that we have. They've been so successful that we have the duck curve 00:41:46.802 --> 00:41:52.150 problem. And so solar storage needs to help that. I know you know this. I 00:41:52.162 --> 00:41:57.503 just want to add my support to it. So please keep storage growing. I also 00:41:57.515 --> 00:42:02.507 had a brief follow up to the comments of the Vice Mayor of Anderson, 00:42:02.519 --> 00:42:07.641 talking about some of the impacts in that little town. My recent solar 00:42:07.653 --> 00:42:12.931 carport customer there is a small restaurant, Vittles family restaurant. 00:42:12.943 --> 00:42:18.143 They lost about $4000 of meat and produce and three days of revenue. So 00:42:18.155 --> 00:42:23.368 just a follow on to that impact. Thank you very much. Enjoy your visit. 00:42:23.393 --> 00:42:29.836 Thank you, sir. Chuck Palmer. Followed by Trudy. Judy Treadwell. 00:42:29.860 --> 00:42:34.125 Thank you for listening to our concerns. 00:42:34.137 --> 00:42:37.740 As far as the public safety shut off, I believe 00:42:37.752 --> 00:42:41.197 PG&E is more concerned about protecting their 00:42:41.209 --> 00:42:45.117 assets than they are public safety. But that aside, 00:42:45.129 --> 00:42:49.022 the electrical started fires aren't the only fires. 00:42:49.034 --> 00:42:52.639 Most of the devastating fires we've had here in 00:42:52.651 --> 00:42:56.174 Shasta County were not started from electrical 00:42:56.186 --> 00:42:59.947 problems. Vehicle malfunction was responsible for 00:42:59.959 --> 00:43:03.925 the devastating Carr fire. We had another large fire 00:43:03.937 --> 00:43:07.691 that was started by arson, and other fire started 00:43:07.703 --> 00:43:11.074 by lightning. Any of these things can happen 00:43:11.086 --> 00:43:14.845 during the PG&E public safety shutdowns. When the 00:43:14.857 --> 00:43:18.677 power is off for people in the outlying areas like 00:43:18.689 --> 00:43:22.370 myself and my neighbors, we don't have any power 00:43:22.382 --> 00:43:25.907 for our wells. There's no way to use water for 00:43:25.919 --> 00:43:29.681 feeding or watering or livestock. If a neighbor’s 00:43:29.693 --> 00:43:33.504 generator starts a small fire, we've got no way of 00:43:33.516 --> 00:43:37.189 putting that out. We don't have Internet service 00:43:37.201 --> 00:43:41.093 where I live. We have cordless cell phones. When we 00:43:41.105 --> 00:43:44.859 lose power, we have no cell phone. We have no way 00:43:44.871 --> 00:43:48.910 to find out if there's any kind of evacuation notices 00:43:48.922 --> 00:43:52.297 without having TV and radio. If I'm not home 00:43:52.309 --> 00:43:55.904 and we have no power, my wife is not capable of 00:43:55.916 --> 00:43:59.748 opening our garage doors manually, so she wouldn't 00:43:59.760 --> 00:44:03.197 even be able to get the car out or be able to 00:44:03.209 --> 00:44:07.109 leave. Aside, that pales in comparison to what most 00:44:07.121 --> 00:44:10.864 people have lost. We have solar power, and we had 00:44:10.876 --> 00:44:14.706 an agreement with PG&E that we’re hooked up to the 00:44:14.718 --> 00:44:18.609 grid. When they cut off power, we're not developing 00:44:18.621 --> 00:44:22.148 any power of our own and any excess that we're 00:44:22.160 --> 00:44:25.756 supposed to be able to sell back to PG&E, we're 00:44:25.768 --> 00:44:29.752 losing out on that as well. Thank you for your time. 00:44:29.777 --> 00:44:37.572 Thank you, sir. Judy Treadwell followed by Mary Rose Taruk 00:44:37.597 --> 00:44:42.540 It seems everything I was planning 00:44:42.552 --> 00:44:47.507 on saying has already been said over and over again. 00:44:47.519 --> 00:44:52.468 And rightfully so. I've lived here forever. And hot, 00:44:52.480 --> 00:44:57.535 dry, windy is summer in most of California, from June 00:44:57.547 --> 00:45:02.960 until August, September, October, and now, into November. 00:45:02.972 --> 00:45:07.369 It's something you have to deal with and PG&Es 00:45:07.381 --> 00:45:12.614 answer seems to be turn off the power, maybe all summer 00:45:12.626 --> 00:45:17.684 long, because that's what conditions are going to be. 00:45:17.696 --> 00:45:22.547 They need to plan ahead. And they should have years 00:45:22.559 --> 00:45:27.609 and years and years ago. When I had power put into my 00:45:27.621 --> 00:45:32.853 place. I was on solar and generator there. I still have 00:45:32.865 --> 00:45:38.014 the solar. I wanted to put the power lines underground 00:45:38.026 --> 00:45:43.161 and PG&E said, you can't do that, it would cost you xx 00:45:43.173 --> 00:45:48.133 lots of money. And they had, gave me a price for the 00:45:48.145 --> 00:45:53.379 having the power poles. Well, I talked to a contractor, 00:45:53.391 --> 00:45:58.076 an excavation man. He said, Oh, I could do it for 00:45:58.088 --> 00:46:03.026 half of that, and so we're gonna do it this way. And 00:46:03.038 --> 00:46:08.175 PG&E told us we can't have a private contractor put in 00:46:08.187 --> 00:46:13.599 your power lines. So I wrote to PUC, thank you very much. 00:46:13.611 --> 00:46:18.380 And they said, yes, you can. So I did get my power 00:46:18.392 --> 00:46:23.333 lines put in underground. Can't see a line anywhere. 00:46:23.345 --> 00:46:28.391 Had a fire in my neighborhood, last year, just before 00:46:28.403 --> 00:46:33.725 the Carr fire. No power poles burned down. Nothing fell. 00:46:33.737 --> 00:46:38.508 And our fire department volunteer, Melville, thank 00:46:38.520 --> 00:46:43.554 you very much, and CalFire got in right away and took 00:46:43.566 --> 00:46:48.798 care of it. But the power lines didn't fall down. I had 00:46:48.810 --> 00:46:53.568 it underground. It was cheaper than putting up the 00:46:53.580 --> 00:46:58.818 poles. And my land is not nice handy dandy little dirt. 00:46:58.830 --> 00:47:03.679 I'm on Millville Plains. Its rocks. I have piles of 00:47:03.691 --> 00:47:08.552 rocks that they dug up. So if I can have it put in, 00:47:08.564 --> 00:47:13.793 they should start replacing everything with underground 00:47:13.805 --> 00:47:18.579 lines, start now, and get it over with. Thank you. 00:47:18.604 --> 00:47:24.087 Thank you. Mary Rose Taruk followed 00:47:24.099 --> 00:47:29.201 by Nishicon excuse me for mispronunciation, Shiori. 00:47:29.226 --> 00:47:36.524 Good morning. My name is Mary Rose Taruk. I'm joining you from Aloni 00:47:36.536 --> 00:47:40.429 territory, and it's an honor to be here on the 00:47:40.441 --> 00:47:44.262 ancestral lands of the Pitt River Winntoo and 00:47:44.274 --> 00:47:48.163 Yana Peoples. I'm also, I play the role in the 00:47:48.175 --> 00:47:52.160 state as the co-chair of the AB32 Environmental 00:47:52.172 --> 00:47:59.488 Justice Advisory Committee that advises the state on our climate plans. I'm now working 00:47:59.500 --> 00:48:03.222 with the California Utility Justice Campaign 00:48:03.234 --> 00:48:07.051 of Frontline Communities to imagine an energy 00:48:07.063 --> 00:48:11.040 system, post-PG&E, that sees our electricity as 00:48:11.052 --> 00:48:15.124 community resource to be managed democratically. 00:48:15.136 --> 00:48:22.443 Someone once asked me what I would do after taking a break from my extensive California 00:48:22.455 --> 00:48:26.186 climate policy work. The reason why I signed 00:48:26.198 --> 00:48:29.607 up for the utility justice campaign is I 00:48:29.619 --> 00:48:33.589 want to organize our communities so that we are 00:48:33.601 --> 00:48:37.252 intact as much as possible as we go through 00:48:37.264 --> 00:48:41.323 the climate crisis of wildfires and rising seas. 00:48:41.335 --> 00:48:44.991 But our communities are able to decide what 00:48:45.003 --> 00:48:49.059 solutions are good for them. And so I'm speaking 00:48:49.071 --> 00:48:52.641 also on the Item 35 on the AB1054 Wildfire 00:48:52.653 --> 00:48:56.383 Fund. What does AB1054 and the Wildfire Fund 00:48:56.395 --> 00:49:00.054 mean at this time, when the biggest private 00:49:00.066 --> 00:49:03.788 corporate controlled utility in the state of 00:49:03.800 --> 00:49:07.285 California, probably the U. S, is killing 00:49:07.297 --> 00:49:11.358 people, setting fires in Paradise, setting fires 00:49:11.370 --> 00:49:15.027 in Santa Rosa, explosions in San Bruno, and 00:49:15.039 --> 00:49:18.682 leading to the slow deaths of people during 00:49:18.694 --> 00:49:22.514 these electric shut offs. I want to imagine a 00:49:22.526 --> 00:49:26.091 future without PG&E. Can you imagine that? 00:49:26.103 --> 00:49:30.013 Until we get that plan in place, I want to see 00:49:30.025 --> 00:49:33.909 the CPUC, and you Commissioners, to be a force 00:49:33.921 --> 00:49:37.568 for the public interest, to be planning for 00:49:37.580 --> 00:49:41.553 true public safety, because we can't trust PG&E 00:49:41.565 --> 00:49:45.218 on their own, and they don't know how to. I 00:49:45.230 --> 00:49:49.117 heard you grill them for four hours on Friday, 00:49:49.129 --> 00:49:52.779 and you know they can't. And so we need you 00:49:52.791 --> 00:49:56.518 as our public representatives and our public 00:49:56.530 --> 00:50:00.186 agency to be able to tell them what we need 00:50:00.198 --> 00:50:04.498 in the interest of the public. And so this Wildfire 00:50:04.510 --> 00:50:08.159 Fund, I think we should exhaust shareholder 00:50:08.171 --> 00:50:11.731 funds before you charge the public and the 00:50:11.743 --> 00:50:15.563 customers to pay for PG&E's deaths and fires. 00:50:15.575 --> 00:50:22.795 Don't charge it on the customers first. We don't want to bail them out. I've heard the 00:50:22.807 --> 00:50:26.701 governor also say that we should not bail them 00:50:26.713 --> 00:50:30.371 out and that the Wildfire Safety plan needs 00:50:30.383 --> 00:50:34.350 to be transparent. Right now, it says something 00:50:34.362 --> 00:50:37.927 like, if you know, if the temperatures are 00:50:37.939 --> 00:50:41.498 wrong or humidity is wrong, then they, you 00:50:41.510 --> 00:50:45.413 know, they can get their automatic safety plan 00:50:45.425 --> 00:50:49.229 approved. But we need that to be transparent, 00:50:49.241 --> 00:50:52.892 we need public input, we need public safety 00:50:52.904 --> 00:50:56.798 to be prioritized. And it needs to be adaptive 00:50:56.810 --> 00:51:00.467 to the climate crisis. And to close, I want 00:51:00.479 --> 00:51:04.282 to see the CPUC act like you're in charge and 00:51:04.294 --> 00:51:08.109 not PG&E. I want to hear you stand up for the 00:51:08.121 --> 00:51:11.764 public and the most vulnerable and impacted 00:51:11.776 --> 00:51:15.764 communities. I want to see you outline specific 00:51:15.776 --> 00:51:19.499 actions to have PG&E take responsibility for 00:51:19.511 --> 00:51:23.163 their mess. And that means wildfire safety, 00:51:23.175 --> 00:51:26.904 public safety and make them use their funds, 00:51:26.916 --> 00:51:30.491 their shareholder funds, first. Thank you. 00:51:30.516 --> 00:51:37.893 Thank you. Mr Shiori, followed by Miss Dugan. Dogan. 00:51:37.918 --> 00:51:40.749 Good morning, Commissioners. 00:51:40.761 --> 00:51:43.423 My name is Nishigan Shori. I'm an organizer 00:51:43.435 --> 00:51:46.150 with the Local Clean Energy Alliance and the 00:51:46.162 --> 00:51:49.012 forthcoming Utility Justice Campaign. I'm also 00:51:49.024 --> 00:51:51.858 an organizer with the San Francisco chapter of 00:51:51.870 --> 00:51:54.534 the Democratic Socialists of America. And I 00:51:54.546 --> 00:51:57.204 am also a ratepayer and a former clean tech 00:51:57.216 --> 00:52:00.069 engineer and worker. First of all, I just want 00:52:00.081 --> 00:52:02.974 to say my heart goes out to everyone who's been 00:52:02.986 --> 00:52:05.831 affected by a PG&E's negligence and greed, and 00:52:05.843 --> 00:52:08.682 just the utter suffering they have caused. I'm 00:52:08.694 --> 00:52:11.302 lucky. I live in San Francisco. I'm fairly 00:52:11.314 --> 00:52:14.028 insulated. I can't even begin to imagine the 00:52:14.040 --> 00:52:16.645 pain that people here are facing. And so I 00:52:16.657 --> 00:52:19.438 want to make a few comments on AB1054 and the 00:52:19.450 --> 00:52:22.243 implementation of it and specifically the non 00:52:22.255 --> 00:52:25.087 bypassible charge, which really should just be 00:52:25.099 --> 00:52:27.761 called a rate increase and a mandatory fee. 00:52:27.773 --> 00:52:30.793 AB1054, essentially, what it does is it decreases 00:52:30.805 --> 00:52:33.291 the incentive for PG&E to act justly and 00:52:33.303 --> 00:52:36.260 safely. It's easy to get a certificate basically 00:52:36.272 --> 00:52:39.119 saying that whatever they do, it's reasonable. 00:52:39.131 --> 00:52:42.093 San Diego Gas and Electric got their certificate 00:52:42.105 --> 00:52:44.716 in under a week. That is not nearly enough 00:52:44.728 --> 00:52:47.440 time to properly evaluate any kind of safety 00:52:47.452 --> 00:52:50.297 plan, and then once they get this kind of, you 00:52:50.309 --> 00:52:53.149 know, the certificate, they can draw on a fund 00:52:53.161 --> 00:52:55.769 which is pretty much entirely populated by 00:52:55.781 --> 00:52:58.376 the money from ratepayers, with barely any 00:52:58.388 --> 00:53:01.418 challenge. In the rare case that they do actually 00:53:01.430 --> 00:53:04.151 get challenged successfully, the amount they 00:53:04.163 --> 00:53:06.957 have to pay back into the fund is capped. And 00:53:06.969 --> 00:53:09.798 for PG&E, that would be like $2.5 billion over 00:53:09.810 --> 00:53:12.531 three years compared to, you know, 20 to $30 00:53:12.543 --> 00:53:15.257 billion of damages they've cost. That is not 00:53:15.269 --> 00:53:18.178 just. This is also an assault on democracy. The 00:53:18.190 --> 00:53:20.962 passage of the bill itself was absurd. It was 00:53:20.974 --> 00:53:23.697 over the span of less than a week. It called 00:53:23.709 --> 00:53:26.427 on the CPUC, you guys, to make a decision on 00:53:26.439 --> 00:53:29.107 this charge and the bill as a hole in three 00:53:29.119 --> 00:53:32.011 months for a $21 billion fund. Any other amount 00:53:32.023 --> 00:53:34.866 of that size would require at least 18 months, 00:53:34.878 --> 00:53:37.716 so just on that basis it should be denied. And 00:53:37.728 --> 00:53:40.334 finally, the bill itself is a travesty. In 00:53:40.346 --> 00:53:43.362 terms of democratic rights. It waves transparency 00:53:43.374 --> 00:53:45.917 laws, it expedites processes. It does not 00:53:45.929 --> 00:53:48.770 allow actual evaluation of any good situation. 00:53:48.782 --> 00:53:51.452 So I would have to say that, you know, it's 00:53:51.464 --> 00:53:54.173 your job to hold them accountable, and these 00:53:54.185 --> 00:53:57.149 shut offs and these wildfires are not inevitable 00:53:57.161 --> 00:53:59.876 result of climate change. They’re due to it. 00:53:59.888 --> 00:54:02.433 But it's also in the context of a utility 00:54:02.445 --> 00:54:05.097 that is for its shareholders and executives 00:54:05.109 --> 00:54:08.015 first and its ratepayers last, if at all. If we 00:54:08.027 --> 00:54:10.684 were in control, if our money actually went 00:54:10.696 --> 00:54:13.487 towards our public good, we could've hardened 00:54:13.499 --> 00:54:16.149 lines. We could've decentralized system. We 00:54:16.161 --> 00:54:19.005 could have made the system safe. But our money 00:54:19.017 --> 00:54:21.916 goes toward shareholder returns. And so we have 00:54:21.928 --> 00:54:24.778 results like these and this is not surprising. 00:54:24.790 --> 00:54:27.746 This is predictable. So we need control over our 00:54:27.758 --> 00:54:30.423 energy. We need energy democracy. But until 00:54:30.435 --> 00:54:32.851 we get there, I expect you to hold them 00:54:32.863 --> 00:54:35.838 accountable and represent us, your constituents. 00:54:35.863 --> 00:54:40.385 Thank you very much. Miss 00:54:40.397 --> 00:54:44.538 Dogan, followed by Lincoln Oliver O'Neill. 00:54:44.563 --> 00:54:49.790 Hi. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for the powerful 00:54:49.802 --> 00:54:54.564 voices. I'm going to repeat some of what others said. I'm a 00:54:54.576 --> 00:54:59.730 resident of Oakland and I am with Local clean Energy Alliance. I 00:54:59.742 --> 00:55:05.225 think CPUC needs to deny implementation off AB1054 because this is a 00:55:05.237 --> 00:55:10.467 bailout of a negligent utility. The bailout means ratepayers need 00:55:10.479 --> 00:55:15.721 to pay more, although the fires were caused by PG&E's negligence. 00:55:15.733 --> 00:55:20.811 And the bailout also means increased wildfire risk because this 00:55:20.823 --> 00:55:25.912 bill will send a message that it is okay for PG&E to ignore its 00:55:25.924 --> 00:55:31.063 responsibilities. Furthermore, this bill has a vague description 00:55:31.075 --> 00:55:36.226 of just and reasonable. So PG&E will not be held accountable for 00:55:36.238 --> 00:55:41.384 its negligence. The bailout also means more power shut offs that 00:55:41.396 --> 00:55:46.632 will affect especially elderly, disabled and medically vulnerable 00:55:46.644 --> 00:55:52.025 people. Plus the CPUC was given only 90 days to decide, which means 00:55:52.037 --> 00:55:57.429 an assault on our democratic rights. Although the law required CPUC 00:55:57.441 --> 00:56:02.669 to decide in just 90 days, it doesn't mean it requires to come up 00:56:02.681 --> 00:56:07.841 with a yes decision. So I hope the decision will be a no thanks. 00:56:07.866 --> 00:56:11.020 Thank you very much. Lincoln 00:56:11.032 --> 00:56:13.616 Oliver O'Neill followed by Jessica Tovar 00:56:13.641 --> 00:56:18.492 Good morning. My name is Lincoln Oliver 00:56:18.504 --> 00:56:23.517 O'Neal. I am from Berkeley, California, I’m 25 years old, and I am 00:56:23.529 --> 00:56:28.536 with the Sunrise Movement, allied to the Utility Justice Campaign. 00:56:28.548 --> 00:56:33.642 The decision in front of you this morning is a moral decision. Many 00:56:33.654 --> 00:56:38.658 people here this morning have been sharing their stories with you, 00:56:38.670 --> 00:56:44.136 accounts trying to engage you as human beings with emotions and feelings 00:56:44.148 --> 00:56:49.158 and people who you care about. I encourage you to keep that spirit 00:56:49.170 --> 00:56:54.117 in mind as we go through this process together today and into the 00:56:54.129 --> 00:56:59.356 future. According to Section 450.1 of the California Public Utilities 00:56:59.368 --> 00:57:04.158 Code, the Wildfire Fund is available to PG&E to cover costs and 00:57:04.170 --> 00:57:09.104 expenses from wildfires. And I quote, taking into account factors 00:57:09.116 --> 00:57:14.061 both within and beyond the utilities control, including humidity, 00:57:14.073 --> 00:57:18.929 temperature and wind, or as the rest of the world would call it, 00:57:18.941 --> 00:57:24.183 climate change. For years, PG&E knew about climate change and worked, 00:57:24.195 --> 00:57:28.982 along other utilities nationwide, to spread misinformation as a 00:57:28.994 --> 00:57:34.242 member of the Global Climate Commission. Those efforts were ratepayer 00:57:34.254 --> 00:57:39.326 dollars that could have been spent hardening the grid and preparing 00:57:39.338 --> 00:57:44.422 for these crises. Instead, through this non bypassable charge, PG&E 00:57:44.434 --> 00:57:49.812 is asking for permission to offload their inability to adapt to climate 00:57:49.824 --> 00:57:54.539 change onto Northern Californians. They have no shame in doing 00:57:54.551 --> 00:57:59.776 this as we've seen with the blackouts. My comment this morning is for 00:57:59.788 --> 00:58:04.725 the parents in the room. For the mothers, the fathers, the uncles 00:58:04.737 --> 00:58:09.668 and teachers and caregivers, all those lucky enough to spend time 00:58:09.680 --> 00:58:14.624 with, to love and be loved by the youth. The world they're coming 00:58:14.636 --> 00:58:19.335 of age in is one much different than the place governments and 00:58:19.347 --> 00:58:24.582 corporations are desperate to uphold. As the climate crisis continues 00:58:24.594 --> 00:58:29.224 to develop, PG&E will agree with me in saying that fires will 00:58:29.236 --> 00:58:34.477 continue to get more frequent and severe. Ratepayers will continue to 00:58:34.489 --> 00:58:39.640 be squeezed by PG&E's negligence that this charge would designate as 00:58:39.652 --> 00:58:44.591 just and reasonable. Your children, my students, I'm an educator, 00:58:44.603 --> 00:58:49.686 my students might inherit a world where folks who had power to make 00:58:49.698 --> 00:58:54.493 a change stayed seated. What story will you tell your children? 