Bill Seeks to Motivate PG&E on Timely Electricity Hookups

Some new apartment buildings and move-in businesses can’t turn the lights on for months as they wait for Pacific Gas and Electric to connect the electricity.

So state Sen. Scott Wiener has proposed a bill to require investor-owned utilities to power up the buildings eight weeks after they finish required inspections, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

“It’s completely unacceptable for completed projects to just sit there gathering dust because PG&E can’t get it together to turn on the power,” Wiener, D-San Francisco, told The Chronicle. “We’re in the middle of a housing crisis.”

PG&E, the state’s largest utility, has long had a bad reputation among builders for the pace at which it connects buildings to the electrical grid, a process known as interconnection.

Housing advocates and developers say those delays have grown increasingly worse in recent years, forcing many to leave buildings vacant for months.

There were 319 commercial and multi-family buildings waiting for PG&E to turn on power as of late February, according to PG&E data obtained by Wiener’s office. Of those, 134 buildings had been waiting for more than two months and 95 had been waiting for more than three months.

Even worse, builders in some rural counties are being told they may have to wait many months or even years to connect new homes and businesses to the grid.

Under the measure, Senate Bill 83, utilities that don’t turn the power on for new and existing buildings within two months would be required to financially compensate the project developer.

PG&E said it’s working to speed up electric connections for new customers.

But the company’s resources have been taxed by urgent work preventing wildfires that have “required significant financial and workforce resources,” PG&E spokeswoman Lynsey Paulo told the newspaper. The company’s service territory covers much of northern and central California.

“We do understand there are real-world impacts that delays have on our customers,” Paulo said. “We’re committed to making it right.”

But Wiener and supporters of SB 83 say the utility must do both — prevent its equipment from sparking wildfires and provide timely connections to help California address the housing shortage. “PG&E can’t just throw up their hands, which is what they’ve been doing,” Wiener said.

Since 2018, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has tallied nearly 140 projects it claims have been delayed by PG&E. Some are small, like new traffic signals, but others are significant affordable housing projects.

Barbara Hale, assistant general manager of power for the commission, said PG&E has routinely approved projects then balked once it’s time to energize them, causing delays.

“That’s a core function — planning and managing your assets,” Hale said. “And it seems like they are failing at that.”

San Francisco’s accounting of these projects is part of a case the city is building to take over PG&E’s power lines and other electric infrastructure within its jurisdiction. Wiener said the delays bolster the city’s case to form its own utility. A $2.5 billion offer has been on the table since 2019, but PG&E has rejected it, saying its assets are worth far more.

Meanwhile, the delays have cost ratepayers, taxpayers and the city an estimated $28 million in the form of lost revenue in the past four years, according to the commission. While PG&E is the most notorious, data provided by Wiener’s office also shows delays by another large utility.

Southern California Edison, which services much of the Los Angeles metro area, had 17 commercial and multi-family projects waiting for more than one month for power hookups as of late February, according to data the company provided to Wiener’s office.

San Diego Gas & Electric did not provide data, though it said most buildings are energized within 30 days after all requirements are met, with “few exceptions.”

— Dana Bartholomew