ALJ/SRT/avs Date of Issuance 3/18/2020 Decision 20-03-004 March 12, 2020 THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA Order Instituting Rulemaking to Implement Electric Utility Wildfire Mitigation Plans Rulemaking 18-10-007 Pursuant to Senate Bill 901 (2018). DECISION ON COMMUNITY AWARENESS AND PUBLIC OUTREACH BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER A WILDFIRE, AND EXPLAINING NEXT STEPS FOR OTHER PHASE 2 ISSUES 329824881 - 1 – R.18-10-007 ALJ/SRT/avs Liberty 133-E Grant PacifiCorp 596-E Deny without prejudice 7. Bear Valley may only de-energize the line it identifies as the “Radford Line” if such de-energization complies with the Commission’s existing de-energization rules, as set forth in Resolution ESRB-8 and R.18-12-005. 8. The Commission’s process for determining effectiveness of a wildfire mitigation measure is separate from the Off-Ramp Advice Letter process. 9. Public safety requires that outreach reaches the intended audience. 10. Public safety requires that the IOUs and SMJUs survey the communities where they conduct outreach and use other metrics to determine that they are using effective methods. 11. The Commission issues expanded outreach requirements pursuant to its obligation to assure Californians’ access to safe and reliable utility infrastructure and services. ORDER IT IS ORDERED that: 1. No later than May 15, 2020, each Investor Owned Utility (IOU) and Small and Multi-Jurisdictional Utility (SMJU) shall demonstrate to the Commission’s satisfaction that it conducts community awareness and public outreach before, during, and after a wildfire in any language that is “prevalent” in its service territory or portions thereof. A language is “prevalent” if it is spoken by 1,000 or more people in the affected IOU’s or SMJU’s service territory. Such languages shall include languages spoken by indigenous communities, such as Mixteco and Zapoteco, spoken by indigenous people that occupy significant roles in California’s agricultural economy regardless of prevalence. An IOU or SMJU - 37 - R.18-10-007 ALJ/SRT/avs 23. The Tier 3 Off-Ramp Advice Letters filed by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), Southern California Edison Company (SCE), San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E), Bear Valley Electric Service (Bear Valley), Liberty Utilities (Liberty), and PacifiCorp,) in accordance with Decision 19-05-036 are granted or denied as set forth in the following table. Utility AL Grant or Deny? Grant with limitations. PG&E 5703-E This decision takes no action on PG&E’s timelines. Deny “Battery Backup Incentive Program” portion SCE 4120-E without prejudice SDG&E 3472-E Grant Grant with conditions. Bear Valley must comply with the Commission’s Bear Valley 374-E existing de-energization rules as set forth in Resolution ESRB-8 and Rulemaking 18-12-005. Liberty 133-E Grant PacifiCorp 596-E Deny without prejudice The foregoing Advice Letters and protests to them are incorporated into the record of this decision and the ex parte rules related to ratesetting proceedings apply to them. 24. This decision makes no determination on the effectiveness of wildfire mitigation measures addressed or proposed in the Advice Letters filed by Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Southern California Edison Company, San Diego Gas & Electric Company, Bear Valley Electric Service, Liberty Utilities, and PacifiCorp. 25. Nothing in this decision is intended to change any state or local emergency requirements, rules, protocols or agreements on the content of utility communications during a wildfire. - 43 - ADVICE LETTER SUMMARY ENERGY UTILITY MUST BE COMPLETED BY UTILITY (Attach additional pages as needed) Company name/CPUC Utility No.: Bear Valley Electric Service (913-E) Utility type: Contact Person: Nguyen Quan ✔ ELC GAS WATER Phone #: (909) 394-3600 x664 E-mail: [email protected] PLC HEAT E-mail Disposition Notice to: [email protected] EXPLANATION OF UTILITY TYPE (Date Submitted / Received Stamp by CPUC) ELC = Electric GAS = Gas WATER = Water PLC = Pipeline HEAT = Heat Advice Letter (AL) #: 374-E Tier Designation: 3 Subject of AL: Reports on Possible Off Ramps Keywords (choose from CPUC listing): Compliance, Report AL Type: Monthly Quarterly Annual ✔ One-Time Other: If AL submitted in compliance with a Commission order, indicate relevant Decision/Resolution #: Decision No. 19-05-036 Does AL replace a withdrawn or rejected AL? If so, identify the prior AL: No Summarize differences between the AL and the prior withdrawn or rejected AL: N/A Confidential treatment requested? Yes ✔ No If yes, specification of confidential information: Confidential information will be made available to appropriate parties who execute a nondisclosure agreement. Name and contact information to request nondisclosure agreement/ access to confidential information: Resolution required? ✔ Yes No Requested effective date: 12/1/19 No. of tariff sheets: 0 Estimated system annual revenue effect (%): 0.0 Estimated system average rate effect (%): 0.0 When rates