New Energization Timelines Designed to Generate Faster Customer Connections

More help is on the way for Californians who need new electric and gas service-and the utilities that support them.

The California Public Utilities Commission recently adopted new timelines for investor-owned utilities such as PG&E to make new-service connections and capacity upgrades. The utilities must also report when their time periods exceed state targets, and fix issues that cause missed targets.

If utilities meet the new targets, the maximum time it takes for grid connections would be cut nearly in half, the Commission said.

"We're pleased with the state's new energization timelines, which are based on collective input from the California Public Utilities Commission and our stakeholders," said Matt Ventura, senior director of Service Planning & Design (SP&D) at PG&E. "Beyond allowing us to further strengthen our standard of service, these new rules help set standards for our customers so that they know what to expect during the new-service connections process."

Development industry officials also praised the new rules.

"Energizing new homes, businesses and clean-energy projects is essential to helping meet California's economic and environmental goals," said California Building Industry Association President and CEO Dan Dunmoyer. "That is why we partnered with PG&E's legislative team to work on Assembly Bill 50 and Senate Bill 410. These bills have laid the foundation for resources to improve the energization timelines that are so critical for all of us to meet."

Timelines vary by project type

The Commission adopted several categories of timelines.

To extend electric distribution lines of less than 50 kilovolts (kV) for permanent electric service to applicants including new-home developers, the average energization target is 182 calendar days, with a maximum of 357 calendar days.

For service lines, which extend from a transformer to an individual customer's meter, the average energization target is also 182 calendar days, with a maximum of 335 calendar days. These types of applications can include homeowners building an addition to their home, as well as EV charging stations, data centers or commercial developments.

On the capacity side, the maximum timeline for a new or upgraded section of powerline is 684 calendar days. A new substation carries a timeline of 3,242 calendar days, partly to account for complicated easement and environmental-review work.

The timelines apply only to periods during which utilities are in charge of the process. They do not include the time it takes for customers to pay their contract or get their site construction-ready, including obtaining building permits.

Utilities will submit biannual reports to the Commission detailing average times between application and work completion. If they miss target times, they will explain why, and provide analysis of factors affecting energization, including funding, staffing and equipment availability.

Utilities will file their initial energization reports to outline compliance efforts and status on March 31, 2025. The Commission will host a public workshop within 90 days of the filings to discuss energizations.

Ventura said the energization reports will play a key role in continued regulatory and process improvements.

"We look forward to providing Commissioners the information they need to understand the issues that can affect the timeliness of new-service connections," he said.

'A daily focus'

The Commission's new timelines took effect immediately and apply to PG&E's entire portfolio of new-service work. PG&E reduced by 30% its backlog of work in 2023, but the remaining backlog means the company will need roughly two years to fully comply with the timelines.

Ventura said PG&E's 1,200 SP&D coworkers are focused on working safely and as quickly as possible to comply. SP&D has established a centralized team to "bring a daily focus to accelerating our connections."

SP&D is on pace to connect up to 3,000 more customers in 2024 than in 2023, when it connected more than 11,000 customers.

"Since early 2023, we've put in a tremendous amount of work to transform our processes," Ventura said.

Eighteen months ago, the team met customer on-time delivery dates just 5% of the time. Today, the team's customer on-time delivery rate is approaching 50%. The new energization regulations will help SP&D achieve its goal of 80% customer on-time delivery by the end of 2025.

That's because the state laws that mandated energization timelines also allowed the Commission to approve additional funding to close funding gaps.

"While it will take time to meet these targets for all our customers, we do have a path forward through these laws, which provide both funding and accountability for utilities to continue to better serve their customers," Ventura said.

The Commission voted in July to allow PG&E to invest up to $2.3 billion through 2026 to energize new projects. That's on top of $2.5 billion in company revenue already designated for new service connections through the company's 2023 General Rate Case.

The revenue was roughly half of what PG&E needs to meet the new timelines. The company plans to file a revenue request this fall to ask for the other half, based on guidance from the Commission.

The Commission will review all spending to ensure it is just and reasonable. Spending the allowed $2.3 billion would result in less than a 1% annual systemwide bill increase.

To understand why utilities need additional revenue to comply with stepped-up energization timelines, consider what customer payments cover.

As with customer bill payments, new-service connection payments cover less than half of the actual cost of providing service, with the rest going to support various subsidies and state policies that incentivize clean energy.

Also, utilities forecast budgets for new-service and capacity work three years in advance based on the General Rate Case cycle. As electric use across California surged in recent years following decades of flat demand, forecasts have fallen short and led to a backlog of work.

Now, said Ventura, the new regulations "provide real momentum to resolve our energization backlog."

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