Faster connections: PG&E upgrades new-business process in South Bay and Central Coast
Our goal at PG&E is to help California continue to lead the way in economic growth, while maintaining a safe, reliable and clean energy system.
These ambitions are on full display in and around Silicon Valley, where we're at the forefront of efforts to meet surging data center demand and shape the net-zero world of the future.
To serve these regional aspirations, we've made huge progress in a key part of our business. Working collaboratively for two years with the California Building Industry Association (CBIA), our service planning and design team is connecting more new customers than ever to our electric grid.
We set a goal in 2024 to connect 9,000 new-business customers throughout our service area. We delivered way beyond that: We completed a company-record 13,640 new-business connections last year. That means thousands of new homes, new and expanded businesses and clean energy projects across our service area.
In PG&E's South Bay and Central Coast Region, we completed more than 3,400 new-business connections in 2024, including:
2,438 residential projects
406 commercial projects
273 electric vehicle charging points
In San Jose, PG&E completed 25% more new-business jobs in 2024 than in 2023.
We're on pace to improve connections even more in 2025. In the South Bay and Central Coast alone, new-business connections were up 15.4% year over year in the first quarter.
Examples of projects we've energized in our region in the last 18 months include the Rivian Service and Demo Center on North King Road in San Jose; CityLine, a mixed-use development that is helping revive downtown Sunnyvale with new homes and stores; and a Sunnyvale accessory dwelling unit that models a new way to develop ADUs.
We're thrilled to have helped bring these and other projects to life for our 1.16 million electric customers in the South Bay and Central Coast.
We're also excited about how improved new-business connections will help us continue to meet San Jose's economic ambitions in 2025 and beyond.
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Data centers and a net-zero community
In recent months, we've launched two major initiatives to serve Silicon Valley.
Our cluster study shows how we plan to serve 5.5 gigawatts of new data center energy demand over the next decade. That demand will include 740 megawatts in and around Silicon Valley.
Our second major initiative is our work on a net-zero community. The San Jose community will pair three data centers with up to 4,000 homes to help create a sustainable downtown. A district energy system will use excess heat from the data centers to heat and cool surrounding buildings.
This initiative represents a bold, new approach to energy, housing and economic transformation. As a key infrastructure partner for California, PG&E is proud to play a pivotal role in this effort — integrating advances in data centers and AI with district energy to build more resilient, low-carbon communities.
A fast and efficient new-business connections process will be key to serving these and other new customers.
That's why we've spent more than two years talking to customers and industry groups to better understand the needs of our new-business customers. The feedback we've received is transforming our new-business processes.
Our partnership with the CBIA is one great example.
We signed a memorandum of understanding with the CBIA in July 2023 to improve how we work with builders and developers. In monthly meetings with CBIA members, we talk about how we're doing — and how we can keep improving.
With the CBIA's help, we've set up systems to schedule construction work faster; escalate issues on complicated projects; and allow interim power connections where there are long lead times for new service.
We also launched a New Business Program Management Office to focus full-time on improving our processes.
Those efforts have paid off for our customers: The six-month design backlog of early 2023 fell to less than a month by the end of 2024. Improvements to the application process cut the number of required documents by more than half.
We're also listening to developers in Silicon Valley. Our Developer Roundtables provided real estate leaders insight into how PG&E is improving our processes and meeting demand for energy. Our new Power Hour series, in collaboration with the San Jose Chamber of Commerce, aims to address key issues shaping the future of San Jose.
We will continue to work with lawmakers, regulators and other stakeholders to ensure we have the funding and accountability to connect more new customers. We're especially excited about opportunities to connect new customers in the South Bay and Central Coast to help the region sustain its vibrant growth trajectory.
We look forward to working hand in hand with you as we strive to meet the economic and climate goals of California and its residents.
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