00:58:54.518 --> 00:59:10.640 Thank you, sir. Jessica Tovar, followed by Andrew Carden. 00:59:10.665 --> 00:59:17.013 Jessica Tovar, Local Clean Energy Alliance. And I'm speaking on 00:59:17.025 --> 00:59:20.703 AB1054, item number 35. We oppose this bailout 00:59:20.715 --> 00:59:23.777 because the wildfire victims should be 00:59:23.789 --> 00:59:30.222 paid by P G&E and shareholder profits. It is them who should be held accountable. 00:59:30.234 --> 00:59:33.365 Ratepayers of California are not a cash 00:59:33.377 --> 00:59:36.914 machine for PG&E. We need to get to the root 00:59:36.926 --> 00:59:43.512 of the problem instead of locking us into the next generation of enabling corporate 00:59:43.524 --> 00:59:50.123 sponsored genocide. Because that is what this is. The governor, the legislature and 00:59:50.135 --> 00:59:56.885 the CPUC have blood on their hands so long as they continue to enable PG&E’s criminal 00:59:56.897 --> 01:00:03.030 behavior. We need a decentralized, clean energy system, owned and accountable 01:00:03.042 --> 01:00:06.165 to the people and not profits. Somebody 01:00:06.177 --> 01:00:09.705 mentioned wind energy, wind turbines moving, 01:00:09.717 --> 01:00:16.000 and where does that energy go? Our current system does not make sense. When you 01:00:16.012 --> 01:00:19.296 produce energy like that here, it is sent 01:00:19.308 --> 01:00:22.917 somewhere else. We need a system that doesn't 01:00:22.929 --> 01:00:29.296 rely on dangerous transmission lines. We need to produce our own energy at home. 01:00:29.308 --> 01:00:35.661 It needs to be clean energy. That's wind, that’s solar. We need battery storage. 01:00:35.673 --> 01:00:42.115 We need more energy efficiency in our communities, those are all jobs we could be 01:00:42.127 --> 01:00:45.805 creating at home. Our community choice program 01:00:45.817 --> 01:00:48.879 in East Bay, that is what we've gotten 01:00:48.891 --> 01:00:55.497 them to commit to, to investing a portion of their revenues to, and every community 01:00:55.509 --> 01:01:02.245 needs to do the same. And the CPUC needs to stop enabling PG&E from acting so grossly 01:01:02.257 --> 01:01:08.613 and attacking community choice programs. We need to govern ourselves. We need to 01:01:08.625 --> 01:01:14.582 produce this energy in our communities and we need to be accountable to our 01:01:14.594 --> 01:01:18.273 communities. That's the only way this is gonna 01:01:18.285 --> 01:01:21.505 happen. PG&E doesn't care about us. CPUC 01:01:21.517 --> 01:01:28.021 has shown us many a times that you don't care about us. The more you vote in favor 01:01:28.033 --> 01:01:31.554 of PG&E, every time. Today, you need to vote 01:01:31.566 --> 01:01:34.706 against that bypassable charge. That is 01:01:34.718 --> 01:01:41.149 a bailout. You use language to alienate the people from understanding. People are 01:01:41.161 --> 01:01:47.683 at work today. We drove three and a half hours to get out here. Because I work for 01:01:47.695 --> 01:01:54.197 a nonprofit, I have that privilege. There are thousands, maybe so many hundreds of 01:01:54.209 --> 01:02:00.959 thousands more, behind me who would love to be here today to speak for themselves. We 01:02:00.971 --> 01:02:04.487 cannot be relying on the backs of California 01:02:04.499 --> 01:02:07.558 ratepayers to bailout PG&E every time. 01:02:07.570 --> 01:02:14.168 We have new Commissioners, we have a new president. Now is the time to do something 01:02:14.180 --> 01:02:20.607 new and good for the people and by the people. I'm tired. As an organizer, I have 01:02:20.619 --> 01:02:26.743 worked with communities who have been dumped on for decades by PG&E and other 01:02:26.755 --> 01:02:33.502 corporations. They have made money off of us in ways that are so disgusting. This has 01:02:33.514 --> 01:02:39.880 to end and you have the opportunity to do that today. Clean power to the people. 01:02:39.905 --> 01:02:52.245 Thank you very much. Andrew Carden, followed by Doreen Shields. 01:02:52.270 --> 01:02:58.593 Good morning. I want to address Item 16 on your consent agenda, 01:02:58.605 --> 01:03:04.392 which is funding for the nine consortium grant projects. They oversee the 01:03:04.404 --> 01:03:10.655 broadband deployments and funding for applications for broadband deployments in 01:03:10.667 --> 01:03:16.929 the state. We support additional funding for these consortium. We'd like to see 01:03:16.941 --> 01:03:23.033 them work with localized ISPs to provide better mapping of the areas that are 01:03:23.045 --> 01:03:29.539 already served by broadband and where it's not. This will allow for a better focus 01:03:29.551 --> 01:03:35.727 on areas in need, reducing challenges to areas already served, and speeding up 01:03:35.739 --> 01:03:41.769 broadband deployments. In addition, funding should be provided to refine the 01:03:41.781 --> 01:03:48.096 COW speed testing system. The current system only measured speed users subscribe 01:03:48.108 --> 01:03:54.121 to not what is actually available. This understates the true availability of 01:03:54.133 --> 01:03:57.711 broadband in an area. Further, more attention 01:03:57.723 --> 01:04:00.454 should be given to adoption. There 01:04:00.466 --> 01:04:06.329 are still many people out there that have broadband available to them, but 01:04:06.341 --> 01:04:12.659 they do not see the value in it. Some claim they do not have broadband available 01:04:12.671 --> 01:04:19.078 to them, but in reality, what they're saying is, I don't have broadband available 01:04:19.090 --> 01:04:25.101 to me at a price that I'm willing to pay. So I think more work could be done 01:04:25.113 --> 01:04:30.979 out there through the consortia with the local ISPs to improve the system. 01:04:31.004 --> 01:04:36.633 Thank you very much, sir. Doreen Shields. 01:04:36.658 --> 01:04:43.899 Hi. I wanna welcome you up here. I'm glad you're here. It 01:04:43.911 --> 01:04:51.546 gives the far Northern California people a chance to actually speak to you. I'm 01:04:51.558 --> 01:04:58.997 not going to go over because a lot of people have already said what I came to 01:04:59.009 --> 01:05:06.363 say. I am gonna let you be known I live three blocks, three blocks, from the 01:05:06.375 --> 01:05:13.524 PG&E office. I live at the end of the airport. My power went out for those 01:05:13.536 --> 01:05:20.792 three days. I had no Internet. I had no TV. I had no phone. I had no way to 01:05:20.804 --> 01:05:28.245 find out anything that was going on. If I were to go into Anderson, we had no 01:05:28.257 --> 01:05:35.615 traffic lights. So driving was risky at best. PG&E, I've seen my bill triple 01:05:35.627 --> 01:05:42.667 in the last few years because of PG&E. They sent inspectors down the road 01:05:42.679 --> 01:05:49.826 before they turned the power on. They literally drove down my road, turned 01:05:49.838 --> 01:05:57.457 around, drove out. It didn't take them a minute and a half on my road for their 01:05:57.469 --> 01:06:04.527 inspection. They're out of control. Please help. I have a neighbor that's 01:06:04.539 --> 01:06:12.059 disabled. She can't afford a generator. I'm on Social Security. I can't afford 01:06:12.071 --> 01:06:19.412 a generator. I have also on a well. My whole street is. So we have no way to 01:06:19.424 --> 01:06:26.950 protect our homes. If there is a fire with these power outages, we have no way 01:06:26.962 --> 01:06:34.118 to keep cool. We have no way to keep warm. All I could say please help us. 01:06:34.143 --> 01:06:37.580 Thank you, Miss Shields, 01:06:37.592 --> 01:06:41.424 before we turn to the City of Paradise, I'm going 01:06:41.436 --> 01:06:45.071 to take a five minute, just five minutes, wuick 01:06:45.083 --> 01:06:48.806 break. Thank you. We'll be back in five minutes. 01:08:17.605 --> 01:08:24.421 We'll resume the meeting. I do know that there are a few 01:08:24.433 --> 01:08:30.995 more members of the public who did not sign up, but who do want to speak. 01:08:31.007 --> 01:08:37.253 I'll call you to the podium after the City of Paradise concludes their 01:08:37.265 --> 01:08:43.965 presentation. Thank you. Would the members of the City of Paradise, please? 01:08:43.990 --> 01:08:47.308 Good morning, Commissioners and 01:08:47.320 --> 01:08:50.792 public. My name is Laura Paige. I'm the Disaster 01:08:50.804 --> 01:08:54.697 Recovery Director for the town of Paradise. And today, 01:08:54.709 --> 01:08:58.187 I am accompanied by our town manager Lauren Gil. 01:08:58.199 --> 01:09:01.733 Lauren Gil has laryngitis, so she has asked me to 01:09:01.745 --> 01:09:05.433 speak on her behalf today. But she has been working 01:09:05.445 --> 01:09:08.772 diligently on our Dig Once policy, which we'll 01:09:08.784 --> 01:09:12.123 be specifically covering today. And she's here 01:09:12.135 --> 01:09:15.881 to answer any questions that you may have for follow 01:09:15.893 --> 01:09:19.296 up. So we're restricting her voice and limiting 01:09:19.308 --> 01:09:22.633 it for you. But today, so as you well know, on 01:09:22.645 --> 01:09:26.338 November 8, there was a devastating fire that raged 01:09:26.350 --> 01:09:29.815 through the town of Paradise. We have been, ever 01:09:29.827 --> 01:09:33.232 since, we have been on the road to recovery and 01:09:33.244 --> 01:09:36.644 working diligently in that effort. The town did 01:09:36.656 --> 01:09:40.139 coordinate a very extensive project to formulate 01:09:40.151 --> 01:09:43.399 our community’s vision for rebuilding. We had 01:09:43.411 --> 01:09:46.954 many community meetings and input from all of our 01:09:46.966 --> 01:09:50.433 residents, most of our residents, about how they 01:09:50.445 --> 01:09:54.066 wanted to see Paradise come back. This plan, which 01:09:54.078 --> 01:09:57.897 is extensive, is on our Paradise web site called Make 01:09:57.909 --> 01:10:01.385 It Paradise dot org, and it's under our recovery 01:10:01.397 --> 01:10:04.867 tab. So please take time to go there in view it. 01:10:04.879 --> 01:10:08.077 It has all of our partner lead projects that 01:10:08.089 --> 01:10:11.339 we've approved and the town lead projects for 01:10:11.351 --> 01:10:15.180 recovery, and in one of those projects, which we want 01:10:15.192 --> 01:10:18.589 to talk about today, which is very important to 01:10:18.601 --> 01:10:22.081 the town, is the Dig Once policy and underground 01:10:22.093 --> 01:10:25.771 utilities. At our October 8th Town Council meeting, 01:10:25.783 --> 01:10:28.835 the town it considered adopting a Dig Once 01:10:28.847 --> 01:10:32.247 policy. They did approve it. This was the first 01:10:32.259 --> 01:10:36.027 Redding of that policy and will be read again on our 01:10:36.039 --> 01:10:39.429 November 12th meeting. Let me give you a little 01:10:39.441 --> 01:10:43.268 background. As the town of Paradise recovers from the 01:10:43.280 --> 01:10:46.676 Camp Fire, rebuilding and hardening. Our town's 01:10:46.688 --> 01:10:50.521 infrastructure is of vital importance. Our experience 01:10:50.533 --> 01:10:53.997 during the fire of utility poles, catching fire, 01:10:54.009 --> 01:10:57.769 falling starting more fires, and blocking evacuation 01:10:57.781 --> 01:11:01.463 routes, has shown that having utilities underground 01:11:01.475 --> 01:11:04.317 is a step towards safety that is needed 01:11:04.329 --> 01:11:08.005 for our community. PG&E has already announced their 01:11:08.017 --> 01:11:11.775 intention to put all their utility lines underground 01:11:11.787 --> 01:11:15.042 in the town of Paradise, a process which they 01:11:15.054 --> 01:11:18.463 estimate will take five years to complete. Work 01:11:18.475 --> 01:11:21.869 has already begun on the underground project in 01:11:21.881 --> 01:11:25.500 town, and we're very grateful for that. During the 01:11:25.512 --> 01:11:28.912 recovery period, the town expects many agencies 01:11:28.924 --> 01:11:32.407 and companies needing to access the public right 01:11:32.419 --> 01:11:36.306 of way to construct and maintain their infrastructure. 01:11:36.318 --> 01:11:39.650 It is important that these efforts are done in 01:11:39.662 --> 01:11:43.342 coordination with each other and the town to lessen 01:11:43.354 --> 01:11:46.691 the impacts to our roadways and our residents. 01:11:46.703 --> 01:11:50.238 Other cities manage this coordination by enacting 01:11:50.250 --> 01:11:53.656 a Dig Once ordinance. As proposed, the Dig Once 01:11:53.668 --> 01:11:57.209 ordinance would implement an open trench approach 01:11:57.221 --> 01:12:00.348 that requires coordination between the town 01:12:00.360 --> 01:12:04.036 public utilities and telecommunication companies to 01:12:04.048 --> 01:12:08.020 cost-efficiently install conduit for telecommunications 01:12:08.032 --> 01:12:11.288 services and-or any other utility. The object 01:12:11.300 --> 01:12:14.425 of this ordinance is to support an open and 01:12:14.437 --> 01:12:18.187 transparent process for notifying telecomm companies 01:12:18.199 --> 01:12:21.535 and combine coordination between public works, 01:12:21.547 --> 01:12:24.805 public utilities, that are planning to trench 01:12:24.817 --> 01:12:28.514 within the town right of way and telecomm companies 01:12:28.526 --> 01:12:31.703 for the installation of conduit. The Town of 01:12:31.715 --> 01:12:35.471 Paradise would be the facilitator in this process by 01:12:35.483 --> 01:12:39.163 requiring the utilities to obtain a permit prior to 01:12:39.175 --> 01:12:42.866 excavating within a town right of way. The expected 01:12:42.878 --> 01:12:46.341 result is that telecomm companies will join PG&E 01:12:46.353 --> 01:12:49.473 to install conduit along its infrastructure 01:12:49.485 --> 01:12:53.026 undergrounding projects. This ordinance codifying 01:12:53.038 --> 01:12:56.590 this policy establishes a five year moratorium on 01:12:56.602 --> 01:12:59.993 reopening pavements that were just constructed, 01:13:00.005 --> 01:13:03.621 reconstructed or repaved. So we have been meeting, 01:13:03.633 --> 01:13:06.817 the town has been meeting, and PG&E has been 01:13:06.829 --> 01:13:10.664 facilitating that effort to coordinate with our other 01:13:10.676 --> 01:13:14.212 utility partners for this Dig Once policy. Again, 01:13:14.224 --> 01:13:17.985 this is a one of our top town lead projects, partner 01:13:17.997 --> 01:13:21.396 projects, excuse me, that is of high importance 01:13:21.408 --> 01:13:24.820 to the community and to our town council. We're 01:13:24.832 --> 01:13:28.222 in a high fire severity zone, and we need every 01:13:28.234 --> 01:13:31.849 tool in the toolbox to make our community safer as 01:13:31.861 --> 01:13:35.257 we rebuild. We want to do it right. And we want 01:13:35.269 --> 01:13:38.820 to ensure for the public, for the long term, that 01:13:38.832 --> 01:13:42.225 it is safe. And again, these above ground poles 01:13:42.237 --> 01:13:45.642 we saw with this fire, they did pose an extreme 01:13:45.654 --> 01:13:49.266 hazard of blocking our evacuation routes. And that 01:13:49.278 --> 01:13:52.831 is definitely concerned for rebuilding, as people 01:13:52.843 --> 01:13:56.447 come back, if they see those power poles, are very 01:13:56.459 --> 01:13:59.792 concerned that this could happen again. I also 01:13:59.804 --> 01:14:03.415 wanted to let you know that the Butte County grand 01:14:03.427 --> 01:14:06.978 jury report has specifically stated that the town 01:14:06.990 --> 01:14:10.811 must remove all flammable objects from our evacuation 01:14:10.823 --> 01:14:14.017 routes. And I just want to let you know that 01:14:14.029 --> 01:14:17.642 every single road within our transportation system 01:14:17.654 --> 01:14:20.783 that is under the jurisdiction of the town, 01:14:20.795 --> 01:14:24.397 or even our private roads, were used as evacuation 01:14:24.409 --> 01:14:27.740 routes and are planned to be used again in the 01:14:27.752 --> 01:14:31.006 inventor of an emergency. So every road is an 01:14:31.018 --> 01:14:34.780 evacuation route for the town of Paradise. The other 01:14:34.792 --> 01:14:38.469 thing I want to note, we, again, we're working with 01:14:38.481 --> 01:14:41.886 the partners about this new policy. There seems 01:14:41.898 --> 01:14:45.012 to be some inconsistencies with some of our 01:14:45.024 --> 01:14:48.648 partners on how this is being done. We've heard in 01:14:48.660 --> 01:14:52.264 other communities, specifically Coffee Park, Santa 01:14:52.276 --> 01:14:55.822 Rosa, that the telecom partners are already doing 01:14:55.834 --> 01:14:59.515 this one in the same trench, and we understand that 01:14:59.527 --> 01:15:02.865 that's running about $125 a foot, linear foot, 01:15:02.877 --> 01:15:06.413 and the estimate for Paradise for the same effort 01:15:06.425 --> 01:15:09.689 is $65 a linear foot. So we're anxious to get 01:15:09.701 --> 01:15:13.315 everyone on the same page, and again as PG&E moves 01:15:13.327 --> 01:15:16.739 forward with the undergrounding, that they will 01:15:16.751 --> 01:15:20.000 get in the same trench. So moving, when we do 01:15:20.012 --> 01:15:23.769 continue with all the road improvements that we need 01:15:23.781 --> 01:15:27.177 to do to make our community safer, we will know 01:15:27.189 --> 01:15:30.740 where all of our utility lines are so we can have 01:15:30.752 --> 01:15:34.287 an efficient and effective rebuild. I also wanted 01:15:34.299 --> 01:15:37.918 to let you know that we have over 400 applications 01:15:37.930 --> 01:15:41.329 for permits to rebuild in the town of Paradise, 01:15:41.341 --> 01:15:44.824 and to give you some perspective, pre Camp Fire, 01:15:44.836 --> 01:15:48.440 we had about 10 per year. We’re at over 400 and on 01:15:48.452 --> 01:15:51.857 pace for 500 by the end of the year. People are 01:15:51.869 --> 01:15:55.195 resilient. They want to come back. It's not we 01:15:55.207 --> 01:15:58.617 will rebuild. We are rebuilding. And we're very 01:15:58.629 --> 01:16:02.308 excited about that. And we need all of our partners 01:16:02.320 --> 01:16:05.727 to help with that effort. We appreciate all the 01:16:05.739 --> 01:16:09.069 help thus far. So if you have any questions at 01:16:09.081 --> 01:16:12.565 this time, we'd be happy to answer them for you. 01:16:12.590 --> 01:16:15.950 Thank you so much. Commissioners? 01:16:15.975 --> 01:16:20.279 I don't have a question. I just 01:16:20.291 --> 01:16:24.910 wanted to commend you on this policy. Back when I was a city 01:16:24.922 --> 01:16:29.232 attorney, we, I helped draft our city's Dig Once policy, 01:16:29.244 --> 01:16:33.490 and it's a really important policy. And I hope that all 01:16:33.502 --> 01:16:37.866 of the utilities will cooperate and work closely with the 01:16:37.878 --> 01:16:42.253 city to minimize the expense and disruption and make sure 01:16:42.265 --> 01:16:46.862 that this rebuild process is as efficient and cost effective 01:16:46.874 --> 01:16:50.802 as possible. So thank you for sharing that with us. 01:16:50.827 --> 01:16:54.605 Well, thank you. We appreciate any support the 01:16:54.617 --> 01:16:58.346 CPUC can give us in this process. Again, we have been having 01:16:58.358 --> 01:17:02.355 wonderful conversations. They have been at the table with us. But 01:17:02.367 --> 01:17:06.073 we still have some challenges moving forward on this policy. 01:17:06.098 --> 01:17:11.303 Thank you. Thank you for coming up and sharing 01:17:11.315 --> 01:17:16.328 an update with us. You mentioned that PG&E has started the undergrounding? 01:17:16.353 --> 01:17:18.022 Yes, that's correct. 01:17:18.047 --> 01:17:21.539 Are they putting in conduit 01:17:21.551 --> 01:17:24.752 now? And are AT&T and Comcast participating in that? 01:17:24.777 --> 01:17:31.340 It is my understanding, excuse me, that PG&E has been installing 01:17:31.352 --> 01:17:37.928 some conduit. I'm not sure exactly to the extent. You'll have to ask the other 01:17:37.940 --> 01:17:44.592 two comms what, if they're participating. From at this moment, AT&T and ComCast 01:17:44.604 --> 01:17:51.019 are not participating. They are trying to negotiate with PG&E at this point. 