CPUC Issues Proposal Establishing Independent Safety Monitor Over PG&E
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), in continued efforts to hold Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) accountable for its safety performance, today issued for public comment a scope of work for an Independent Safety Monitor. The proposal will be on the CPUC’s July 15 Voting Meeting agenda.
As a condition of approving PG&E’s plan for exiting bankruptcy in May 2020, the CPUC determined it necessary that an Independent Safety Monitor succeed the Federal Monitor that was appointed as part of PG&E’s probation in criminal court. The Federal Monitor’s work ends in 2022. By creating an Independent Safety Monitor, the CPUC is enhancing its oversight of PG&E to ensure the utility focuses on long-term outcomes that promote safety and reliability. The Independent Safety Monitor will be selected by and report to the CPUC.
In March 2021, PG&E’s proposal with recommended oversight responsibilities for the Independent Safety Monitor was issued for public comment. The proposal issued today by the CPUC incorporates feedback received and proposes a scope of work, budget, and length of term.
Under the proposal, the term of the Independent Safety Monitor will begin before the Federal Monitor completes its term and continue for five years. The term can be extended based on PG&E’s performance. The proposal sets the annual operating budget at $5 million and proposes these costs be paid by PG&E shareholders.
The CPUC’s oversight of PG&E includes exercising its broad investigation and enforcement authority, examining of rates and costs, pressing for progress on the utility’s efforts to reduce the risk of wildfire ignited by its equipment, ensuring safe execution of Public Safety Power Shutoffs, regulating the safety of the utility’s natural gas system, and ensuring PG&E is progressing toward modernizing its electric grid.
Under the proposal issued today, the Independent Safety Monitor will support the CPUC in ensuring PG&E prioritizes and executes the highest level of risk reduction across all levels of the company, from senior officials to field personnel, and will assess PG&E’s risk management activities in the field. The Independent Safety Monitor will support the CPUC’s efforts to ensure PG&E has in place a risk assessment process that identifies where its operations and infrastructure create the greatest risk to public safety. The Independent Safety Monitor will also monitor PG&E’s safety-related recordkeeping and record management systems to ensure modernization efforts are informed by prior failures and support safe system construction, operation, and maintenance in PG&E’s electric and natural gas lines of business.
The proposal is available at www.cpuc.ca.gov/pgechapter11. Public comment on the proposal may be sent to public.advisor@cpuc.ca.gov.
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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