Actions Completed for Emergency Preparedness:

The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has required and reviewed emergency plans for electric and water utilities, covering internal and external communications, use of utility-wide resources, mutual aid agreements with other utilities and consumer and press information centers.

The PUC has ordered upgrades for overloaded customer call centers which were overloaded in previous storms.

The PUC has tightened tree-trimming requirements, to minimize outages due to contact between trees and electric transmission lines.

The PUC has established standards for inspection, record-keeping, and repair of electric utility distribution systems, to assure that they are well-maintained and ready for severe weather.

The PUC has met with utilities and the new Independent System Operator, the CEC, and OES to establish new emergency communications links. The Commission has also established emergency communication links with the electric and water utilities.

The Commission has established a expedited procedure to consider disaster-related costs incurred by utilities.

Actions Taken to Prepare for El Niño:

We are asking utilities to assure that their emergency resources are a full strength during the storm season.

We are asking the utilities to test communications links with the Independent System Operators as well as OES emergency operations centers at the state, region, and county levels.

We are simplifying communications links between the electric utilities, the Commission, the CEC, and other state agencies.

Public Information Contact:

Dianne Dienstein
415/703-2423