01:17:51.044 --> 01:17:55.345 P G&E has definitely made room in the 01:17:55.357 --> 01:17:59.262 trench for them so and they are more than eager 01:17:59.274 --> 01:18:03.295 to cooperate with them as soon as they're willing 01:18:03.307 --> 01:18:07.097 and able to come to the table with us on this. 01:18:07.123 --> 01:18:11.605 Is that an area you would like our help with? 01:18:11.630 --> 01:18:13.810 Absolutely. Yes. 01:18:13.835 --> 01:18:17.195 Okay. Go ahead. Well, 01:18:17.207 --> 01:18:20.644 this, you know, I would, I wonder if there are folks 01:18:20.656 --> 01:18:24.022 here that could answer the question. And every time 01:18:24.034 --> 01:18:27.087 you speak, I feel like I'm hurting you, asking 01:18:27.099 --> 01:18:30.316 you a follow up question. But it would be good to 01:18:30.328 --> 01:18:33.686 just get clarity on where things stand, if that is, 01:18:33.698 --> 01:18:36.727 in fact, the case, from the providers and your 01:18:36.739 --> 01:18:40.168 partners that are here in the room if there are any. 01:18:40.193 --> 01:18:44.218 I think so. I think we have representatives here from 01:18:44.230 --> 01:18:48.147 PG&E, from Comcast, and from AT&T that could speak to this matter. 01:18:48.172 --> 01:18:52.312 It would be helpful to hear from AT&T and Comcast. 01:19:10.313 --> 01:19:16.110 Good morning, Commissioner. My name is Philip Arent. I'm 01:19:16.122 --> 01:19:21.613 director of government affairs for Comcast and my territory includes 01:19:21.625 --> 01:19:26.950 the Town of Paradise, and I have been actively involved in working 01:19:26.962 --> 01:19:32.618 with the town, and I do want to commend the town manager, Lauren Gill, 01:19:32.630 --> 01:19:38.430 this city, the Town Council, they've done a tremendous job, I mean, this 01:19:38.442 --> 01:19:44.015 is less than a year, and they already have permits for homes. They've 01:19:44.027 --> 01:19:49.754 done a great job in getting the town back on its feet. Comcast did lose 01:19:49.766 --> 01:19:55.265 many of its facilities, its transport, after the fire. And we worked 01:19:55.277 --> 01:20:00.916 tirelessly with our crews and contractors to get the transport back up 01:20:00.928 --> 01:20:06.659 to the ridge after the fire, and then also, service restored to many of 01:20:06.671 --> 01:20:11.998 the homes and the existing homes, to all of the existing homes, in 01:20:12.010 --> 01:20:17.986 Paradise and then also Migalia and Paradise Pines, the unincorporated area 01:20:17.998 --> 01:20:23.322 that was affected by Camp Fire. As we know, a few months ago, PG&E 01:20:23.334 --> 01:20:29.227 announced that they were going to be undergrounding their facilities, and 01:20:29.239 --> 01:20:35.047 this was after we rebuilt our system. We were not aware of this. We were 01:20:35.059 --> 01:20:40.719 not consulted by PG&E prior to the announcement. It came as a surprise 01:20:40.731 --> 01:20:46.609 to us. So since that time, we have been working with PG&E, in discussions 01:20:46.621 --> 01:20:51.873 with PG&E and with the help of the town, to come to an agreement, 01:20:51.885 --> 01:20:57.450 to negotiate an agreement on how we're going to move forward in terms 01:20:57.462 --> 01:21:03.039 of these the trenches, the project, which is up to a five-year, and I 01:21:03.051 --> 01:21:08.374 think PG&E said it might even be more than a five-year project for 01:21:08.386 --> 01:21:14.278 undergrounding. So with respect to the projects that are ongoing with the 01:21:14.290 --> 01:21:20.496 trenches, with PG&E. This is all part of our discussions and our negotiations 01:21:20.508 --> 01:21:25.689 with PG&E. We have had face-to-face meetings with the town, that 01:21:25.701 --> 01:21:31.341 has initiated those meetings with the town, with PG&E and AT&T Comcast 01:21:31.353 --> 01:21:37.005 have been in those face to face and then also phone calls. Comcast is, 01:21:37.017 --> 01:21:42.663 I think we're optimistic and we’re hopeful that we have a good partner 01:21:42.675 --> 01:21:48.094 in PG&E and that we’ll be able to move forward and get a resolution 01:21:48.106 --> 01:21:53.749 that will address the undergrounding issue, including the trenches and 01:21:53.761 --> 01:21:59.098 the projects that are currently going, so again optimistic. And we 01:21:59.110 --> 01:22:04.520 have, PG&E submitted a proposal, and Comcast actually submitted our 01:22:04.532 --> 01:22:10.432 counter-proposal to PG&E. And that's where we're at right now. Thank you. 01:22:10.457 --> 01:22:13.795 Good afternoon Commissioner's. My name 01:22:13.807 --> 01:22:17.094 is Alice Perez. I do External Affairs for AT&T. I do 01:22:17.106 --> 01:22:20.574 statewide disaster coordination. In addition to that, I 01:22:20.586 --> 01:22:24.004 cover several rural communities which Paradise happens 01:22:24.016 --> 01:22:27.357 to be one of them. So there's two different things to 01:22:27.369 --> 01:22:30.597 address here. One is that, at the time of the fire, 01:22:30.609 --> 01:22:33.956 our team work diligently with PG&E on the restoration 01:22:33.968 --> 01:22:37.326 effort to rebuild the town. We're very close to being 01:22:37.338 --> 01:22:40.615 finished on rebuild. There is a portion that’s still 01:22:40.627 --> 01:22:43.978 not completed, and that particular portion that's not 01:22:43.990 --> 01:22:47.211 completed, where we have opportunity to collaborate 01:22:47.223 --> 01:22:50.643 with PG&E on undergrounding because we haven't already 01:22:50.655 --> 01:22:53.934 rebuilt that area, we are collaborating with them to 01:22:53.946 --> 01:22:57.238 the extent we can. There are some cost issues around 01:22:57.250 --> 01:23:00.599 that, because the pricing is not consistent. It's not 01:23:00.611 --> 01:23:03.971 $60 across the board. It depends on the length, and I 01:23:03.983 --> 01:23:07.255 have my folks here from C&E, from construction, that 01:23:07.267 --> 01:23:10.552 could give you more information if you want on that. 01:23:10.564 --> 01:23:13.842 But to the extent we can, we are being collaborative 01:23:13.854 --> 01:23:17.268 with them on that particular portion. The area that we 01:23:17.280 --> 01:23:20.928 continue to have dialogue is where our company has already 01:23:20.940 --> 01:23:24.104 spent $42 million rebuilding the town and bringing 01:23:24.116 --> 01:23:27.335 in updated fiber, etcetera. That's the portion that 01:23:27.347 --> 01:23:30.702 they want us to rebuild an underground, and as you're 01:23:30.714 --> 01:23:34.174 aware, we don't get reimbursed for that. So if we spend 01:23:34.186 --> 01:23:37.410 those monies, we have to go out to other areas that 01:23:37.422 --> 01:23:40.951 would normally be having maintenance work, etcetera, and 01:23:40.963 --> 01:23:44.255 pull that money from those areas in order to rebuild 01:23:44.267 --> 01:23:47.481 with what's already been rebuilt. So as far as that 01:23:47.493 --> 01:23:50.658 is concerned, we are continuing with dialogue with 01:23:50.670 --> 01:23:54.015 PG&E about how we could potentially partner with them 01:23:54.027 --> 01:23:57.260 on that without having additional financial burden. 01:23:57.285 --> 01:24:01.801 So just a clarifying question on that. Does that mean 01:24:01.813 --> 01:24:06.288 you're not pursuing a master agreement like the one described by Comcast with PG&E? 01:24:06.313 --> 01:24:09.467 We are continuing dialogue with them on the 01:24:09.479 --> 01:24:12.485 part of what we've already rebuilt. So there's dialogue. 01:24:12.510 --> 01:24:16.403 Do you foresee yourself participating 01:24:16.415 --> 01:24:20.090 in the undergrounding that was described in the Dig Once policy? 01:24:20.115 --> 01:24:24.353 So we are participating on what we have not rebuilt 01:24:24.365 --> 01:24:28.107 at this time. We're continuing to have dialogue with them, 01:24:28.119 --> 01:24:32.139 and we're participating in that today. But as far as what we've 01:24:32.151 --> 01:24:35.743 already built out, we continue to have dialogue on that. 01:24:35.768 --> 01:24:39.639 But my understanding, from what was 01:24:39.651 --> 01:24:43.298 described is some of the, particular on the main roads, those 01:24:43.310 --> 01:24:47.039 poles and that infrastructure will go away and be replaced with 01:24:47.051 --> 01:24:50.617 underground, so there will be nothing for you to hang on to. 01:24:50.642 --> 01:24:54.177 There's a lot of variables in that. First of all, 01:24:54.189 --> 01:24:57.681 it's understanding the planning process for that. At what point 01:24:57.693 --> 01:25:01.125 in time that would actually occur. Currently today, PG&E has a 01:25:01.137 --> 01:25:04.799 five-year plan that could potentially go into a six-year plan that 01:25:04.811 --> 01:25:08.390 they've developed based on their build schedule in the areas that 01:25:08.402 --> 01:25:12.210 they want to build their gas pipelines, as well as their electricity. 01:25:12.222 --> 01:25:15.535 The main roads, the areas that you're referring to, there is 01:25:15.547 --> 01:25:18.980 no direct plan on that area at this time for us to respond to. 01:25:19.005 --> 01:25:22.988 Okay, well, I would hope that 01:25:23.000 --> 01:25:27.261 both AT&T and Comcast see this is an opportunity to partner and 01:25:27.273 --> 01:25:31.461 save funding to do all of this at once and to do it safely and 01:25:31.473 --> 01:25:35.541 to do it for the entire community, because my understanding, 01:25:35.553 --> 01:25:39.522 that was another question I had, is if the entire community 01:25:39.534 --> 01:25:43.781 will be benefiting from access to high-speed broadband. I don't 01:25:43.793 --> 01:25:47.768 know that if you need, you don't need to answer that. But I 01:25:47.780 --> 01:25:51.967 would hope that you would pursue a master agreement with PG&E. 01:25:51.992 --> 01:25:56.686 Are there any other questions 01:25:56.698 --> 01:26:00.934 for our friends from Paradise or? Yes, Cliff? 01:26:00.959 --> 01:26:07.267 Uh, Ms Gill? Well, either, I know she's, I don't want to 01:26:07.279 --> 01:26:10.390 force Miss Gil to answer, but I do want to 01:26:10.402 --> 01:26:13.671 compliment you also on the Dig Once program. 01:26:13.683 --> 01:26:17.009 I had the opportunity to visit Paradise about 01:26:17.021 --> 01:26:20.214 a week and a half after the fire, and there 01:26:20.226 --> 01:26:26.406 were 5, 6000 poles down. So it was plainly obvious to see how devastating the impact 01:26:26.418 --> 01:26:32.783 of those fallen poles were on the community in both the evacuation and the response and 01:26:32.795 --> 01:26:38.882 the rebuild after the fire. I'm wondering if you can comment at all on parts of the 01:26:38.894 --> 01:26:42.502 community where there's a discussion about remote 01:26:42.514 --> 01:26:45.628 grids or not being connected going forward 01:26:45.640 --> 01:26:51.733 and the progress of those discussions with PG&E, if you're able to talk about that. 01:26:51.758 --> 01:26:55.345 The only thing I know, right now, 01:26:55.357 --> 01:26:58.806 is that we are working to get the entire town 01:26:58.818 --> 01:27:02.261 underground. All of the utilities. When Santa 01:27:02.273 --> 01:27:05.879 Rosa burned, we had a 10 to 20 small spot fires 01:27:05.891 --> 01:27:09.180 that evening caused by arcing lines falling 01:27:09.192 --> 01:27:12.569 into the dry grass. We normally do not sleep 01:27:12.581 --> 01:27:16.403 well in the Town of Paradise in October, November, 01:27:16.415 --> 01:27:19.497 when the winds are like this, everything 01:27:19.509 --> 01:27:22.722 is dry. For the past five or so years, the 01:27:22.734 --> 01:27:26.410 governor has begun a statewide water restriction 01:27:26.422 --> 01:27:29.942 program, even for areas like Paradise that are 01:27:29.954 --> 01:27:33.485 in high fire severity zones. So we're on water 01:27:33.497 --> 01:27:36.939 restrictions. We had enough water. We had our 01:27:36.951 --> 01:27:40.479 own water. People were not watering because of 01:27:40.491 --> 01:27:43.864 water restrictions. The brush underneath the 01:27:43.876 --> 01:27:47.410 lines get very, very dry. So yes, whether it's 01:27:47.422 --> 01:27:51.086 arcing lines, whether it's lightning, fires will 01:27:51.098 --> 01:27:54.623 spark at this time of year. It's a danger, and 01:27:54.635 --> 01:27:58.229 it's something that we need to, that we need to 01:27:58.241 --> 01:28:01.772 look at. Like Laura said, we need to use every 01:28:01.784 --> 01:28:05.675 tool in our toolbox. Putting the lines underground. 01:28:05.687 --> 01:28:08.764 And this was again, a directive from the 01:28:08.776 --> 01:28:11.998 Butte County grand jury, putting the lines 01:28:12.010 --> 01:28:15.694 underground, all the lines, we've already gotten 01:28:15.706 --> 01:28:19.220 rid of all of our trees that could fall on the 01:28:19.232 --> 01:28:22.834 right of way. We're removing all the vegetation 01:28:22.846 --> 01:28:26.366 and brush. We're trying to make this community 01:28:26.378 --> 01:28:29.685 safe much more safe than it was. Also safer 01:28:29.697 --> 01:28:33.365 for the future. I think it's also important that 01:28:33.377 --> 01:28:36.831 we're looking at our entire street grid while 01:28:36.843 --> 01:28:40.141 we rebuild back. People are already needing 01:28:40.153 --> 01:28:43.538 to put their homes back very quickly. We had 01:28:43.550 --> 01:28:47.285 to look at our entire street and road system. Our 01:28:47.297 --> 01:28:50.670 roads, most of our roads were created before 01:28:50.682 --> 01:28:53.747 the Subdivision Map Act, so there are no 01:28:53.759 --> 01:28:57.588 standards, no road standards. We have to bring all 01:28:57.600 --> 01:29:01.113 of our roads up to certain road standards, and 01:29:01.125 --> 01:29:04.425 it's going to require us to coordinate what 01:29:04.437 --> 01:29:08.031 goes underneath the roads before we can fix our 01:29:08.043 --> 01:29:11.273 roads, put a roads back and then get homes 01:29:11.285 --> 01:29:14.872 and businesses built and going. It's all a very 01:29:14.884 --> 01:29:18.183 important critical part. We have to rebuild 01:29:18.195 --> 01:29:21.562 the entire town. Basically, 90 to 95% of our 01:29:21.574 --> 01:29:25.254 town is gone, and building that back is going to 01:29:25.266 --> 01:29:28.781 take a lot of coordination. This is a critical 01:29:28.793 --> 01:29:32.545 piece, and so, and you heard today, communication 01:29:32.557 --> 01:29:35.551 is very important. Internet, broadband, 01:29:35.563 --> 01:29:39.171 telephones, all of that is an important part of 01:29:39.183 --> 01:29:42.694 communication today. We need to get all of our 01:29:42.706 --> 01:29:46.079 partners at the table. We're very excited to 01:29:46.091 --> 01:29:49.683 hear that Comcast was gonna come in and give us 01:29:49.695 --> 01:29:53.073 a state of the art system. AT&T is currently 01:29:53.085 --> 01:29:56.599 doing a lot of work in town, boring under some 01:29:56.611 --> 01:30:00.212 roads where they can, but we need a coordinated 01:30:00.224 --> 01:30:03.444 one dig effort. Our roads are tore up, and 01:30:03.456 --> 01:30:06.987 it's very difficult to even get to work on the 01:30:06.999 --> 01:30:10.437 roads, especially with all the work going on. 01:30:10.449 --> 01:30:13.898 And now we're gonna be removing about 200,000 01:30:13.910 --> 01:30:17.428 trees or more. And there's just one more thing 01:30:17.440 --> 01:30:20.971 I’m going to say before I lose my voice is I'm 01:30:20.983 --> 01:30:24.498 very happy to see our supervisor, Doug Tear is 01:30:24.510 --> 01:30:27.963 here in the room today. And I believe that he 01:30:27.975 --> 01:30:31.421 would like to speak to this issue as well. So 01:30:31.433 --> 01:30:34.966 thank you for this opportunity to try to talk. 01:30:34.991 --> 01:30:40.834 Thank you both very much. Is there somebody 01:30:40.846 --> 01:30:46.152 else from Paradise would like to speak? Okay, sir, please. 01:30:46.177 --> 01:30:51.738 Good morning, Commissioners. I got a couple hats I'm wearing 01:30:51.750 --> 01:30:57.022 today. First one, especially following the town is I’m a town citizen 01:30:57.034 --> 01:31:02.451 of Paradise. I'm a Camp Fire survivor. I made it a quarter mile from my 01:31:02.463 --> 01:31:07.891 house before I had to shelter in a field when the flames went overhead. 01:31:07.903 --> 01:31:13.543 I couldn't leave Paradise because, within two hours, power poles and trees 01:31:13.555 --> 01:31:18.679 were in the roads. I did not know if my wife or children were alive 01:31:18.691 --> 01:31:23.884 until about three o'clock in the afternoon. You're well aware of the 01:31:23.896 --> 01:31:29.026 85 people that lost their lives. I'm also a Butte county supervisor 01:31:29.038 --> 01:31:34.676 representing the town of Paradise and Migalia. We, at our meeting, we, the 01:31:34.688 --> 01:31:40.188 Board of Supervisors, had Dig Once on our agenda yesterday. We continued 01:31:40.200 --> 01:31:45.618 it desiring to know what the cost to the ratepayers would be if Comcast 01:31:45.630 --> 01:31:50.683 and AT&T had to underground. The other, the other things, AT&T, it 01:31:50.695 --> 01:31:56.035 was made aware of that meeting, leases the poles. I would assume there 01:31:56.047 --> 01:32:01.549 would be a buying provisions if PG&E pulled out. So if you know, if they 01:32:01.561 --> 01:32:07.058 went underground, I would think they wouldn't have to buy the poles that 01:32:07.070 --> 01:32:12.503 would be cut off and left. And then also a question I have is when they 01:32:12.515 --> 01:32:17.926 underground, is there still a lease to PG&E or do they own it outright? 01:32:17.938 --> 01:32:23.211 And so those are, maybe, some costs that offset. Because I understand 01:32:23.223 --> 01:32:28.791 that PG&E wasn't quick to come out with that they were gonna underground, 01:32:28.803 --> 01:32:34.232 and I understand there was a lot going on, but I also desire to support 01:32:34.244 --> 01:32:39.809 the town, and I desire to support a Dig Once policy in our county once we 01:32:39.821 --> 01:32:45.248 get some of those answers because I don't I don't want to make a policy 01:32:45.260 --> 01:32:50.303 change for our folks that live there if it's going to dramatically 01:32:50.315 --> 01:32:55.898 increase their costs. We had, in Migalia, 90% of the children at a school 01:32:55.910 --> 01:33:01.398 there are on a free lunch program, so it's not a very affluent area. And 01:33:01.410 --> 01:33:06.911 the town of Paradise, pre-fire, had a lot of elderly and a lot of people 01:33:06.923 --> 01:33:12.568 living there because it had a low cost and high quality living experience. 01:33:12.580 --> 01:33:17.633 The other thing, if I may, I can come back and speak another time, 01:33:17.645 --> 01:33:23.212 is a person made me aware that, in rebuilding, the Town of Paradise has a 01:33:23.224 --> 01:33:28.879 Paradise Irrigation District, which isn't under your control. But Migalia, 01:33:28.891 --> 01:33:33.935 unincorporated, about was 14,000 people, now probably around 6000. 01:33:33.947 --> 01:33:39.456 They're in the water, I mean, a water company that's under your control. 