are affected by AL, include attachment in AL showing average rate effects on customer classes (residential, small commercial, large C/I, agricultural, lighting). Tariff schedules affected: None Service affected and changes proposed1: See Advice Letter Pending advice letters that revise the same tariff sheets: None 1Discuss in AL if more space is needed. Clear Form Protests and all other correspondence regarding this AL are due no later than 20 days after the date of this submittal, unless otherwise authorized by the Commission, and shall be sent to: Name: Nguyen Quan CPUC, Energy Division Title: Regulatory Affairs Manager Attention: Tariff Unit Utility Name: Bear Valley Electric Service 505 Van Ness Avenue Address: 630 E. Foothill Blvd. San Francisco, CA 94102 City: San Dimas State: Email: [email protected] Telephone (xxx) xxx-xxxx: (909) 394-3600 x 664 Facsimile (xxx) xxx-xxxx: (909) 394-7427 Email: [email protected] Name: Ronald Moore Title: Senior Regulatory Analyst Utility Name: Bear Valley Electric Service Address: 630 E. Foothill Blvd. City: San Dimas State: California Telephone (xxx) xxx-xxxx: (909) 394-3600 x 682 Facsimile (xxx) xxx-xxxx: (909) 394-7427 Email: [email protected] Clear Form November 20, 2019 Advice Letter No. 374-E (913 E) California Public Utilities Commission Attention: Energy Division Advice Letter Filings Room 4005 Golden State Water Company (“GSWC”) hereby transmits for filing an original and two conformed copies of the following tariff sheets applicable to its Bear Valley Electric Service (“BVES”) district: SUBJECT: Reports on Possible Off Ramps PURPOSE In Decision No. (“D.”) 19-05-040, the California Public Utilities Commission (“Commission”) authorized BVES to, among other things, implement a system hardening program to replace bare conductor wire with covered conductor. The purpose of this filing is to inform the Commission and the Safety & Enforcement Division (“SED”) that the proposed system-hardening program must be revised and will be delayed due to high bid costs. BACKGROUND The Radford Line Covered Conductor Replacement Project In D.19-05-040, the Commission approves BVES’s Wildfire Mitigation Plan (“WMP”). In its WMP, BVES proposes to replace bare electric conductors with a high performance covered conductors as part of its system-hardening program. This infrastructure hardening effort included BVES’s Radford Line Covered Conductor Replacement Project (hereafter “Radford Line” or “Radford”). BVES proposes the strengthening of the Radford Line for the following reasons: i. The Radford Line is mostly located in the High Fire Threat District (“HFTD”) Tier 3 area, and more specifically, it poses the highest risk to wildfires of all of BVES’s overhead facilities; ii. Since the bare wire of the Radford Line must be replaced with the heavier covered wire, 63 poles on the Line will need to be replaced due to loading considerations; Advice Letter No. 374-E 2 November 20, 2019 iii. The Radford Line is mostly located in a densely vegetated area and very steep terrain that is difficult to patrol with few service roads or trails that trucks can traverse. Therefore, the 63 poles would require the use of a helicopter for installation and removal. In addition, most of the pole holes would need to be hand dug down to about 7.5 feet or more. Together, these noted factors drive up the cost of the project. BVES is keenly aware of the expenses of upgrading the Radford Line and the timeframe within which BVES must execute the WMP. BVES estimated that the costs to replace bare wire with a high performance covered conductor on the Radford Line to be $2,500,000 (WMP at page 23). BVES is also cognizant of the potential delay in starting the project, which could be deferred until the spring of 2020 (WMP at page 23). Project Bids and Plan BVES issued a request for proposal (“RFP”) for contractors to design and construct the Radford Line project and received three bids. All three bids were significantly higher than BVES’s estimated cost for the Radford Line project. The cost variance between BVES and the three bidders ranges from $1,348,000 to $4,427,000 higher. As a result, BVES requested new bids with a scope of work for the design only. The intent was to develop construction drawings so that contractors could then bid again on the construction part of the job knowing the full design specifications. This would remove risks typically inherent in design-build projects and allow contractors to remove contingencies from their pricing. This additional bidding process inserted delays in the project schedule. The design project was ultimately awarded in September 2019 and will be completed by January 2020. The next step will be to bid out the construction portion of the project in January 2020 and construction will likely commence in May 2020, after the winter season is over, which normally halts construction activities. BVES Risk Mitigation Plan Pending completion of the Radford Line project, BVES implemented a plan to mitigate wildfire risks, which include the following: 1.