CPUC Annual Report Highlights 2020 Achievements
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) today released its 2020 Annual Report highlighting actions taken over the past year to assist families dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, improve utility wildfire safety measures, ensure electricity reliability, and other measures.
“While much has been done to protect and empower customers this past year, we know much work remains,” CPUC President Marybel Batjer wrote to Governor Newsom and the Legislature in submitting the report. “The severity of the pandemic and the overlaying acceleration of climate change make the urgency of this work that much more important. In this new and evolving landscape, we remain steadfast in our commitment to provide clean, safe, and reliable utility service to Californians and protect our most vulnerable customers.”
The includes an overview of certain noteworthy achievements for 2020, including:
- Protecting consumers against utility disconnections and high bills during the pandemic
- Improving utility wildfire mitigation and Public Safety Power Shutoff events
- Increasing electric grid and communication network reliability during emergency events
- Approving a record amount of energy storage contracts for utilities
- Ensuring PG&E’s reorganization plan included new governance, oversight, and accountability requirements
- Adoption of a new enforcement policy to better serve the public through transparent, robust, and consistent enforcement for regulated utilities
- Advancing the CPUC’s Environmental Justice and Social Action Plan, and other steps taken to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion both externally and within the CPUC
- Implementing a new Tribal Land Policy aimed at giving tribes with historical interest in property the right of first refusal before a public utility disposes the land on the open market
- Assisting Californians by handling more than 16,000 complaints, resulting in more than $1.4 million in refunds to consumers
The Annual Report is required by Section 911 of the state’s Public Utilities Code, and is on the CPUC’s website at www.cpuc.ca.gov/annualreports.
The CPUC regulates services and utilities, protects consumers, safeguards the environment, and assures Californians’ access to safe and reliable utility infrastructure and services. For more information on the CPUC, please visit www.cpuc.ca.gov.
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