01:33:39.468 --> 01:33:44.802 His rebuild now requires sprinklers. The prior five-eighths meter that 01:33:44.814 --> 01:33:50.234 this gentleman had with a ready to serve charge that I think was around 01:33:50.246 --> 01:33:55.510 $20, now has to go to a one inch meter just to satisfy the off-chance 01:33:55.522 --> 01:34:01.099 that he needs the sprinklers. I feel it's an increase, unfair increase to 01:34:01.111 --> 01:34:06.372 these folks. It's not that they're going to use more water, you know, 01:34:06.384 --> 01:34:12.185 typically one inch meter would be like, maybe, for a multi-family. It's just 01:34:12.197 --> 01:34:17.690 the fact that now he has sprinkler. So maybe that's something that could 01:34:17.702 --> 01:34:22.981 be worked on in future proceedings or discussions with Del Oro. Also, 01:34:22.993 --> 01:34:28.478 it was mentioned about Paradise microgrids are trying to solve their own 01:34:28.490 --> 01:34:33.686 energy challenges. Butte County and City of Chico are entering a new 01:34:33.698 --> 01:34:39.491 agreement for a CCA. We have small scale hydro on both sides of the Paradise 01:34:39.503 --> 01:34:45.007 Migalia Ridge. PG&E is in discussions trying to sell one side. Actually, 01:34:45.019 --> 01:34:50.130 both sides are for sale. One is critical for environmental reasons, 01:34:50.142 --> 01:34:55.718 bringing cool water to salmon in Butte Creek. The other one, the Miocene, 01:34:55.730 --> 01:35:00.923 had some water customers that had, because the canal was used to get 01:35:00.935 --> 01:35:06.291 water to Orville for multiple, not just hydro, but for water purposes, 01:35:06.303 --> 01:35:11.712 they received a very reasonable or no cost water. But now that the fire 01:35:11.724 --> 01:35:17.145 has burnt the entire system, a prior fire burnt the water delivery part 01:35:17.157 --> 01:35:22.347 of the system. That's all been shut down. And I believe that there's 01:35:22.359 --> 01:35:28.012 science that supports that the leakage of that canal helped Butte County’s 01:35:28.024 --> 01:35:33.361 aquifer. And so if we lose that water, a, we lose some a chance to use 01:35:33.373 --> 01:35:38.345 that power for possibly a micro grid, and then also, you lose the 01:35:38.357 --> 01:35:43.926 environmental benefits. So I urge your assistance in seeking some resolve 01:35:43.938 --> 01:35:49.444 and keeping the small scale hydro. They have head dams, well, there's in 01:35:49.456 --> 01:35:54.791 Feather River where the Miocene Canal is, there's no salmon because of 01:35:54.803 --> 01:36:00.226 Lake Orovill, but it's not like a big, dam issue with hydropower, these 01:36:00.238 --> 01:36:05.655 are just diversions of water that can mitigate environmental issues. So 01:36:05.667 --> 01:36:11.020 lastly, I want to say thank you very much for your October 14th letter 01:36:11.032 --> 01:36:16.446 to PG&E. It mirrored a letter our board sent to the CPUC for action. So 01:36:16.458 --> 01:36:21.809 I thank you very much for being on top of that, practically before our 01:36:21.821 --> 01:36:27.240 letter was sent. And with that, thank you for your time. And being here 01:36:27.252 --> 01:36:32.684 in the beautiful city of Redding, and Shasta County is mighty nice too. 01:36:32.709 --> 01:36:37.887 Thank you very much. And I want to thank the 01:36:37.899 --> 01:36:43.089 people of Paradise for coming today and sharing your information 01:36:43.101 --> 01:36:48.206 with us. It's extremely helpful. And again, we're concerned for 01:36:48.218 --> 01:36:53.014 your community and its future. It seems that you are indeed 01:36:53.026 --> 01:36:58.266 resilient and working hard toward a brighter future for Paradise. 01:36:58.278 --> 01:37:03.131 And for that, we congratulate you and support you. Are there 01:37:03.143 --> 01:37:08.150 any other members of the public that would like to address the 01:37:08.162 --> 01:37:12.783 Commission at this time? Yes. Please come forward, ma'am. 01:37:32.175 --> 01:37:36.812 Thank you for coming to our community. 01:37:36.824 --> 01:37:41.557 My name's Linda Miller. I'm a retired Pacific Bell AT&T 01:37:41.569 --> 01:37:46.381 employee. I was a splicing technician on those poles out 01:37:46.393 --> 01:37:51.556 there. In approximately 2000, the year 2000, AT&T instructed 01:37:51.568 --> 01:37:56.038 their technicians to increase their safety awareness 01:37:56.050 --> 01:38:00.871 because PG&E was cutting back on their maintenance. As a 01:38:00.883 --> 01:38:06.037 result, this is what is causing a great deal of the problems 01:38:06.049 --> 01:38:10.452 on top of our winds and our climate change. But the 01:38:10.464 --> 01:38:15.272 fact that PG&E is cutting back on its maintenance and it 01:38:15.284 --> 01:38:20.019 would make technicians for another company unsafe. That 01:38:20.031 --> 01:38:25.352 should say something to the CPUC. I don't know what's happened 01:38:25.364 --> 01:38:29.936 where some of the oversight by the CPUC has seemingly 01:38:29.948 --> 01:38:34.843 been reduced towards utility companies and oversight. But 01:38:34.855 --> 01:38:39.338 I do know that the problems that we are experiencing 01:38:39.350 --> 01:38:44.082 with PG&E are because they've become more interested in 01:38:44.094 --> 01:38:49.092 their stock options and their shareholders and their board 01:38:49.104 --> 01:38:53.990 of directors' income than they are to the health of their 01:38:54.002 --> 01:38:58.816 company and the safety of our communities. So I'm hoping 01:38:58.828 --> 01:39:03.719 that the CPUC will actually become more diligent in their 01:39:03.731 --> 01:39:08.382 oversight on utility companies and in particular PG&E, 01:39:08.394 --> 01:39:13.283 which has shown that they are not doing their maintenance 01:39:13.295 --> 01:39:18.027 and, as a result, making all of our communities unsafe. 01:39:18.039 --> 01:39:22.934 Them turning off the power in our communities makes rural 01:39:22.946 --> 01:39:27.260 areas very unsafe, and it makes it so that I can't 01:39:27.272 --> 01:39:32.075 jump up on my roof and blow the leaves out of my gutter. 01:39:32.087 --> 01:39:36.733 I can't turn my water on because my well won't work. I 01:39:36.745 --> 01:39:41.300 can't flush my toilet. And so, this further makes our 01:39:41.312 --> 01:39:46.387 communities unsafe, when we allow PG&E need to turn off the 01:39:46.399 --> 01:39:51.543 power, not for our safety so much as for their own increased 01:39:51.555 --> 01:39:56.119 risk of liability, because it's hard to deny that the 01:39:56.131 --> 01:40:00.520 real reason behind this is the liability when other 01:40:00.532 --> 01:40:05.525 municipalities are not turning off their power. Thank you. 01:40:05.550 --> 01:40:12.827 Thank you. Is there any other member of the public who 01:40:12.839 --> 01:40:19.641 would like to address the Commission at this time? Okay, I would like 01:40:19.653 --> 01:40:26.547 to thank the speakers who spoke to us today, again, particularly those 01:40:26.559 --> 01:40:33.659 from the cities and counties of Shasta and Butte and Paradise. Thank you 01:40:33.671 --> 01:40:40.367 so much. The public comment period is now closed. I do encourage the 01:40:40.379 --> 01:40:47.379 attendees of the meeting today, the public members, to stay to hear the 01:40:47.391 --> 01:40:54.775 management reports which will be taken up shortly after the consent agenda. 01:40:54.787 --> 01:41:01.306 There will be an update from Executive Director Stebbins on public 01:41:01.318 --> 01:41:08.486 safety power shut off, PSPS, and also from Director Cynthia Walker on the 01:41:08.498 --> 01:41:15.388 broadband and California ???? Services Fund. I think you'll find those 01:41:15.400 --> 01:41:22.477 very interesting presentations. Moving on to the next agenda item. These 01:41:22.489 --> 01:41:29.287 are the following changes to today's agenda. Item number 2 held until 01:41:29.299 --> 01:41:36.470 11-7-19. Item number three held until 11-17-19. Item numbder 5 held until 01:41:36.482 --> 01:41:43.083 11-7-19. Item number 11 held until 11-7-19. Item 31 held to 11-7-19 01:41:43.095 --> 01:41:50.176 and item 32 held until 11-7-19. Item 34 we will take up with the consent 01:41:50.188 --> 01:41:56.891 agenda. Is there a motion to take up the consent items at this time? 01:41:56.916 --> 01:41:57.892 So moved. 01:41:57.917 --> 01:42:00.820 It's been moved. Is there a second? 01:42:00.820 --> 01:42:02.570 Second. 01:42:02.595 --> 01:42:07.412 It hasn't been moved and seconded to take up 01:42:07.424 --> 01:42:12.105 the consent agenda items. Those in favor, please say aye. Aye. 01:42:12.117 --> 01:42:16.902 The consent agenda items have passed unanimously. I believe that 01:42:16.914 --> 01:42:21.489 Commissioner Rechtshcaffen wishes to speak on item number 34. 01:42:21.514 --> 01:42:25.828 Thank you, President 01:42:25.840 --> 01:42:30.080 Batjer, the item we just approved deals with PG&E 01:42:30.092 --> 01:42:33.903 rates for non-residential EV operators. This 01:42:33.915 --> 01:42:38.331 decision addresses one of the more important issues 01:42:38.343 --> 01:42:42.235 we will need to deal with in order to promote 01:42:42.247 --> 01:42:46.661 widespread transportation electrification, and that 01:42:46.673 --> 01:42:50.656 is getting the rates right. The transportation 01:42:50.668 --> 01:42:55.002 sector is responsible for the largest share of the 01:42:55.014 --> 01:42:59.330 state's greenhouse gas emissions, over 40%. And of 01:42:59.342 --> 01:43:03.584 this 40%, about one-quarter comes from medium and 01:43:03.596 --> 01:43:07.917 heavy duty vehicles, and these vehicles contribute 01:43:07.929 --> 01:43:11.753 an even larger share of the state's criteria 01:43:11.765 --> 01:43:15.573 and air toxic pollutants. As a result, about 01:43:15.585 --> 01:43:20.340 three-quarters of the utility infrastructure investment 01:43:20.352 --> 01:43:24.166 on transportation electrification that we've 01:43:24.178 --> 01:43:28.430 authorized has been focused on the heavy duty and 01:43:28.442 --> 01:43:32.926 medium duty sector. Rates are a key component of our 01:43:32.938 --> 01:43:37.265 electrification strategy. They basically determine 01:43:37.277 --> 01:43:41.427 what are the fuel costs that EV owners will face 01:43:41.439 --> 01:43:45.517 during the lifetime that they own the vehicles. 01:43:45.529 --> 01:43:49.507 And one of the big barriers to EV adoption for 01:43:49.519 --> 01:43:53.933 medium heavy and heavy duty vehicle owners has been 01:43:53.945 --> 01:43:58.099 high demand charges. As many people know, demand 01:43:58.111 --> 01:44:02.276 charges are non-volumetric fees. They don't vary 01:44:02.288 --> 01:44:06.604 based on how much you use but are determined based 01:44:06.616 --> 01:44:10.690 on the highest peak demand of a given customer. 01:44:10.702 --> 01:44:14.939 And for a fleet owner, these charges can be quite 01:44:14.951 --> 01:44:19.115 large. We were directed by the Legislature in SB 01:44:19.127 --> 01:44:22.851 1000 to consider rate strategies that would 01:44:22.863 --> 01:44:27.024 reduce the impacts of demand charges. Also under 01:44:27.036 --> 01:44:31.191 SB350which was passed in 2015, we're required to 01:44:31.203 --> 01:44:35.795 create options for EV owners so that they can realize 01:44:35.807 --> 01:44:40.118 cost savings over using gas to fuel their vehicle. 01:44:40.130 --> 01:44:44.623 So this decision responds to both of those statutory 01:44:44.635 --> 01:44:48.783 directives. It approves two new rate designs for 01:44:48.795 --> 01:44:52.700 PG&E for commercial and industrial customers. 01:44:52.712 --> 01:44:56.856 These rates eliminate demand charges and instead 01:44:56.868 --> 01:45:01.025 will be based on a subscription fee model, which 01:45:01.037 --> 01:45:05.527 is probably familiar to most people. It's comparable 01:45:05.539 --> 01:45:09.107 to how people pay their cell phone bills. 01:45:09.119 --> 01:45:13.262 So under these new rate designs, a customer will 01:45:13.274 --> 01:45:17.259 sign up for a block of capacity based on their 01:45:17.271 --> 01:45:21.505 expected use. The customer will pay both for that 01:45:21.517 --> 01:45:25.593 capacity, and a charge, a volumetric charge for 01:45:25.605 --> 01:45:29.836 every kilowatt hour that the customer uses. These 01:45:29.848 --> 01:45:34.006 charges will vary by time of day, customers that 01:45:34.018 --> 01:45:38.085 employ smart charging strategies should be able 01:45:38.097 --> 01:45:42.346 to charge at times when electricity's cheapest to 01:45:42.358 --> 01:45:46.501 minimize those varying volumetric costs and also 01:45:46.513 --> 01:45:51.006 hopefully staggered their charging, so, for example, 01:45:51.018 --> 01:45:55.082 not plug in all their buses if they're managing 01:45:55.094 --> 01:45:59.169 a bus fleet, all at once, to minimize what they 01:45:59.181 --> 01:46:03.496 pay for that subscription fee. So they're there in 01:46:03.508 --> 01:46:07.581 the lower category of those blocks. Ideally, if 01:46:07.593 --> 01:46:11.829 customers do this, grid impacts will be minimized 01:46:11.841 --> 01:46:15.834 because the charging is staggered. That way we 01:46:15.846 --> 01:46:20.160 will avoid large draws on the distribution system, 01:46:20.172 --> 01:46:24.158 and also the electricity that is provided will 01:46:24.170 --> 01:46:28.574 be generated at off-peak times or hopefully, in the 01:46:28.586 --> 01:46:32.663 middle of the day when we have periods of solar 01:46:32.675 --> 01:46:37.162 over-generation. I wanna thank, in particular, Judge 01:46:37.174 --> 01:46:41.078 Doherty for a very thorough and timely job in 01:46:41.090 --> 01:46:45.497 drafting this decision. Also, Josh Honeycutt in the 01:46:45.509 --> 01:46:49.504 Energy division and my adviser, Yulia Schmidt. 01:46:49.529 --> 01:46:54.132 Thank you very much, Commissioner. Moving on to 01:46:54.144 --> 01:46:58.691 the next item. Typically, the CPUC management reports are taken up 01:46:58.703 --> 01:47:03.584 later in our meeting agenda under items 39 and 41. I'm gonna move these 01:47:03.596 --> 01:47:08.081 items up and request that the presenters provide their management 01:47:08.093 --> 01:47:13.223 reports now, so that members of the public may also receive the information 01:47:13.235 --> 01:47:17.498 while they're still here in attendance. So Item 39 will be the 01:47:17.510 --> 01:47:22.037 report and discussion on the recent consumer protection and safety 01:47:22.049 --> 01:47:26.792 activities. This is by Alice Stebbins, our Executive Director. Alice? 01:47:26.817 --> 01:47:31.237 Thank you. Hello. Okay, 01:47:31.249 --> 01:47:35.521 it's on. Thank you. President Batjer, Commissioners, 01:47:35.533 --> 01:47:39.394 elected officials and members of the public. My 01:47:39.406 --> 01:47:43.118 name is Alice Stebbins, and I'm the Executive 01:47:43.130 --> 01:47:47.634 Director of the California Public Utilities Commission. 01:47:47.646 --> 01:47:51.679 I'm presenting today on deenergization, otherwise 01:47:51.691 --> 01:47:55.394 known as public safety power shut offs, PSPS. 01:47:55.406 --> 01:47:59.363 Investor-owned utilities were required by law to 01:47:59.375 --> 01:48:03.716 provide safe and reliable power. The flipside to this 01:48:03.728 --> 01:48:07.678 is that, if they think it is not safe to provide 01:48:07.690 --> 01:48:11.472 this power in an emergency, they also have the 01:48:11.484 --> 01:48:15.440 authority to turn it off. So let me provide some 01:48:15.452 --> 01:48:19.635 background. In 2008, San Diego Gas and Electric put 01:48:19.647 --> 01:48:23.761 forward an application asking the PUC to authorize 01:48:23.773 --> 01:48:27.801 the use of deenergization as a tool for proactive 01:48:27.813 --> 01:48:32.014 risk mitigation. San Diego Gas and Electric did not 01:48:32.026 --> 01:48:36.043 actually need the authority to deenergize because 01:48:36.055 --> 01:48:40.085 the Public Utility Code already allowed this. But 01:48:40.097 --> 01:48:44.121 the PUC provided guidance on SDG&E’s authority to 01:48:44.133 --> 01:48:48.330 shut off power under the Public Utilities Code, and 01:48:48.342 --> 01:48:52.120 established factors to consider in determining 01:48:52.132 --> 01:48:56.165 whether a decision by SDG&E to shut off power was 01:48:56.177 --> 01:49:00.204 reasonable. San Diego Gas and Electric began PSPS 01:49:00.216 --> 01:49:04.577 events in the last few years. Given the size of their 01:49:04.589 --> 01:49:08.689 jurisdiction and other factors, the largest events 01:49:08.701 --> 01:49:12.652 have impacted roughly 100,000 customers. On July 01:49:12.664 --> 01:49:16.204 12, 2018, CPUC adopted Resolution ESRB-8 to 01:49:16.216 --> 01:49:20.496 strengthen customer notification requirements before 01:49:20.508 --> 01:49:24.853 deenergization events and ordered utilities to engage 01:49:24.865 --> 01:49:28.657 local communities in developing deenergization 01:49:28.669 --> 01:49:33.020 programs. This also included the other investor owned 01:49:33.032 --> 01:49:37.396 utilities, SoCal Edison and Pacific Gas and Electric, 01:49:37.408 --> 01:49:41.586 who just recently began to make PSPS an operational 01:49:41.598 --> 01:49:45.708 program. Concern continues to exist in many areas. 01:49:45.720 --> 01:49:50.067 Access and functional needs, populations, communities 01:49:50.079 --> 01:49:53.710 with limited broadband and telecommunication 01:49:53.722 --> 01:49:57.904 access, and the overall execution and communication 01:49:57.916 --> 01:50:01.464 of these events. CPUC has held workshops to 01:50:01.476 --> 01:50:05.825 address and better understand these issues and opened 01:50:05.837 --> 01:50:09.633 a proceeding in December 2018. In addition, an 01:50:09.645 --> 01:50:13.906 informed task force, an, excuse me, an informal task 01:50:13.918 --> 01:50:18.192 force was formed between CPUC, the California Office 01:50:18.204 --> 01:50:22.228 of Emergency Services and CalFire. The task force 01:50:22.240 --> 01:50:26.439 worked to develop standard protocols and procedures 01:50:26.451 --> 01:50:30.634 for PSPS events that investor owned utilities could 01:50:30.646 --> 01:50:34.438 consistently follow. In a memo by the governor 01:50:34.450 --> 01:50:38.558 sent to the IOUs today, these protocols were again 01:50:38.570 --> 01:50:42.449 underscored. These requirements are as follows, 01:50:42.461 --> 01:50:46.398 which I will note for you are from our Phase One 01:50:46.410 --> 01:50:50.601 Denergization proceeding. They are work with CalOES 01:50:50.613 --> 01:50:54.557 to develop a notification program. Notify public 01:50:54.569 --> 01:50:58.766 safety partners, including state officials. Provide 01:50:58.778 --> 01:51:02.799 48 to 72 hours in advance notice of a PSPS event. 01:51:02.811 --> 01:51:06.360 When decisions to deenergize are made, when 01:51:06.372 --> 01:51:10.641 denergization is initiated, when restoration patrols 01:51:10.653 --> 01:51:14.935 begin, when all lines are reenergized, public safety 01:51:14.947 --> 01:51:19.289 partners CalOES and state officials must be informed. 01:51:19.301 --> 01:51:23.010 They must share location of events, including 01:51:23.022 --> 01:51:26.482 the boundaries of the areas subject to the 01:51:26.494 --> 01:51:31.097 denergization. They must share the estimated time of the 01:51:31.109 --> 01:51:35.616 event, duration of the event, and estimated restoration 01:51:35.628 --> 01:51:39.582 time. They must use CalOES’s statewide alert and 01:51:39.594 --> 01:51:43.784 warning guidelines, best practices and all alerting 01:51:43.796 --> 01:51:47.756 protocols. They must invite CalOES liaisons into 01:51:47.768 --> 01:51:51.542 their EOCs. The phase two of the denergization 01:51:51.554 --> 01:51:55.985 proceeding, which is currently open, is focused on AFN 01:51:55.997 --> 01:51:59.938 populations as well as critical infrastructures. 01:51:59.950 --> 01:52:03.984 So let's talk about, now and specifically, PG&E's 01:52:03.996 --> 01:52:08.096 October 8th through 11teenth PSP event. There were 01:52:08.108 --> 01:52:12.219 several issues. Execution. There was a fundamental 01:52:12.231 --> 01:52:16.337 failure on behalf of the utility to follow through 01:52:16.349 --> 01:52:20.628 with the plans and preparations that CalOES, CalFire 01:52:20.640 --> 01:52:24.819 and the CPUC worked with them to develop. There are 01:52:24.831 --> 01:52:28.941 also no specific regulations in place for ensuring 01:52:28.953 --> 01:52:32.977 websites do not fail, but there is an expectation 01:52:32.989 --> 01:52:36.862 that the utility in this case, PG&E, would have 01:52:36.874 --> 01:52:40.895 been prepared. There was also an expectation that 01:52:40.907 --> 01:52:44.939 the communication protocols that were set up with 01:52:44.951 --> 01:52:49.058 local and county governments, tribes and emergency 01:52:49.070 --> 01:52:53.109 responders would have been followed. Last Friday, 01:52:53.121 --> 01:52:57.218 October 18th, the PUC held an emergency meeting to 01:52:57.230 --> 01:53:01.339 ensure that the failures seen during the last PSPS 01:53:01.351 --> 01:53:05.455 event do not repeat themselves. There are a lot of 01:53:05.467 --> 01:53:09.421 street, excuse me, there are a lot of strategies 01:53:09.433 --> 01:53:13.533 to reduce the use of PSPS in the near future. This 01:53:13.545 --> 01:53:17.819 fire season or next. However, the execution of these 01:53:17.831 --> 01:53:21.857 events can and must be improved. PUC, CalOES, and 01:53:21.869 --> 01:53:25.906 CalFire working together to help these events run 01:53:25.918 --> 01:53:29.937 smoother and are placing key staff in the utility 01:53:29.949 --> 01:53:34.140 emergency operation centers to help facilitate best 01:53:34.152 --> 01:53:38.095 practices. One of the reasons why I'm presenting 01:53:38.107 --> 01:53:42.063 to you today is the staff that would be here are 01:53:42.075 --> 01:53:46.419 actually at the PG&E Emergency Operations Center. Low 01:53:46.431 --> 01:53:50.464 humidity, fuel and wind are the main factors that 01:53:50.476 --> 01:53:54.584 trigger a PSPS event. Over the next several years, 01:53:54.596 --> 01:53:58.474 several tasks and objectives must be met. There 01:53:58.486 --> 01:54:02.583 must be widespread increase of forest maintenance. 