This bill would require the commission, on or before January 1, 2027, to update a general order to require each electrical corporation to remove all permanently abandoned facilities, as specified. The bill would require an electrical corporation, for areas affected by wildfire that require electrical distribution infrastructure to be rebuilt, to consider the undergrounding of electrical distribution infrastructure if it is determined to be cost effective compared to other wildfire mitigation strategies.

This bill would require an electrical corporation, for the description in the wildfire mitigation plan of the preventative strategies and programs to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires, to include consideration of areas adjacent to high fire threat areas. risks related to the wildland-urban interface. The bill would require an electrical corporation’s corporation, for the description in the wildfire mitigation plan to consider the impacts on the opportunity for of the electrical corporation’s appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines, to include consideration of enabling residents within a household who are not the customer of record to subscribe to receive notifications related to deenergization events and communication of communications with public safety partners, identify any lapses in communication coordination during recent past emergency response events with local governments, describe opportunities to collaborate with local governments and other steps that can be taken to establish more efficient communication coordination during future emergency responses, consider undergrounding distribution infrastructure when it is being rebuilt, partners, as provided. The bill would require that an electrical corporation’s wildfire mitigation plan also include a description of the processes and procedures that the electrical corporation use to coordinate communications with local governments within the service area of the electric corporation, and include an accounting of all transmission facilities, including permanently abandoned facilities, and include a plan for how and when each permanently abandoned facility will be removed and the wildfire mitigation measures that are being implemented to prevent hazards, as provided. The bill would also require electrical corporations to conduct annual wildfire preparedness workshops, as provided.