01:54:02.595 --> 01:54:06.865 There must be studies conducted utilizing more years 01:54:06.877 --> 01:54:10.899 of data from the IOU weather stations. There must 01:54:10.911 --> 01:54:15.026 be hardening of energy transmission infrastructure 01:54:15.038 --> 01:54:19.058 and there must be changes to the configuration of 01:54:19.070 --> 01:54:23.182 the grid. In conclusion, PSPS events are not going 01:54:23.194 --> 01:54:27.542 away, but the execution of these events must improve. 01:54:27.554 --> 01:54:31.187 On a final note, I wanted to update everyone 01:54:31.199 --> 01:54:35.136 on the current fires occurring in California. As 01:54:35.148 --> 01:54:39.017 of 10:04 this morning. The current event, which 01:54:39.029 --> 01:54:42.972 we’ll call the October 23rd Event, the all clear 01:54:42.984 --> 01:54:47.100 was given at 9:45 today for Sierras south of I-80, 01:54:47.112 --> 01:54:50.972 except Kern County, San Matteo and some Sierras 01:54:50.984 --> 01:54:55.178 areas north of I-80. Essentially what that means is 01:54:55.190 --> 01:54:59.297 that those communities will be reenergized. Update 01:54:59.309 --> 01:55:03.509 on this weekend event. We're gonna refer to that as 01:55:03.521 --> 01:55:07.780 the October 26th Event. This is still being analyzed 01:55:07.792 --> 01:55:11.660 by PG&E and others, but the current forecast is 01:55:11.672 --> 01:55:15.776 that this will be a very large wind event. They're 01:55:15.788 --> 01:55:19.742 saying it could be the strongest wind seen in 20 01:55:19.754 --> 01:55:24.016 years. The tentative analysis by PG&E shows that the 01:55:24.028 --> 01:55:27.980 timing of the event could start as early as 2200 01:55:27.992 --> 01:55:32.018 hours on October 26 through 1400 hours on October 01:55:32.030 --> 01:55:36.310 28th. That's a four hour duration til the all clear. 01:55:36.322 --> 01:55:40.340 It could impact 32 counties. It could potentially 01:55:40.352 --> 01:55:44.221 have a distribution of customers of 680,000. It 01:55:44.233 --> 01:55:48.339 includes 25,000 medical baseline and 4000 critical 01:55:48.351 --> 01:55:52.306 care facilities. The wind forecasts are 40 to 60 01:55:52.318 --> 01:55:56.824 miles per hour and 60 to 7 mile per hour at elevations. 01:55:56.836 --> 01:56:00.466 Obviously, this information will continue to 01:56:00.478 --> 01:56:04.506 be updated on PG&E's website. That will be up and 01:56:04.518 --> 01:56:08.638 running. That's the conclusion of my presentation. 01:56:08.663 --> 01:56:13.016 Yes, thank you very much, Alice, and I 01:56:13.028 --> 01:56:17.246 appreciate you underscoring the important protocols that 01:56:17.258 --> 01:56:21.840 the CPUC had worked out with OES, CalFire, and not only PG&E, 01:56:21.852 --> 01:56:25.927 but the other IOU's. Extremely important. Particularly 01:56:25.939 --> 01:56:29.907 in light of the governor's letters letter today, this 01:56:29.919 --> 01:56:34.489 morning, to the three investor owned utilities, underscoring, 01:56:34.501 --> 01:56:38.253 again, that they're to be meeting these protocols. 01:56:38.265 --> 01:56:42.177 Are there any other questions of Alice at this time? 01:56:42.202 --> 01:56:45.248 I just want to 01:56:45.260 --> 01:56:48.386 know if, maybe you don't know this, maybe our 01:56:48.398 --> 01:56:51.586 staff knows this. Do you know any more details 01:56:51.598 --> 01:56:54.321 about PG&Es responds to the letter that 01:56:54.333 --> 01:56:57.772 President Batjer sent last week and that we talked 01:56:57.784 --> 01:57:00.760 about at the emergency meeting last Friday? 01:57:00.772 --> 01:57:04.082 Are there any updates on what they're committing 01:57:04.094 --> 01:57:06.805 to do or their response to that letter? 01:57:06.830 --> 01:57:11.053 Commissioner, their update is, 01:57:11.065 --> 01:57:15.052 they're to update the letter to us weekly. So I 01:57:15.064 --> 01:57:19.210 would guess that their deadline is Friday, but we 01:57:19.222 --> 01:57:23.630 will continue to monitor it and stay keeping them on 01:57:23.642 --> 01:57:27.619 task of answering us weekly until the list that 01:57:27.631 --> 01:57:31.703 we sent them is completed. Any other comments or 01:57:31.715 --> 01:57:36.114 questions of Alice? Okay. Thank you. (inaudible from 01:57:36.126 --> 01:57:40.371 crowd, no microphone) We'll take action within our 01:57:40.383 --> 01:57:44.929 authority. (inaudible from crowd, no microphone) Well, 01:57:44.941 --> 01:57:49.251 that means we can take action within our authority. 01:57:49.263 --> 01:57:53.069 I don't really know, in terms of specifics of 01:57:53.081 --> 01:57:57.230 what your question is, what part of the protocols 01:57:57.242 --> 01:58:01.543 that they're not meeting? We have brought it to the 01:58:01.555 --> 01:58:05.452 attention of the, both the CPUC as well as the 01:58:05.464 --> 01:58:09.522 governor, has brought it to the attention of the 01:58:09.534 --> 01:58:13.520 CEOs and we expect them to respond accordingly. 01:58:13.520 --> 01:58:17.582 Yeah, I think it would depend on, you know, what 01:58:17.594 --> 01:58:21.999 specifically occurred, and then we would have to take a look at it at that time. 01:58:22.024 --> 01:58:25.784 Okay? I'm moving on to our next 01:58:25.796 --> 01:58:29.858 manager, management report. This is item 41. The status 01:58:29.870 --> 01:58:33.742 an update of the Broadband California Advance Service 01:58:33.754 --> 01:58:37.207 fund projects in Shasta County. Cynthia Walker. 01:58:48.232 --> 01:58:54.319 Good morning, President Batjer and Commissioners and the 01:58:54.331 --> 01:59:00.674 public here at this meeting. Today, I'm going to be presenting an overview of 01:59:00.686 --> 01:59:07.185 the status of the broadband deployment in Shasta County and the greater region. 01:59:07.197 --> 01:59:13.139 Shasta County is part of a regional defined area that we look to for our 01:59:13.151 --> 01:59:19.404 California Advanced Services fund called the Northeastern California Connect 01:59:19.416 --> 01:59:26.332 Consortium. I'm gonna provide an update on current and future broadband availability 01:59:26.344 --> 01:59:32.602 through both our state California Advanced Services Fund, as well as federal 01:59:32.614 --> 01:59:38.804 broadband grant programs. So looking at Shasta County today, there are some 01:59:38.816 --> 01:59:45.148 challenges based on different speed definitions, and I'm gonna say these ones 01:59:45.160 --> 01:59:51.667 and they’re terms, but we can, I'm going to abbreviate going forward. There's a 01:59:51.679 --> 01:59:57.855 different speed definition for broadband between California and the federal 01:59:57.867 --> 02:00:00.786 government. For the purposes of the 02:00:00.798 --> 02:00:04.462 California Advanced Service fund, grants are 02:00:04.474 --> 02:00:11.054 given and brought up and communities are considered unserved if they do not have 02:00:11.066 --> 02:00:17.495 access to something less than six megabits per second download and one megabit 02:00:17.507 --> 02:00:23.848 per second upload. For the federal program, their standard is higher. It's 25 02:00:23.860 --> 02:00:30.132 megabits per second download and three megabits per second upload. So if you 02:00:30.144 --> 02:00:36.476 look at Shasta County, depending on those speed definitions, up to 28% of the 02:00:36.488 --> 02:00:42.669 households in the county are considered unserved. There have been broadband 02:00:42.681 --> 02:00:49.263 grant programs made available to projects in the county, from both to California 02:00:49.275 --> 02:00:55.054 Advanced Services Fund and from the Connect America Fund. Some of that 02:00:55.066 --> 02:01:01.564 investment, though, has been broader in terms of outside of the county. I think 02:01:01.576 --> 02:01:07.841 we've heard from county officials that there's been projects that seem to go 02:01:07.853 --> 02:01:14.275 by some of the parts of the county, and it is a concern. But a lot of that has 02:01:14.287 --> 02:01:20.803 to do with the definitions of availability because the programs are restricted, 02:01:20.815 --> 02:01:27.230 particularly our state program, the California Advanced Services Fund program, 02:01:27.242 --> 02:01:33.506 and cannot fund communities if there are, if they are considered served. And 02:01:33.518 --> 02:01:39.857 I'm going to go ahead to this map to show. This is Shasta County and it shows 02:01:39.869 --> 02:01:46.139 the Connect America Fund areas there in purple. Those areas are eligible for 02:01:46.151 --> 02:01:52.568 federal funding, and then the darker purple dots are households that are being 02:01:52.580 --> 02:01:58.847 served. And so there has been, and there are, communities in the county that 02:01:58.859 --> 02:02:05.364 are being served as a result of that funding. But there's a lot that hasn't, as 02:02:05.376 --> 02:02:11.649 you can see from the slide. Right, next one. So the state broadband program, 02:02:11.661 --> 02:02:17.830 the California Advanced Services Fund, established a goal of serving 98% of 02:02:17.842 --> 02:02:21.489 households. Originally, that was a statewide 02:02:21.501 --> 02:02:24.429 goal. Assembly Bill 1665, which now 02:02:24.441 --> 02:02:30.860 defines the current program, changed that. And now that 98% goal is by region, 02:02:30.872 --> 02:02:37.221 by consortium region. And again, the standard is six megabits per second down 02:02:37.233 --> 02:02:43.893 and one up. And this goal is to be reached by 2022. And there are 17 consortiums, 02:02:43.905 --> 02:02:49.845 statewide, and funding for nine of these was just approved today by this 02:02:49.857 --> 02:02:56.360 Commission. It was item number 16 on the consent agenda. Besides Shasta County, 02:02:56.372 --> 02:03:02.724 the Northeastern California Connect Consortium area includes Siskiyou, Modoc, 02:03:02.736 --> 02:03:09.069 Lassen, Bahama, Butte, and Plumas counties, and for Shasta alone, you can see 02:03:09.081 --> 02:03:15.100 here for 2017 which is that the most recent data that we have through our 02:03:15.112 --> 02:03:21.940 broadband mapping efforts. Shasta County is well below the 98%, at 89.9% households 02:03:21.952 --> 02:03:27.977 served. So this graph shows how Shasta County compares to the rest of the 02:03:27.989 --> 02:03:34.325 state in terms of broadband availability at specific speeds. What it shows is 02:03:34.337 --> 02:03:40.603 that, for the urban parts of the county, which is something that we've heard 02:03:40.615 --> 02:03:47.201 talking to officials here, they're doing pretty well compared to the rest of the 02:03:47.213 --> 02:03:53.404 state. But the rural areas, particularly at the higher broadband speeds are 02:03:53.416 --> 02:03:59.667 markedly lower. If you look at the third bar comparison there of the federal 02:03:59.679 --> 02:04:06.349 benchmark of 25 megabits per second down and three megabits per second, there's a 02:04:06.361 --> 02:04:12.943 16.7% availability rate for Shasta County, compared to 51.4% for statewide rural 02:04:12.955 --> 02:04:19.305 areas. So this is pretty telling, and it's been great to put this information 02:04:19.317 --> 02:04:25.652 together for this meeting and really focus in on a county and see how they're 02:04:25.664 --> 02:04:32.012 doing. And we can certainly see a need for Shasta County here. So here's some 02:04:32.024 --> 02:04:38.202 of the projects, the infrastructure projects, that have received California 02:04:38.214 --> 02:04:44.485 Advanced Service Fund grants. It says here in Shasta County, not all of them 02:04:44.497 --> 02:04:51.238 are actually in Shasta County. Some of them are actually in the greater consortium 02:04:51.250 --> 02:04:57.189 region, which I described. Some will serve Shasta County and are serving 02:04:57.201 --> 02:05:03.377 Shasta County. We have the Highway 36 project, which is what we call Middle 02:05:03.389 --> 02:05:09.904 Mile Project. So that's fiber. That's not a project that's not designed to fund 02:05:09.916 --> 02:05:16.497 the program didn't fund the last mile, the connections to households. That is, a 02:05:16.509 --> 02:05:22.939 project that could provide accessibility to Shasta County. The Olinda Project, 02:05:22.951 --> 02:05:29.049 which is about to complete sequel review. Shingle Town, which is operating 02:05:29.061 --> 02:05:35.253 and does serve 890 households in Shasta County. Of the number that's there. 02:05:35.265 --> 02:05:41.676 That 1017. And then there's the Inyo Network's Digital 299 project, and I know 02:05:41.688 --> 02:05:45.335 that the county of Shasta is in conversation 02:05:45.347 --> 02:05:48.193 about that project and the ability 02:05:48.205 --> 02:05:54.215 to potentially serve off of it. So this map shows the California Advanced 02:05:54.227 --> 02:06:00.656 Service Fund eligible areas. All the orange areas are eligible for grants. The 02:06:00.668 --> 02:06:07.083 approved projects are in pink and the names of those projects are shown there. 02:06:07.095 --> 02:06:13.277 And as you can see, some of them are middle mile projects, and that's where 02:06:13.289 --> 02:06:19.546 I'm describing. There's the fiber, but they're not necessarily serving those 02:06:19.558 --> 02:06:25.909 areas in the county. And then the lighter pink are where households are being 02:06:25.921 --> 02:06:32.171 served. So the eligible areas represent about 1300 households. The remaining 02:06:32.183 --> 02:06:38.934 eligible areas. In the gold. So again, to item 16 and your approval of the funding 02:06:38.946 --> 02:06:45.202 for the Northeastern California Connect Consortium. This slide describes the 02:06:45.214 --> 02:06:51.237 work that they've done in the broader area, which includes Shasta County. 02:06:51.249 --> 02:06:57.909 They first received funding in 2011 and the focus at that time for the consortium 02:06:57.921 --> 02:07:04.105 was broader. It included digital literacy and broadband adoption, and under 02:07:04.117 --> 02:07:10.865 Assembly Bill 1665, the Legislature wanted the focus to be on broadband deployment 02:07:10.877 --> 02:07:16.903 and project deployment. So this new grant will be focused on, for the new 02:07:16.915 --> 02:07:23.327 grant for this consortium will be focused on those efforts. But these are some 02:07:23.339 --> 02:07:29.845 things that they worked on in the past. And so here, one of the things that was 02:07:29.857 --> 02:07:36.356 highlighted by this consortium in their application were, they've worked on six 02:07:36.368 --> 02:07:42.717 different projects that served Plumas, Sierra and various counties, including 02:07:42.729 --> 02:07:49.144 Modoc and Lassen. And that will be the focus for this for the consortium. So I 02:07:49.156 --> 02:07:55.665 think that Shasta County is one that I would like to start having conversations 02:07:55.677 --> 02:08:01.853 with that consortium about looking at possible solutions for them under our 02:08:01.865 --> 02:08:07.973 state program. If that's possible. And this is the slide shows the federal 02:08:07.985 --> 02:08:14.642 funding from the Connect America Fund that's being invested in projects in Shasta 02:08:14.654 --> 02:08:20.755 County. We do expect more deployment than the 2263. These numbers probably 02:08:20.767 --> 02:08:27.186 seem really low. But again, we're looking at very minimum populations in these 02:08:27.198 --> 02:08:33.467 areas, which is why they're challenged and why there isn't a company serving 02:08:33.479 --> 02:08:39.733 them today without a subsidy program. We expect Frontier to be serving about 02:08:39.745 --> 02:08:45.847 1600 under the Connect America Fund program. Geolinks about 360. They’re a 02:08:45.859 --> 02:08:52.445 fixed wireless company who got Connect America Funding. And AT&T will be serving 02:08:52.457 --> 02:08:58.403 about 20. I also want to mention that this Commission has approved staff 02:08:58.415 --> 02:09:04.989 participating at the Federal Communications Commission on further grant funding. 02:09:05.001 --> 02:09:11.099 There is now a new program called the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. It's 02:09:11.111 --> 02:09:17.041 about $20 billion and the staff is looking at this as an opportunity for 02:09:17.053 --> 02:09:23.645 potential leveraging with the California Advanced Services Fund or just outright 02:09:23.657 --> 02:09:30.072 grants where the California Advance Service Fund isn't, we can't serve because 02:09:30.084 --> 02:09:36.266 the areas aren't eligible. So what we're focusing on in our comments is the 02:09:36.278 --> 02:09:42.536 challenge that we have. And if you go to the FCCs website and you read their 02:09:42.548 --> 02:09:49.062 statistics, it seems a lot rosier in terms of who is actually getting broadband 02:09:49.074 --> 02:09:55.325 because of the way we determine eligibility and the fact that we do not do a 02:09:55.337 --> 02:10:02.006 granular analysis. So if you have a census block where there's one customer being 02:10:02.018 --> 02:10:08.437 served, it's not eligible for a grant. So we're trying to work with them, both 02:10:08.449 --> 02:10:14.718 through this proceeding, as well as a separate effort to improve a broadband 02:10:14.730 --> 02:10:21.227 mapping. California is one of the better states, and we actually have a better, 02:10:21.239 --> 02:10:27.260 more accurate map than most areas in the country. So we hope to share our 02:10:27.272 --> 02:10:33.776 expertise and suggestions for the FCC and this national effort. And this is the 02:10:33.788 --> 02:10:40.059 map, again, that shows the Connect America Fund areas. Again, we expect more 02:10:40.071 --> 02:10:46.890 deployment, and I was told by staff that Frontier and AT&T, their projects in those 02:10:46.902 --> 02:10:53.164 calf areas are about 90% done. That's significant. And one of the challenges 02:10:53.176 --> 02:10:59.432 with the California Advanced Services Fund is that there is a prohibition to 02:10:59.444 --> 02:11:05.467 grants in those purple areas until July 2020. That was something that the 02:11:05.479 --> 02:11:11.488 Legislature wanted in the statute to avoid duplicate funding of areas and 02:11:11.500 --> 02:11:18.171 overlap. So come July 2020 those areas will open up. So if AT&T and Frontier have 02:11:18.183 --> 02:11:24.686 not deployed, those areas will be eligible for a CASF grant, assuming that they 02:11:24.698 --> 02:11:30.887 meet the other eligibility standards. So, just to say again, it was a great 02:11:30.899 --> 02:11:37.395 opportunity to take a look closely at Shasta County for my staff and myself. We 02:11:37.407 --> 02:11:43.914 certainly see that more work needs to be done, and federal dollars are critical 02:11:43.926 --> 02:11:50.021 at this juncture, given the restrictions of the state program, and I think 02:11:50.033 --> 02:11:56.709 probably the thing we've prioritized in my division, one of the things, is to get 02:11:56.721 --> 02:12:02.812 more granular data on broadband deployment so that we can better serve and 02:12:02.824 --> 02:12:09.416 respond and certainly, hearing today, how important it is for particularly rural 02:12:09.428 --> 02:12:15.851 communities to have access to good broadband. And I'm taking that back with me 02:12:15.863 --> 02:12:22.216 to the office in San Francisco. So that's it. Does anyone have any questions? 02:12:22.241 --> 02:12:25.779 Thank you so very much. Very important. 02:12:25.791 --> 02:12:29.282 Turn to the Commissioners for their comments and questions. 02:12:29.307 --> 02:12:34.931 Just more of a comment. I wanted to recognize 02:12:34.943 --> 02:12:40.579 Frontier and their participation, both in the state program and the federal 02:12:40.591 --> 02:12:45.998 program, but particularly, they've been the only, really, incumbent that 02:12:46.010 --> 02:12:51.207 has really stepped up in trying to maximize the state side of funding 02:12:51.219 --> 02:12:56.994 instead of this kind of a sit and wait situation that we're unfortunately in. 02:12:57.006 --> 02:13:02.423 And I also wanted to just mention that there are other proceedings where 02:13:02.435 --> 02:13:07.994 we are looking at these hard to reach areas. In particular, wanted to look 02:13:08.006 --> 02:13:13.279 forward to talking to the county and others about the High Cost Fund A 02:13:13.291 --> 02:13:19.056 proceeding, where we've been going out to communities, including one somebody 02:13:19.068 --> 02:13:24.622 mentioned earlier, we were out in Blue Lake workshopping that issue to see 02:13:24.634 --> 02:13:30.256 how we can further subsidize the ongoing operation and maintenance for some 02:13:30.268 --> 02:13:35.754 of the broadband needs. So that's another effort that we hope communities 02:13:35.766 --> 02:13:41.236 could become engaged in, particularly tribal communities that are looking 02:13:41.248 --> 02:13:46.657 at potentially forming their own internet service providers or telephone 02:13:46.669 --> 02:13:52.220 companies. Just a recognition that it's gonna take a combination of funds, 02:13:52.232 --> 02:13:57.350 state and federal, to make some of these services viable. Thank you. 02:13:57.350 --> 02:14:02.841 Thank you, Cynthia, for the very insightful 02:14:02.853 --> 02:14:08.519 presentation. And like General Manager Gil of Paradise, I'm hopefully 02:14:08.531 --> 02:14:14.190 not gonna have laryngitis. At any rate, it is shocking to see how far 02:14:14.202 --> 02:14:19.712 Shasta County and these Northern California counties are lagging on 02:14:19.724 --> 02:14:25.542 broadband. And several educators spoke to us this morning how essential 02:14:25.554 --> 02:14:30.980 it is for students to have access to broadband to keep up with the 02:14:30.992 --> 02:14:36.897 education needs and requirements and to thrive, let alone the rest of us 02:14:36.909 --> 02:14:42.908 who are part of the baby boomer generation and senior citizens, what have 02:14:42.920 --> 02:14:48.322 you, having access to information, and in these PSPSs and wildfire 02:14:48.334 --> 02:14:54.315 situations, to have access to information with the drastically decreasing 02:14:54.327 --> 02:14:59.978 access to land lines for information. So I'm appreciating all efforts 02:14:59.990 --> 02:15:05.572 and the theme that the folks from Paradise are talking about and the 02:15:05.584 --> 02:15:11.312 board of supervisers in terms of looking at things comprehensively and 02:15:11.324 --> 02:15:16.661 looking at how we can coordinate together these various funds and 02:15:16.673 --> 02:15:22.974 activities are so essential. And I think the more that we, at the Commission, 02:15:22.986 --> 02:15:28.490 can facilitate that and foster that, I think the better. Thank you. 02:15:28.515 --> 02:15:34.801 Any other comments or questions of Cynthia? Thank you 02:15:34.813 --> 02:15:41.451 very much, Cynthia, for your report. Appreciate it greatly. All right. Moving 02:15:41.463 --> 02:15:47.628 on to next agenda item, we will now take up the regular agenda items. So 02:15:47.640 --> 02:15:54.325 beginning with item number 33 that will be presented by Commissioner Randolph. 02:15:54.350 --> 02:15:59.319 Thank you, President Batjer. This is a proposed 02:15:59.331 --> 02:16:04.176 decision from the climate adaptation rulemaking. Recognizing the risks 02:16:04.188 --> 02:16:09.368 posed by climate change, we opened the climate change adaptation rulemaking 02:16:09.380 --> 02:16:13.957 last year to develop strategies and guidance on climate adaptation 02:16:13.969 --> 02:16:18.531 for investor-owned utilities. This proceeding is part of a broader 02:16:18.543 --> 02:16:23.254 statewide conversation happening about climate adaptation. So we are 02:16:23.266 --> 02:16:28.244 coordinating closely with our other partners around the state, including 02:16:28.256 --> 02:16:33.110 the Energy Commission and the Natural Resources Agency. In particular, 02:16:33.122 --> 02:16:38.024 the energy sector has a lot on its plate to address climate change risk 02:16:38.036 --> 02:16:42.814 while also transitioning to a more equitable and decarbonized future. 02:16:42.826 --> 02:16:47.666 This will require developing and implementing scientifically-informed, 02:16:47.678 --> 02:16:52.667 flexible and adaptive strategies to increase energy sector resilience to 02:16:52.679 --> 02:16:57.311 multiple stressors from climate change with particular attention to 02:16:57.323 --> 02:17:02.377 vulnerable communities. To that end, this proceeding uses a collaborative 02:17:02.389 --> 02:17:07.095 working group structure and is tasked with addressing five topics in 02:17:07.107 --> 02:17:12.030 climate adaptation. The proposed decision before us today addresses the 02:17:12.042 --> 02:17:16.671 1st 2 topics. It establishes a definition of climate adaptation and 02:17:16.683 --> 02:17:22.074 importantly, it adopts guidance for data sources, models and tools for climate 02:17:22.086 --> 02:17:26.994 adaptation decision making. A later decision will address topics three, 02:17:27.006 --> 02:17:31.721 four, and five, which cover guidance for utility climate adaptation, 02:17:31.733 --> 02:17:36.432 assessment, and planning, how to identify and prioritize investments 02:17:36.444 --> 02:17:41.224 and activities that address the needs of vulnerable and disadvantaged 02:17:41.236 --> 02:17:46.147 communities as related to climate change impacts, and a decision making 02:17:46.159 --> 02:17:50.876 framework. The definition of climate change adaptation adopted today 02:17:50.888 --> 02:17:55.723 builds on the existing body of climate adaptation work in the state of 02:17:55.735 --> 02:18:00.445 California and tailors it to the utility context. Our starting point 02:18:00.457 --> 02:18:05.093 was the Safeguarding California definition, and we built on that to 02:18:05.105 --> 02:18:10.163 explicitly acknowledge the need to focus on utility planning, facilities, 02:18:10.175 --> 02:18:15.491 maintenance and construction and the I. O. U's essential goals of maintaining 02:18:15.503 --> 02:18:20.079 safe, reliable, affordable and resilient operations. Additionally, 02:18:20.091 --> 02:18:24.661 this decision also provides guidance to the utilities for the data 02:18:24.673 --> 02:18:29.461 sources, models, and tools. Our goal was to level set and ensure that 02:18:29.473 --> 02:18:34.577 utilities are using the same set of global climate models for transparency 02:18:34.589 --> 02:18:39.432 and consistency while maintaining some flexibility for IOUs to use the 02:18:39.444 --> 02:18:44.212 most recent and best data available. The next step in this proceeding 02:18:44.224 --> 02:18:49.209 will address what the utilities will do with the data. This week, Energy 02:18:49.221 --> 02:18:53.782 Division staff released a staff proposal on Topic five, which is a 02:18:53.794 --> 02:18:58.640 framework for climate-related decision making and accountability which 02:18:58.652 --> 02:19:03.491 proposes that the utilities would be required to conduct vulnerability 02:19:03.503 --> 02:19:08.492 assessments of their systems. The working group will convene on November 02:19:08.504 --> 02:19:13.131 15th to discuss the staff proposal and hear a presentation from the 02:19:13.143 --> 02:19:18.261 California Department of Water Resources on their experience in conducting 02:19:18.273 --> 02:19:23.316 a vulnerability assessment of their infrastructure. We anticipate issuing 02:19:23.328 --> 02:19:27.836 a proposed decision on the remaining topics in early 2020. I want 02:19:27.848 --> 02:19:32.684 to acknowledge and thank the working group participants for their time 02:19:32.696 --> 02:19:37.475 and attention on these topics throughout the proceeding, and I really 02:19:37.487 --> 02:19:42.191 want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the group of expert outside 02:19:42.203 --> 02:19:47.261 facilitators. They donated their time to assist with facilitating some of 02:19:47.273 --> 02:19:52.037 these workshops sessions. Including Newan Tara Key from the Office of 02:19:52.049 --> 02:19:56.687 Planning and Research, Juliet Finzi Heart from the U. S. Geological 02:19:56.699 --> 02:20:01.605 Service, Liz Wightman from the Ocean Science Trust, and Matthew Tisdale 02:20:01.617 --> 02:20:06.603 from GridWorks. Additionally, I want to thank the PUC Climate Adaptation 02:20:06.615 --> 02:20:11.518 team for their work on this, including the ALJ's on this decision, Mary 02:20:11.530 --> 02:20:16.376 MacKenzie and Sara Thomas, former Energy Division analyst Reese Rogers 02:20:16.388 --> 02:20:21.161 for his work on this proceeding before relocating, and current Energy 02:20:21.173 --> 02:20:26.093 Division analysts Dave Mateusiak, Kristen Ralph Douglas for her climate 02:20:26.105 --> 02:20:30.665 adaptation work while in PPD, former planning, policy and planning 02:20:30.677 --> 02:20:35.591 division, and for helping secure excellent expert facilitators for this 02:20:35.603 --> 02:20:40.715 proceeding. I really appreciated her leadership on this topic and her hard 02:20:40.727 --> 02:20:45.509 work in helping us get this proceeding off the ground. I also want to 02:20:45.521 --> 02:20:50.289 thank my Bagley-Keen partner, Commissioner Rechtschaffen, his adviser 02:20:50.301 --> 02:20:55.149 Simi George, and his former adviser, Sarah Owen. And thanks to my team 02:20:55.161 --> 02:20:59.935 Chief of Staff Rachel Peterson, advisor Suzanne Cassaza and my former 02:20:59.947 --> 02:21:04.938 adviser, Joanna Gubman. And I ask you for your support on this decision. 02:21:04.963 --> 02:21:08.690 and I thank you, Commissioner Randolph. Are there 02:21:08.702 --> 02:21:12.333 any comments by the Commissioners? Yes, Commissioner Rechtschaffen? 02:21:12.358 --> 02:21:18.881 Thank you, President Batjer. Thank you, Commissioner 02:21:18.893 --> 02:21:24.405 Randolph, for your vision, your deep insight, your very hard work and 02:21:24.417 --> 02:21:30.316 especially setting the tone with your extensive collaborative work in this 02:21:30.328 --> 02:21:32.681 process. It is a multi agency, 02:21:32.693 --> 02:21:36.476 multidimensional problem. And I think you said 02:21:36.488 --> 02:21:42.384 exactly the right tone. Recent events clearly have illustrated the growing 02:21:42.396 --> 02:21:48.541 impacts of climate change. California is going to be especially vulnerable to 02:21:48.553 --> 02:21:54.219 those impacts because of how the state is configured geographically and 02:21:54.231 --> 02:22:00.382 otherwise. We have extensive coastline, will dry Mediterranean climate, great 02:22:00.394 --> 02:22:06.446 reliance on Snow Pack. And as we heard about extensively today, a lot of the 02:22:06.458 --> 02:22:12.680 state is located in forested areas. Thes events underscore the need for robust 02:22:12.692 --> 02:22:18.514 climate adaptation planning to ensure that our utility operations remains 02:22:18.526 --> 02:22:24.676 safe and reliable. Which is why this adaptation proceeding is so significant. 02:22:24.688 --> 02:22:30.506 As Commissioner Randolph explained, this first decision deals with two of 02:22:30.518 --> 02:22:36.349 the issues that are set forth in scoping memo for the proceeding. We will 02:22:36.361 --> 02:22:42.580 consider other issues later. I want to highlight one in particular Commission. 02:22:42.592 --> 02:22:48.114 Randolph mentioned, which is the part of the proceeding where we will 02:22:48.126 --> 02:22:54.566 identify and prioritize how utilities should deal with the climate change impacts 02:22:54.578 --> 02:23:00.558 faced by disadvantaged and vulnerable communities. We know that the impacts 02:23:00.570 --> 02:23:06.623 of climate change will not be felt equally, that those communities will bear 02:23:06.635 --> 02:23:12.542 the brunt of climate change impacts. We have been seeing that dramatically 02:23:12.554 --> 02:23:18.446 in real time. We certainly saw that with the Paradise Fire, where the poor 02:23:18.458 --> 02:23:24.362 disabled, the mobility challenged, the culturally isolated. We're the ones 02:23:24.374 --> 02:23:30.115 who were impacted the most. The same was true for Hurricane Katrina. The 02:23:30.127 --> 02:23:35.958 same is true for Hurricane Marie and Puerto Rico and other extreme events 02:23:35.970 --> 02:23:42.333 of the type we will increasingly experience with climate change. This proceeding 02:23:42.345 --> 02:23:47.933 also has very significant implications for the utility risk management 02:23:47.945 --> 02:23:53.999 and safety investment decisions that we also supervise and that it's closely 02:23:54.011 --> 02:23:59.920 tied to other overarching proceedings dealing with utility risk assessment 02:23:59.932 --> 02:24:05.904 in safety planning, including the Safety model assessment proceeding on the 02:24:05.916 --> 02:24:11.901 league Commissioner on that proceeding, and we will be taking a coordinated 02:24:11.913 --> 02:24:17.891 approach through these proceedings on these issues going forward. Thank you 02:24:17.903 --> 02:24:23.657 again. Commissioner Randolph and I join you in supporting this decision. 02:24:23.682 --> 02:24:26.920 Are there any other comments from Commission at this time? 02:24:26.945 --> 02:24:32.527 Yes, yes, thank you, President Batjer, and thank you, 02:24:32.539 --> 02:24:35.754 Commissioner Randolph and Rechtschaffen, for 02:24:35.766 --> 02:24:38.778 leading this effort. I think that it's an 02:24:38.790 --> 02:24:44.665 essential effort, even as we are requiring investment in renewable energy, energy 02:24:44.677 --> 02:24:47.752 efficiency, decarbonization, and so forth, 02:24:47.764 --> 02:24:51.138 towards our 2045 goal of a zero greenhouse gas 02:24:51.150 --> 02:24:57.094 footprint. We see the effects of climate change now. Every time I take the capital 02:24:57.106 --> 02:25:03.062 quarter Amtrack from Sacramento to San Francisco and back, we're going through the 02:25:03.074 --> 02:25:09.167 Suisan marshes right along the edge of the Suisan Bay. You can really conjure up the 02:25:09.179 --> 02:25:14.997 sea level rising and the impact on that infrastructure, let alone the wildfires, 02:25:15.009 --> 02:25:20.942 the climate change that we're experiencing here in the Northern Sacramento Valley, 02:25:20.954 --> 02:25:27.114 even as we speak. I'm very appreciative of the notion of coordinating with the Safety 02:25:27.126 --> 02:25:33.280 RAMP, with the risk assessment mitigation phase, is what it's called. But essentially 02:25:33.292 --> 02:25:39.028 it's folding in safety into the general rate cases, and here we have a prospect 02:25:39.040 --> 02:25:45.120 of pulling in in the climate adaptation, what needs to be done to the infrastructure 02:25:45.132 --> 02:25:48.416 under this proceeding. I think it's important 02:25:48.428 --> 02:25:51.152 that we have excellent tools, models, 02:25:51.164 --> 02:25:56.962 data, guidance, and that is exactly what this decision will provide for us. So I 02:25:56.974 --> 02:26:02.785 look forward to seeing it all come to fruition in the future. Thank you so much. 02:26:02.810 --> 02:26:07.870 Thank you. Commissioner Shiroma. Yes, Commissioner Guzman Aceves. 02:26:07.870 --> 02:26:11.886 I just wanted to underscore my 02:26:11.898 --> 02:26:15.861 support and also the recognition that something so basic in 02:26:15.873 --> 02:26:20.027 this decision that is so critical and becoming more difficult, 02:26:20.039 --> 02:26:24.140 which is the data that we base this modeling on, particularly 02:26:24.152 --> 02:26:28.039 that that the utilities choose to use is becoming more and 02:26:28.051 --> 02:26:32.082 more critical and ensuring that it's peer reviewed is become 02:26:32.094 --> 02:26:36.252 more paramount. Unfortunately, what we've seen in recent years 02:26:36.264 --> 02:26:39.971 is that some of the facts have been skewed, some of the 02:26:39.983 --> 02:26:43.670 realities of the pace of climate change and some of the 02:26:43.682 --> 02:26:47.844 realities of the contributions of climate change, I would say, 02:26:47.856 --> 02:26:52.211 particularly when it comes to methane. So I really appreciate the 02:26:52.223 --> 02:26:56.259 fact that this decision makes it very clear that we're going 02:26:56.271 --> 02:27:00.225 to use facts, that they're gonna be peer-reviewed and we're 02:27:00.237 --> 02:27:04.336 not gonna be able to make up facts on our own. In addition, I 02:27:04.348 --> 02:27:08.640 think it goes without saying, and I'm very happy to see that the 02:27:08.652 --> 02:27:12.625 decision includes the gas utilities as well as the electric 02:27:12.637 --> 02:27:16.782 utilities and that we're not seeing, one of these fuels is not 02:27:16.794 --> 02:27:20.687 being impacted somehow miraculously, by climate change. So 02:27:20.699 --> 02:27:24.916 some of these just fundamental elements of this decision put us 02:27:24.928 --> 02:27:29.026 on the right track to being a fact-based body, continue to be 02:27:29.038 --> 02:27:33.186 a fact-based body, but also to take on these very hard issues, 02:27:33.198 --> 02:27:37.292 even though it may be difficult to deal with them. And I also 02:27:37.304 --> 02:27:41.194 want to acknowledge the work that's being prepared to look 02:27:41.206 --> 02:27:45.240 at the vulnerable populations, and particularly, I'm looking 02:27:45.252 --> 02:27:49.267 afford to this next stage, and really, the difficult impacts 02:27:49.279 --> 02:27:53.305 that will happen on affordability side for those hot climate 02:27:53.317 --> 02:27:57.404 zones that will become even hotter in the state of California 02:27:57.416 --> 02:28:01.581 and the real impact that that will have to people's ability to 02:28:01.593 --> 02:28:05.610 pay their bills. So this is not just in infrastructure-based 02:28:05.622 --> 02:28:09.652 lens that we're looking at, we have to look at how we retain 02:28:09.664 --> 02:28:13.687 affordability as we need to harden our systems and adapt. So 02:28:13.699 --> 02:28:17.867 thank you, Commissioner Randolph, for your leadership on this. 02:28:17.892 --> 02:28:21.947 Thank you all for your comments. I would 02:28:21.959 --> 02:28:25.693 ask now that the clerk, the agenda clerk, call the roll. 02:28:25.718 --> 02:28:27.700 For item 33. Commissioner Shiroma? - 02:28:29.418 Shiroma>Aye. - Commissioner Guzman Aceves. 02:28:29.443 --> 02:28:30.823 - Aye - 02:28:32.568 Clerk>Commissioner Randolph - Aye. 02:28:32.593 --> 02:28:33.932 Commissioner Rechtschaffen. 02:28:33.944 --> 02:28:34.462 02:28:36.123 Rechtschaffen> Aye. - President Batjer. 02:28:36.148 --> 02:28:42.206 Aye. Thank you all. The vote is unanimous. Moving on to the 02:28:42.218 --> 02:28:48.439 next item on the agenda is item number 35, presented by Commissioner Rechtschaffen 02:28:48.439 --> 02:28:54.744 President Batjer, just give me one second. 02:28:54.756 --> 02:29:00.901 Try to pull up my notes here. Thank you. First, I want say how much we 02:29:00.913 --> 02:29:07.137 appreciate the engagement of the public here today, including those who 02:29:07.149 --> 02:29:13.213 traveled here and participated at other times. We understand the very 02:29:13.225 --> 02:29:19.447 strong feelings that this item engenders, especially difficult during a 02:29:19.459 --> 02:29:25.693 period of great stress for the state. This extended power shutoffs that 02:29:25.705 --> 02:29:31.672 we're all dealing with today. This is a proposed decision that would 02:29:31.684 --> 02:29:38.011 authorize a monthly charge on customers of investor-owned utilities that 02:29:38.023 --> 02:29:44.330 participate in the Wildfire Insurance Fund established by AB1054. AB1054 02:29:44.342 --> 02:29:50.314 was enacted this summer as an urgency measure in response to several 02:29:50.326 --> 02:29:56.466 years of devastating wildfires caused by utility infrastructure. Among 02:29:56.478 --> 02:30:02.629 other things, this lead to severe credit downgrades for the utilities, 02:30:02.641 --> 02:30:08.951 which increases their borrowing costs which in turn leads to billions of 02:30:08.963 --> 02:30:15.025 dollars in extra costs for ratepayers. The Wildfire Fund is part of a 02:30:15.037 --> 02:30:21.180 comprehensive legislative framework to improve the financial stability 02:30:21.192 --> 02:30:27.347 of the utilities and to promote safe and reliable utility service. And 02:30:27.359 --> 02:30:33.751 this includes a number of provisions to enhance utility safety, including 02:30:33.763 --> 02:30:39.649 the development of new wildfire safety standards, enhanced wildfire 02:30:39.661 --> 02:30:46.493 mitigation plan requirements, establishment of a new wildfire safety division, 02:30:46.505 --> 02:30:52.396 creation of a safety certification process, reiteration of the need 02:30:52.408 --> 02:30:58.804 for the utilities to comply with safety culture requirements and findings 02:30:58.816 --> 02:31:05.050 of safety culture assessments, and a requirement that we link executive 02:31:05.062 --> 02:31:11.551 compensation to safety performance. This fund will operate as an insurance 02:31:11.563 --> 02:31:17.197 fund valued at approximately $21 billion with contributions both 02:31:17.209 --> 02:31:23.083 by utility shareholders and utility ratepayers. Our purview in this 02:31:23.095 --> 02:31:29.588 proceeding was to consider the reasonableness of imposing a monthly charge 02:31:29.600 --> 02:31:35.827 on ratepayers to collect $10.5 billion. That is half the total value of 02:31:35.839 --> 02:31:41.818 the fund, plus associated financing and administrative costs over 15 02:31:41.830 --> 02:31:48.054 years. The size of the ratepayer contributions are not insignificant. I 02:31:48.066 --> 02:31:54.216 think this speaks to the magnitude of the very large scale risks posed 02:31:54.228 --> 02:32:00.544 by utility-caused wildfires in the state. In considering the cost burden 02:32:00.556 --> 02:32:06.625 on ratepayers, the proposed decision finds several ratepayer benefits 02:32:06.637 --> 02:32:12.594 that justify imposing this costs. One, as I mentioned earlier, there 02:32:12.606 --> 02:32:18.921 will be savings associated with lower borrowing costs for the utilities. 02:32:18.933 --> 02:32:25.069 Those are directly reflected in benefits to ratepayers if utility cost 02:32:25.081 --> 02:32:31.402 of borrowing are lower. Two, shareholders and ratepayers will contribute 02:32:31.414 --> 02:32:37.979 to the fund in equal amounts. And one of the important implications of this 02:32:37.991 --> 02:32:44.136 is that in the event of future catastrophic wildfires, where a utility 02:32:44.148 --> 02:32:50.114 has been found to have acted prudently, roughly half of the payments 02:32:50.126 --> 02:32:56.104 to victims will come from shareholders. In the absence of this fund, 02:32:56.116 --> 02:33:02.247 ratepayers would be responsible to pay these costs in full. Half under 02:33:02.259 --> 02:33:08.402 the funds establishment. Otherwise, ratepayers would be responsible to 02:33:08.414 --> 02:33:14.552 pay those prudent costs in full. The statute also directs the Wildfire 02:33:14.564 --> 02:33:20.626 Fund administrator to prioritize the use of shareholder contributions 02:33:20.638 --> 02:33:27.465 before any ratepayer contributions are used. And three very, very importantly, 02:33:27.477 --> 02:33:33.191 the Wildfire Fund ensures that victims of a catastrophic wildfire 02:33:33.203 --> 02:33:39.430 will be paid quickly and more quickly than is now occurring. We can see 02:33:39.442 --> 02:33:45.681 the difficulty and chaotic situation in the absence of fund the victims 02:33:45.693 --> 02:33:51.823 of the 2017 and 2018 fires and what they're having to deal with. Under 02:33:51.835 --> 02:33:57.805 the current scheme. The fund charge does not go into effect until an 02:33:57.817 --> 02:34:04.300 existing Department of Water Resource bond charge expires in 2020. It will 02:34:04.312 --> 02:34:10.374 be collected and imposed in the same way that this existing charge is 02:34:10.386 --> 02:34:16.519 collected. So what this means, in practice, is that customers will not 02:34:16.531 --> 02:34:22.677 see higher bills once the charge goes into effect, The old charge will 02:34:22.689 --> 02:34:29.262 expire. The new charge in the same amount and the same way will be opposed. 02:34:29.274 --> 02:34:35.339 Customers will not see higher bills once the charge goes into effect. 02:34:35.351 --> 02:34:41.396 This was a demanding schedule imposed by the statute. I recognize the 02:34:41.408 --> 02:34:47.292 party's very conscientious engagement throughout the schedule. This 02:34:47.304 --> 02:34:53.875 included several rounds of comments, a prehearing conference, oral argument 02:34:53.887 --> 02:34:59.864 from a diverse range of interveners. Like to, in particularly, thank 02:34:59.876 --> 02:35:05.751 Judge Doherty, who was very busy the past couple of months, he also 02:35:05.763 --> 02:35:11.910 authored the PG&E rate decision that we approved earlier, for his very 02:35:11.922 --> 02:35:18.323 diligent work on this important decision. Other staff who worked on this. 02:35:18.335 --> 02:35:24.662 With that, I turned to my fellow Commissioners and ask for your support. 02:35:24.687 --> 02:35:29.773 Thank you, Commissioner Rechtschaffen. 02:35:29.785 --> 02:35:34.451 Other Commissioners to comment? Commissioner Randolph? 02:35:34.476 --> 02:35:40.210 I just want to thank Commissioner 02:35:40.222 --> 02:35:46.551 Rechtschaffen and Judge Doherty. As a Commissioner Rechtschaffen 02:35:46.563 --> 02:35:52.498 fully summarized, AB1054 is lengthy statutory scheme. And it 02:35:52.510 --> 02:35:58.651 requires the Commission to take action very quickly on several 02:35:58.663 --> 02:36:04.958 different fronts and so I appreciate the work that they put into 02:36:04.970 --> 02:36:10.792 implementing the Legislature's direction with regard to the 02:36:10.804 --> 02:36:16.912 Wildfire Fund and its contributions from both shareholders and 02:36:16.924 --> 02:36:22.654 ratepayers. So thank you for your work on this proceeding. 02:36:22.679 --> 02:36:27.793 Other questioners comment? Yes, Commissioner Guzman Aceves? 02:36:27.818 --> 02:36:31.068 Thank you. Just to 02:36:31.080 --> 02:36:34.476 also reiterate my support for the decision as well 02:36:34.488 --> 02:36:37.677 as some of the elements that were raised in the 02:36:37.689 --> 02:36:40.957 statute, which creates a true responsibility for 02:36:40.969 --> 02:36:44.022 the utilities to actually be acting prudently 02:36:44.034 --> 02:36:47.166 to even access the fund. And I think this is a 02:36:47.178 --> 02:36:50.704 critical point because as Commissioner Rechtschaffen 02:36:50.716 --> 02:36:53.787 mentioned, had this fund not been established 02:36:53.799 --> 02:36:56.851 by statute, utility ratepayers would bear all 02:36:56.863 --> 02:36:59.993 of the cost, and moving forward. if again, the 02:37:00.005 --> 02:37:03.262 utility acts prudently, they will only bear half 02:37:03.274 --> 02:37:06.544 of those costs. I think this is a structure that 02:37:06.556 --> 02:37:09.410 the Legislature and the governor set up to 02:37:09.422 --> 02:37:12.622 really look to the future for a way to maintain 02:37:12.634 --> 02:37:15.627 affordability for ratepayers. I also want to 02:37:15.639 --> 02:37:19.112 highlight another very important provision that was 02:37:19.124 --> 02:37:22.571 included by the governor and the Legislature, which 02:37:22.583 --> 02:37:25.708 is very particular for PG&E. In that PG&E will 02:37:25.720 --> 02:37:28.706 not have the privilege of accessing the fund 02:37:28.718 --> 02:37:32.050 unless they come out of bankruptcy without a bill 02:37:32.062 --> 02:37:35.444 increase. And I think that's another very critical 02:37:35.456 --> 02:37:38.252 component of this statutory structure and 02:37:38.264 --> 02:37:41.386 another reason that I'm supporting it today. I 02:37:41.398 --> 02:37:44.666 also want to thank Judge Doherty for some of the 02:37:44.678 --> 02:37:48.192 clarifications that he made. Although they're small, 02:37:48.204 --> 02:37:51.331 I think they're very significant in clarifying 02:37:51.343 --> 02:37:54.397 that the Wildfire related costs that are paid 02:37:54.409 --> 02:37:57.609 out of the fund cannot be charged to ratepayers 02:37:57.621 --> 02:38:00.939 a second time. And this is a obvious structure of 02:38:00.951 --> 02:38:04.281 the statute. But again, I think the clarification 02:38:04.293 --> 02:38:07.550 is important to make here. So thank you for your 02:38:07.562 --> 02:38:10.498 work. And I am in support of this decision. 02:38:10.523 --> 02:38:13.229 Thank you. Yes, Commissioner Shiroma? 02:38:13.254 --> 02:38:20.730 Yes, thank you. I also want to echo thanks to Commission 02:38:20.742 --> 02:38:27.768 Rechtschaffen, Judge Doherty, and the team in bringing the this forward, as 02:38:27.780 --> 02:38:35.354 required by the statute. And for all the reasons that my colleagues have outlined 02:38:35.366 --> 02:38:42.675 as well, I want to amplified and add that this is a statewide fund. It applies 02:38:42.687 --> 02:38:49.796 to other investor owned utilities that would be participating, including San 02:38:49.808 --> 02:38:56.929 Diego Gas and Electric, Southern California Edison, PG&E is absolutely front 02:38:56.941 --> 02:39:04.334 and center in our minds. I know from my experience as an elected at a municipal 02:39:04.346 --> 02:39:11.380 utility in Sacramento, many of the same features of liability apply whether 02:39:11.392 --> 02:39:18.592 you’re an investor owned or an municipal in terms of the financial burden for 02:39:18.604 --> 02:39:25.816 assuring that wildfire victims are compensated fairly. Here we have a sharing 02:39:25.828 --> 02:39:32.849 of that between the customers, the ratepayers, and the shareholders, and in 02:39:32.861 --> 02:39:40.172 around that, similarly, whether you’re a municipal or an investor owned, these 02:39:40.184 --> 02:39:47.294 types of funds helped to defray the overall cost of capital to invest in the 02:39:47.306 --> 02:39:54.614 infrastructure. That's a very important attribute of this program, that access 02:39:54.626 --> 02:39:58.773 to lower cost capital. I'm very appreciative 02:39:58.785 --> 02:40:02.020 that in devising this fund that it 02:40:02.032 --> 02:40:09.160 is looking at the DWR fund that is expiring and extending that so that there 02:40:09.172 --> 02:40:16.458 isn't an increase in bills and that, overall, the goal for PG&E, coming out of 02:40:16.470 --> 02:40:23.768 bankruptcy, is to not increase the burden on customers. I also feel that, with 02:40:23.780 --> 02:40:31.164 the customers, through this legislation, stepping forward to continue that fund 02:40:31.176 --> 02:40:38.203 and to help with the ameliorating the mitigating of liability, that that is 02:40:38.215 --> 02:40:45.412 an essential and important feature, that customers are stepping forward, too, 02:40:45.424 --> 02:40:52.817 in a very big way. And as the judge is going through the bankruptcy proceedings 02:40:52.829 --> 02:41:00.216 for PG&E, this must be an essential feature. The customers have stepped forward 02:41:00.228 --> 02:41:06.980 and in looking at whatever PG&E looks like coming out of bankruptcy that 02:41:06.992 --> 02:41:14.650 that must be an important feature and must not be forgotten, that real people have 02:41:14.662 --> 02:41:21.961 stepped forward to reduce the liability for the utilities and the shareholders 02:41:21.973 --> 02:41:28.989 have a important, essential responsibility to do their part on a California 02:41:29.001 --> 02:41:35.937 that has a sustainability at using the best smarts we’ve got and financial 02:41:35.949 --> 02:41:43.702 smarts we've got because the customers have stepped forward to reduce the liability 02:41:43.714 --> 02:41:50.739 costs and to assure that wildfire victims and victims of climate change and 02:41:50.751 --> 02:41:58.140 these sorts of catastrophic events are fairly compensated. I do thank again the 02:41:58.152 --> 02:42:05.183 team for the work that has been done to bring forward the PD today. Thanks. 02:42:05.208 --> 02:42:09.542 Thank you, Commissioner Shiroma. There any other comments by the 02:42:09.554 --> 02:42:13.594 Commissioners at this? Seeing none. Will the agenda clerk please call the roll? 02:42:13.619 --> 02:42:15.232 For item 35. Commissioner Shiroma. 02:42:15.244 --> 02:42:15.796 02:42:17.628 Shiroma>Aye - Commissioner Guzman Aceves 02:42:17.653 --> 02:42:19.367 - Aye - 02:42:19.379 --> 02:42:21.044 Commissioner Randolph - Aye 02:42:21.068 --> 02:42:22.919 - Commissioner Rechtschaffen - 02:42:24.557 Rechtschaffen> Yes - President Batjer 02:42:24.583 --> 02:42:29.159 Aye. With that Item 35 is unanimously 02:42:29.171 --> 02:42:33.600 passed. Moving on now to item 36. Commissioner Randolph? 02:42:33.625 --> 02:42:37.485 Thank you. This is a proposed 02:42:37.497 --> 02:42:41.017 decision to extend the statutory deadline for our 02:42:41.029 --> 02:42:44.824 energy efficiency policy proceeding. The last scoping 02:42:44.836 --> 02:42:48.362 memo in this proceeding was issued in April 2018. 02:42:48.374 --> 02:42:52.237 Which is why we need to extend the 18 months statutory 02:42:52.249 --> 02:42:55.842 deadline. In looking back at that scoping memo, we 02:42:55.854 --> 02:42:59.512 have addressed or are addressing all of the issues, 02:42:59.524 --> 02:43:03.193 including establishing energy efficiency potentials 02:43:03.205 --> 02:43:06.714 and goals, revising the fuel substitution test to 02:43:06.726 --> 02:43:10.247 allow energy efficiency funds to be used for fuel 02:43:10.259 --> 02:43:14.197 switching from gas to electric, setting out contractual 02:43:14.209 --> 02:43:17.383 standards for local government partnerships. 02:43:17.395 --> 02:43:21.118 Immediately up next is a proposed decision on market 02:43:21.130 --> 02:43:24.443 transformation and the role of regional energy 02:43:24.455 --> 02:43:28.326 networks, which will be before you at our December 5th 02:43:28.338 --> 02:43:32.079 voting meeting. We're also working on a proposal for 02:43:32.091 --> 02:43:35.596 rules and standards for normalized metered energy 02:43:35.608 --> 02:43:39.828 consumption, NMEC, which is a new tool that takes advantage 02:43:39.840 --> 02:43:43.491 of technology and data to help us assess the impact 02:43:43.503 --> 02:43:46.884 of energy efficiency measures on energy savings 02:43:46.896 --> 02:43:50.825 closer to real time. And we have just held a prehearing 02:43:50.837 --> 02:43:54.286 conference on the order to show cause to examine 02:43:54.298 --> 02:43:58.022 SoCal Gas’s codes and standards behavior with regard 02:43:58.034 --> 02:44:01.630 to their energy efficiency funds. Next week, we're 02:44:01.642 --> 02:44:05.358 holding a two-day workshop on how the role of energy 02:44:05.370 --> 02:44:08.747 efficiency can evolve as the grid moves towards 02:44:08.759 --> 02:44:12.693 deeper decarbonization. This request is for a six-month 02:44:12.705 --> 02:44:16.088 extension until May 2020. That will allow us to 02:44:16.100 --> 02:44:19.749 complete all of the pending issues plus write a new 02:44:19.761 --> 02:44:23.564 rulemaking to chart the energy efficiency proceedings 02:44:23.576 --> 02:44:27.301 evolution and role as we continue to decarbonize the 02:44:27.313 --> 02:44:30.699 California grid. So thank you for your support. 02:44:30.724 --> 02:44:36.662 Thank you, Commissioner Randolph. Any comments on item number 02:44:36.674 --> 02:44:42.043 36? Okay. Seeing none, may I please ask the agenda clerk to call the roll? 02:44:42.068 --> 02:44:43.903 - For item 36. Commissioner Shiroma - 02:44:45.525 Shiroma> Aye. - Commissioner Guzman Aceves. 02:44:45.550 --> 02:44:46.865 - Aye. - 02:44:48.523 Clerk>Commissioner Randolph - Aye. 02:44:48.547 --> 02:44:49.769 Commissioner Rechtschaffen. 02:44:49.781 --> 02:44:50.264 02:44:51.790 Rechtschaffen> Yes - President Batjer. 02:44:51.815 --> 02:44:55.319 Aye. The vote is unanimous 02:44:55.331 --> 02:44:58.174 on item number 37. Moving now to, oh, 02:44:58.186 --> 02:45:01.510 excuse me, 36. Thank you for the correction. 02:45:01.522 --> 02:45:04.932 Item number 37. Again, Commissioner Randolph. 02:45:04.957 --> 02:45:11.252 Okay, this is the California American Water Hillview Water 02:45:11.264 --> 02:45:14.555 proceeding. And this proceeding needs to be 02:45:14.567 --> 02:45:18.171 extended. It is an application by CalAM to seek 02:45:18.183 --> 02:45:21.847 authority to purchase all shares of the Hillview 02:45:21.859 --> 02:45:25.160 Water Company. The administrative law judge 02:45:25.172 --> 02:45:28.316 in the preceding recently issued a ruling 02:45:28.328 --> 02:45:31.935 seeking clarification from CalAM and the Public 02:45:31.947 --> 02:45:34.851 Advocate's Office, also a party to the 02:45:34.863 --> 02:45:38.451 proceeding. The last filing in response to this 02:45:38.463 --> 02:45:41.597 ruling just came in yesterday. So a short 02:45:41.609 --> 02:45:45.204 extension until January 25, 2020, is needed. We 02:45:45.216 --> 02:45:48.722 are hopeful that we won't need that much time. 02:45:48.734 --> 02:45:52.176 This matter is already pending on our agenda. 02:45:52.188 --> 02:45:55.625 We held it, and it will appear in the future. 02:45:55.637 --> 02:45:58.486 So I ask for your support of item 37. 02:45:58.511 --> 02:46:03.018 All right, Are there any comments on item 37? 02:46:03.030 --> 02:46:07.344 I hope that it will be a short extension and you won't need to 02:46:07.356 --> 02:46:11.767 go all the way to January 2020. Thank you. Any other comments on 02:46:11.779 --> 02:46:16.270 item 37? Seeing none, will the agenda clerk please call the roll? 02:46:16.295 --> 02:46:18.279 - Item 37. Commissioner Shiroma - 02:46:20.106 Shiroma>Aye. - Commissioner Guzman Aceves. 02:46:20.131 --> 02:46:21.552 - Aye - 02:46:23.386 Clerk>Commissioner Randolph - Aye. 02:46:23.411 --> 02:46:25.277 - Commissioner Rechtschaffen - 02:46:26.928 Rechtschaffen>Yes - President Batjer, 02:46:26.953 --> 02:46:30.241 Aye. Thank you. The vote is unanimous. 02:46:30.253 --> 02:46:33.720 Moving now on to item number 38. Again, Commissioner Randolph. 02:46:33.745 --> 02:46:40.177 Okay. I promise that this is my last order extending 02:46:40.189 --> 02:46:46.549 statutory deadline. And as I discussed earlier, when we adopted the decision 02:46:46.561 --> 02:46:52.668 in the climate change adaptation proceeding, that we have always, in this 02:46:52.680 --> 02:46:59.461 proceeding, envisioned that we would have, that we would take quite a bit of time 02:46:59.473 --> 02:47:05.639 to go through each of the five topic areas in working with our other state 02:47:05.651 --> 02:47:12.407 agencies and parties in the proceeding. And so, I asked for an extension in order 02:47:12.419 --> 02:47:19.086 to continue this proceeding as we move forward on taking a look at the remaining 02:47:19.098 --> 02:47:25.200 issues that we're tackling in this proceeding. So I ask for your support. 02:47:25.200 --> 02:47:30.132 Thank you. Are there any questions of Commissioner Randolph 02:47:30.144 --> 02:47:34.779 on item number 38? Seeing non, wWill the agenda clerk please call the roll? 02:47:34.804 --> 02:47:36.777 - Item 38. Commissioner Shiroma - 02:47:38.624 Shiroma>Aye. - Commissioner Guzman Aceves. 02:47:38.649 --> 02:47:40.068 - Aye - 02:47:41.899 Clerk>Commissioner Randolph - Aye. 02:47:41.924 --> 02:47:43.801 - Commissioner Rechtschaffen - 02:47:45.463 Rechtschaffen>Yes - President Batjer, 02:47:45.488 --> 02:47:49.964 I The vote is unanimous on item 02:47:49.976 --> 02:47:54.636 number 38. Thank you. Thank you all. We're now moving 02:47:54.648 --> 02:47:59.257 on to the Commission Reports on the agenda. Who would 02:47:59.269 --> 02:48:03.463 like to speak first? Commissioner Guzman Aceves? 02:48:03.488 --> 02:48:07.285 Thank you. Just 02:48:07.297 --> 02:48:11.022 a real brief update. We held our last tribal 02:48:11.034 --> 02:48:14.257 workshop on the tribal land policy and 02:48:14.269 --> 02:48:18.498 telecommunications workshop for tribal communities 02:48:18.510 --> 02:48:22.309 in Pechanga. Commissioners Shiroma and I both 02:48:22.321 --> 02:48:25.718 attended. There were about 5 or 6 tribes 02:48:25.730 --> 02:48:32.785 from the region, very helpful conversation. And one of the requests that came out of 02:48:32.797 --> 02:48:36.997 that meeting was to have an additional opportunity 02:48:37.009 --> 02:48:40.395 for dialogue on the tribal policy. So we 02:48:40.407 --> 02:48:44.201 will be hosting our final webinar on the land 02:48:44.213 --> 02:48:47.853 policy October 31st and all the information 02:48:47.865 --> 02:48:54.807 is on the cpuc.ca.gov/tribal website. But it will be on Halloween from 10 to 11. So 02:48:54.819 --> 02:48:58.781 that will be our final workshopping via webinar 02:48:58.793 --> 02:49:02.022 for the tribal land policy. Thank you. 02:49:02.047 --> 02:49:03.169 Great. Thank you, 02:49:03.181 --> 02:49:04.584 Commissioner. Yes, Commissioner Rechtschaffen? 02:49:04.609 --> 02:49:08.044 On the way up here, 02:49:08.056 --> 02:49:11.365 I had the opportunity to meet with the Paskenta 02:49:11.377 --> 02:49:14.611 band of Indians, including their Chair, Andrew 02:49:14.623 --> 02:49:17.870 Alajandre, and their public works manager, Ted 02:49:17.882 --> 02:49:21.526 Williams. And just to follow up on what Commissioner 02:49:21.538 --> 02:49:24.298 Guzman Aceves mentioned, they were very 02:49:24.310 --> 02:49:27.547 interested in our pending tribal land transfer 02:49:27.559 --> 02:49:30.947 policy, had some comments, I think they're gonna 02:49:30.959 --> 02:49:34.257 be participating in the webinar. We also talked 02:49:34.269 --> 02:49:37.718 about the different options they're exploring for 02:49:37.730 --> 02:49:41.311 renewable energy and improving interview resiliency 02:49:41.323 --> 02:49:44.364 at their casino and surrounding facilities. 02:49:44.376 --> 02:49:47.539 I want to thank Rachel Hatch of the McConnell 02:49:47.551 --> 02:49:50.865 Foundation. She hosted a wonderful walking tour 02:49:50.877 --> 02:49:53.977 of the downtown yesterday for about 12 or 15 02:49:53.989 --> 02:49:57.239 of us at the PUC, showing us a lot of exciting 02:49:57.251 --> 02:50:00.614 projects in the city, including transit-friendly 02:50:00.626 --> 02:50:04.138 infill projects, which were especially significant 02:50:04.150 --> 02:50:07.381 to me and others who had worked on the state's 02:50:07.393 --> 02:50:10.497 cap and trade program, which is funding some 02:50:10.509 --> 02:50:14.013 of those projects. So there's a lot of interesting 02:50:14.025 --> 02:50:17.126 developments going on, and we were delighted 02:50:17.138 --> 02:50:20.372 to participate in a tour and see some of them. 02:50:20.384 --> 02:50:23.560 I also want to say also, just a lot of people 02:50:23.572 --> 02:50:26.936 have left, but it was extremely important for us 02:50:26.948 --> 02:50:30.393 to hear from local residents and public officials 02:50:30.405 --> 02:50:33.430 here at the meeting today about the impacts 02:50:33.442 --> 02:50:36.548 of the power shut offs on rural communities, 02:50:36.560 --> 02:50:40.272 isolated communities and otherwise. And it highlights 02:50:40.284 --> 02:50:43.249 how vitally important it is for us to have 02:50:43.261 --> 02:50:46.151 our meetings outside of San Francisco and 02:50:46.163 --> 02:50:49.755 throughout the state to hear from our constituents. 02:50:49.780 --> 02:50:52.050 Commissioner Shiroma? 02:50:52.050 --> 02:50:56.964 Thank you. So we just adopted the 02:50:56.976 --> 02:51:01.817 PG&E electric vehicle charging classifications structure 02:51:01.829 --> 02:51:06.238 and its connection to dynamic pricing. And it's the 02:51:06.250 --> 02:51:10.927 last week through the San Diego Gas and Electric, GRC, 02:51:10.939 --> 02:51:15.771 General Rate Case Phase Two, on which finally we held an 02:51:15.783 --> 02:51:20.541 all-day workshop on dynamic pricing, dynamic rates, and 02:51:20.553 --> 02:51:25.476 how price signals can reduce peak demand, and the impacts 02:51:25.488 --> 02:51:30.168 on first collecting the fixed costs for a utility. And 02:51:30.180 --> 02:51:35.095 there is so much more to learn. But I did learn a lot, we 02:51:35.107 --> 02:51:39.865 had, it was all day. We had various experts there, plus 02:51:39.877 --> 02:51:44.628 the utilities there to talk about their experiences and 02:51:44.640 --> 02:51:49.318 also the Kaiser as well, so more to follow in that GRC 02:51:49.330 --> 02:51:54.248 Phase two. And then we also had a all day workshop on the 02:51:54.260 --> 02:51:58.936 Lifeline program. Lifeline is the discount program for 02:51:58.948 --> 02:52:03.872 phone service and the phones themselves. We have launched 02:52:03.884 --> 02:52:08.480 two pilot programs towards increasing the signups for 02:52:08.492 --> 02:52:13.576 Lifeline. And there are, we heard about three more possible 02:52:13.588 --> 02:52:18.090 pilot programs. We’ll see if they are something that 02:52:18.102 --> 02:52:22.683 the PUC will eventually approve. They're still in the 02:52:22.695 --> 02:52:27.542 proposal phase. One of them is the San Francisco Central 02:52:27.554 --> 02:52:32.387 City Single Room Occupancy Collaborative. They worked in 02:52:32.399 --> 02:52:37.243 the Tenderloin, and they proposed a very modest proposal 02:52:37.255 --> 02:52:42.094 for outreach and education for its low income residents. 02:52:42.106 --> 02:52:46.872 And then True Connect is proposing a telehealth system, 02:52:46.884 --> 02:52:51.714 partnering with medical referral agencies who are taking 02:52:51.726 --> 02:52:56.144 care of medical patients, patients and clients, and 02:52:56.156 --> 02:53:00.908 whether or not there's something there to help increase 02:53:00.920 --> 02:53:05.854 Lifeline partnerships. And then Green Lining has proposed 02:53:05.866 --> 02:53:10.700 advancing the Lifeline current online enrollment process 02:53:10.712 --> 02:53:15.303 towards making it a better digital experience towards 02:53:15.315 --> 02:53:20.070 increasing the sign ups. So more to follow on that. And 02:53:20.082 --> 02:53:24.594 then on a totally different topic, we had an all day 02:53:24.606 --> 02:53:29.602 workshop on the autonomous vehicle program and to increase 02:53:29.614 --> 02:53:34.283 the number of pilots that are testing out with drivers 02:53:34.295 --> 02:53:38.957 with technicians in the cars on the autonomous vehicle 02:53:38.969 --> 02:53:43.474 effort, and that is geared towards a whole new model 02:53:43.486 --> 02:53:48.230 of transportation for people. We heard extensively from 02:53:48.242 --> 02:53:52.828 the disabled community, saying that this is something 02:53:52.840 --> 02:53:57.591 that is looked to as a very viable and safe way to seek 02:53:57.603 --> 02:54:02.450 transportation, which was very interesting to hear their 02:54:02.462 --> 02:54:07.290 perspective. We heard from the current pilot programs of 02:54:07.302 --> 02:54:12.143 which include companies called Zookes, Waymo, Auto X and 02:54:12.155 --> 02:54:16.904 Pony AI on It's a very innovative, new, again, paradigm 02:54:16.916 --> 02:54:22.102 changing program in terms of how we plan for transportation, 02:54:22.114 --> 02:54:26.775 replace transportation, or augment transportation, and 02:54:26.787 --> 02:54:31.630 in around that, we're looking at how does the autonomous 02:54:31.642 --> 02:54:36.734 vehicle program advance our greenhouse gas reduction goals. 02:54:36.746 --> 02:54:41.340 And I really appreciated attending, with Commissioner 02:54:41.352 --> 02:54:46.009 Guzman Aceves, the Pechanga Tribe tribal consultation, 02:54:46.021 --> 02:54:50.605 posted by the Pechanga tribe, the tribal consultation 02:54:50.617 --> 02:54:55.280 discussion to hear the perspectives from the tribes on 02:54:55.292 --> 02:55:00.393 access to broadband and what happens with the land transfer 02:55:00.405 --> 02:55:05.745 policy that we are devising because the utilities historically 02:55:05.757 --> 02:55:10.174 have, from the 1800s into the early 1900s, garnered 02:55:10.186 --> 02:55:14.682 thousands of acres of tribal lands. And what happens 02:55:14.694 --> 02:55:19.287 as utilities transfer those lands back to the tribes? 02:55:19.299 --> 02:55:23.873 And I do also want to echo the thanks for Redding for 02:55:23.885 --> 02:55:28.896 hosting us, for Shasta County. I had a chance to go to the 02:55:28.908 --> 02:55:33.828 Sundial Bridge yesterday evening on to see, just a little 02:55:33.840 --> 02:55:38.431 little piece of the very lovely area here next to the 02:55:38.443 --> 02:55:43.275 mighty Sacramento River. And one of those things, as far 02:55:43.287 --> 02:55:47.705 as driving up Highway 5, when you see Mount Shasta, 02:55:47.717 --> 02:55:52.385 that is such an iconic view of the Northern California 02:55:52.397 --> 02:55:57.162 experience. I do thank all for the hospitality. Thanks. 02:55:57.187 --> 02:55:59.024 Thank you very much, 02:55:59.036 --> 02:56:01.290 Commissioner Shiroma. Yes, Commissioner Randolph? 02:56:01.290 --> 02:56:05.694 I just wanted to take a moment to 02:56:05.706 --> 02:56:10.121 thank my colleagues and Commission staff with regard to the 02:56:10.133 --> 02:56:14.322 ongoing PG&E general rate case. The evidentiary hearings 02:56:14.334 --> 02:56:18.608 in that case ended last week. There was nearly a month of 02:56:18.620 --> 02:56:22.731 hearings, with almost 50 expert witnesses testifying on 02:56:22.743 --> 02:56:26.941 topics as diverse and arcane as depreciation, taxes, gas 02:56:26.953 --> 02:56:30.997 pipeline maintenance, vegetation management, emergency 02:56:31.009 --> 02:56:35.728 preparedness. The two ALJs on the case, Raphael Arog and Elaine 02:56:35.740 --> 02:56:40.145 Lao did an excellent job of conducting the lengthy hearings 02:56:40.157 --> 02:56:44.132 in an efficient and orderly manner. But what I really 02:56:44.144 --> 02:56:48.629 wanted to highlight was the 17 public participation hearings 02:56:48.641 --> 02:56:52.990 that we held in July and August related to that proceeding 02:56:53.002 --> 02:56:57.631 throughout PG&E Service territory in nine different locations. 02:56:57.643 --> 02:57:01.695 Those hearings were to make sure we had an opportunity 02:57:01.707 --> 02:57:06.047 to listen to the experiences that PG&E customers have with 02:57:06.059 --> 02:57:10.264 their service and their comments about how proposed rate 02:57:10.276 --> 02:57:14.680 changes would affect their communities and families. I want 02:57:14.692 --> 02:57:18.814 to thank my fellow Commissioners for taking the time to 02:57:18.826 --> 02:57:23.089 attend several PPHs. This was before your time, President 02:57:23.101 --> 02:57:27.597 Batjer, but Commissioner Shiroma and former President Picker 02:57:27.609 --> 02:57:31.353 attended in Chico, Commissioners Guzman Aceves and 02:57:31.365 --> 02:57:35.931 Rechtschaffen, attended with me an evening PPH in Santa Rosa. 02:57:35.943 --> 02:57:40.504 Commissioner Guzman Aceves’ office attended Stockton PPHs. In 02:57:40.516 --> 02:57:44.942 Chico, we heard directly from several survivors of the Camp 02:57:44.954 --> 02:57:49.507 Fire. And in Santa Rosa we heard from survivors of the Tubb’s 02:57:49.519 --> 02:57:53.789 Fire. They spoke of the devastation that they experienced 02:57:53.801 --> 02:57:57.844 and just the sheer terror of going through that, as we 02:57:57.856 --> 02:58:02.133 heard from the supervisor earlier. Many customers express 02:58:02.145 --> 02:58:06.627 difficulty in knowing how to plan for power safety shut offs 02:58:06.639 --> 02:58:11.060 and the concern about those events that we also heard about 02:58:11.072 --> 02:58:15.635 today. In Oakland, we heard from a disability rights advocacy 02:58:15.647 --> 02:58:19.631 activist, Marge Hall, who voiced frustration over the 02:58:19.643 --> 02:58:23.750 company's inability to articulate systemic solutions to 02:58:23.762 --> 02:58:28.176 prepare for those PSPS events. She talked about the need to 02:58:28.188 --> 02:58:32.374 think both broadly and individually, about how to ensure 02:58:32.386 --> 02:58:37.027 there's power for the types of equipment that residents depend 02:58:37.039 --> 02:58:41.002 on. Many commenters talked about affordability, about 02:58:41.014 --> 02:58:45.651 struggling to pay their bills. We heard from Mary Helen Borrow 02:58:45.663 --> 02:58:50.074 in Bakersfield, who's 81 years old and worked on the Apollo 02:58:50.086 --> 02:58:54.213 11 and 13 missions. She spoke about those affordability 02:58:54.225 --> 02:58:58.628 concerns as a result of bill increases for senior citizens, 02:58:58.640 --> 02:59:02.761 and she was concerned about the lack of transparency in 02:59:02.773 --> 02:59:07.108 terms of the company's engagement with their community and 02:59:07.120 --> 02:59:11.468 prioritization of the maintenance work they're doing right 02:59:11.480 --> 02:59:15.959 now. In Oakland, we heard from Dr Reverend Michael Jones and 02:59:15.971 --> 02:59:20.168 Pastor Lawrence Van Hook, who worked daily to inform and 02:59:20.180 --> 02:59:24.519 help eligible customers sign up for the CARE program. They 02:59:24.531 --> 02:59:28.955 expressed frustration about the level of community outreach 02:59:28.967 --> 02:59:33.296 and education, and they shared stories about how that work 02:59:33.308 --> 02:59:37.648 could improve. So we had a lot of conversations throughout 02:59:37.660 --> 02:59:41.774 the state about safe and reliable service at affordable 02:59:41.786 --> 02:59:46.280 rates. That's the purpose of a general rate case, to set the 02:59:46.292 --> 02:59:50.624 utilities’ funding level such that the utility can provide 02:59:50.636 --> 02:59:54.906 that service with an eye toward understanding the impacts 02:59:54.918 --> 02:59:59.550 on customers and the affordability impacts of those decisions. 02:59:59.562 --> 03:00:03.396 So I really appreciated hearing directly from those 03:00:03.408 --> 03:00:07.959 individuals. As we continue to work through that case, I want 03:00:07.971 --> 03:00:12.313 to thank, in addition, to, ALJs LaRock and Lao, um, I also 03:00:12.325 --> 03:00:16.293 wanted to thank ALJs Gerald Kelly and Valerie Gao for 03:00:16.305 --> 03:00:20.874 volunteering to preside over PPHs in Fresno, Bakersfield, and 03:00:20.886 --> 03:00:25.072 San Luis Obispo. So, I would just want to thank everyone 03:00:25.084 --> 03:00:29.429 for all their work on this. There's a lot of work to go in 03:00:29.441 --> 03:00:33.928 that proceeding, but taking a moment to go out and hear from 03:00:33.940 --> 03:00:38.070 the public was a really important step in that process. 03:00:38.095 --> 03:00:42.992 Thank you so much, Commissioner Randolph, 03:00:43.004 --> 03:00:47.754 for that robust report. I want to very briefly just mention 03:00:47.766 --> 03:00:52.827 again the emergency meeting that the CPUC held in San Francisco 03:00:52.839 --> 03:00:57.199 on Friday the 18th of October, wherein we reviewed and 03:00:57.211 --> 03:01:02.110 questioned PG&E leadership, including board members and their 03:01:02.122 --> 03:01:06.479 C-suite representatives on the implementation, or lack 03:01:06.491 --> 03:01:11.158 thereof, properly of the PSPS that occurred two weeks ago. 03:01:11.170 --> 03:01:16.167 Now, we will as was noted earlier, we will have weekly updates 03:01:16.179 --> 03:01:20.998 from PG&E on the response to the letter that the PUC, signed 03:01:21.010 --> 03:01:25.524 by me, sent to the CEO Johnson. And we will also have an 03:01:25.536 --> 03:01:30.044 after action report that will further inform us on their 03:01:30.056 --> 03:01:34.892 improvements in the implementation and strategy and analysis 03:01:34.904 --> 03:01:39.806 before indeed going to the action of last resort, and that is 03:01:39.818 --> 03:01:44.731 instituting a PSPS. I do want to also mention that yesterday, 03:01:44.743 --> 03:01:49.491 Commissioner Guzman Aceves and I had the honor to meet with 03:01:49.503 --> 03:01:54.026 several of the local officials, had a really interesting 03:01:54.038 --> 03:01:58.618 discussion with them about PSPS. Also telecommunications, 03:01:58.630 --> 03:02:03.698 broadband needs, and other important things that were discussed 03:02:03.710 --> 03:02:08.058 today as well as, specifically yesterday, with them. I 03:02:08.070 --> 03:02:12.589 want to thank Mayor Stan Neutze of the City of Anderson, 03:02:12.601 --> 03:02:17.581 along with City Manager Jeff Kaiser. We also enjoyed a meeting 03:02:17.593 --> 03:02:22.188 with Shasta County Chair of Board of Supervisors, Leonard 03:02:22.200 --> 03:02:27.106 Moty, who is also here today. As well as Shasta County Public 03:02:27.118 --> 03:02:31.482 Works Director Pat Mintern and Shasta County Executive 03:02:31.494 --> 03:02:36.471 Officer Larry Lees. Very interesting and helpful conversations 03:02:36.483 --> 03:02:40.839 that also go to the importance of the Commission being 03:02:40.851 --> 03:02:45.915 able to meet outside of San Francisco, in particular, sometimes 03:02:45.927 --> 03:02:50.130 Sacramento, and hearing from our fellow Californians 03:02:50.142 --> 03:02:55.203 about their needs, desires and concerns. I also want to mention 03:02:55.215 --> 03:02:59.891 to the audience, that we will be holding an SB100 workshop 03:02:59.903 --> 03:03:04.652 that will be discussing decarbonization and decarbonization 03:03:04.664 --> 03:03:09.108 goals here in Redding tomorrow. So Commissioner Shiroma 03:03:09.120 --> 03:03:13.856 and I will have the delight to be here again, this evening, 03:03:13.868 --> 03:03:18.457 and be with you tomorrow. The meeting will be held at the 03:03:18.469 --> 03:03:23.449 Redding Electricity Utility Office at 3611 Ave Tech Parkway. I 03:03:23.461 --> 03:03:28.294 don't have the time of that meeting. 10 a.m. Thank you. It's 03:03:28.306 --> 03:03:33.283 10 AM, so please join us. I think this will be a very fruitful 03:03:33.295 --> 03:03:37.808 discussion, and we look forward to hearing comments from 03:03:37.820 --> 03:03:42.644 the community as well. I want to mention an appointment that 03:03:42.656 --> 03:03:47.096 Governor Newsom made to the PUC. Caroline Thomas Jacobs 03:03:47.108 --> 03:03:51.924 was recently appointed by Governor Newsom as director of the 03:03:51.936 --> 03:03:56.369 Wild Fire Safety Division at the CPUC. The division was 03:03:56.381 --> 03:04:01.442 established under 1054 which was signed by the Governor on July 03:04:01.454 --> 03:04:06.130 12th. Carolyn brings a wealth of public and private sector 03:04:06.142 --> 03:04:10.644 experience to her new role at the CPUC, including having 03:04:10.656 --> 03:04:15.171 served as Chief of Response Headquarters, Operations and 03:04:15.183 --> 03:04:20.167 Statewide Data Sharing Coordinator at CalOES, regional project 03:04:20.179 --> 03:04:24.620 manager for the Bay Area Urban Area Security Initiative 03:04:24.632 --> 03:04:29.527 at California Resiliency Alliance, and Eastbay Hub planner at 03:04:29.539 --> 03:04:34.209 the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office Emergency Service 03:04:34.221 --> 03:04:38.884 division. She is a volunteer search and rescue team member 03:04:38.896 --> 03:04:43.254 for Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office, and I'm sure 03:04:43.266 --> 03:04:47.927 my Commissioners join me in welcoming Caroline to the PUC. 03:04:47.939 --> 03:04:52.532 She has such a valuable experience. We can't wait to plug 03:04:52.544 --> 03:04:57.131 it in. Again, I want to add my voice to that of my fellow 03:04:57.143 --> 03:05:01.663 Commissioners, thanking the community of Redding and the 03:05:01.675 --> 03:05:06.650 surrounding cities and unincorporated areas, and Shasta County 03:05:06.662 --> 03:05:11.413 and Butte County, who was also represented here today. This 03:05:11.425 --> 03:05:16.169 has been a very interesting and fruitful day. Last evening, 03:05:16.181 --> 03:05:20.779 we've mentioned some of the activities that we've engaged 03:05:20.791 --> 03:05:25.215 in, so again, our heartfelt thanks to the community for 03:05:25.227 --> 03:05:30.297 welcoming us and sharing so many important things with us. That 03:05:30.309 --> 03:05:34.897 finishes the Commissioners’ report. I want to again thank 03:05:34.909 --> 03:05:39.510 everyone for coming. The public meeting is now adjourned.