Latest news with #PacificGasandElectricCompany
Business Journals
10 hours ago
- Automotive
- Business Journals
How PG&E is helping San Jose families and businesses shift to electric vehicles
San Jose is at the forefront of electric vehicle (EV) adoption, with more than 78,000 EVs on its roads.* To support and accelerate this transition, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is implementing several programs aimed at making EV ownership more accessible, especially for low-income families and small businesses. 'We have made great progress to improve access to EVs and charging infrastructure for all our customers, including those who may have thought EV ownership was out of reach because of the costs. EVs are critical to California meeting its climate goals, and they also provide a road to lower electric prices,' said Lydia Krefta, senior director, electrification and decarbonization for PG&E. With over 700,000 EVs in PG&E's service area — accounting for 1 in 8 EVs nationwide — the company estimates that adding another million EVs to the grid could lower residential electric rates by 2% to 3%.* This reduction is due to the distribution of fixed operations and maintenance costs across a larger customer base. Here's how PG&E is making EV ownership more affordable. Rebate programs PG&E's Pre-Owned EV Rebate Program offers up to $4,000 to income-qualified customers who purchase or lease a used EV. Since its inception in early 2023, the program has helped over 13,000 customers, distributing more than $29 million in rebates. An additional $50 million in funding remains available for those who meet the income qualifications. In San Jose, more than 1,000 drivers have received PG&E rebates to help make used EVs more affordable. 692 San Jose customers received the standard rebate of $1000, totaling $692,000 390 income-qualified San Jose customers received the higher $4,000 rebate, totaling $1.56 million To further ease the transition, PG&E's Residential Charging Solutions pilot provides a 50% rebate on approved Level 2 residential charging equipment. Income-eligible customers can receive a full 100% rebate on the equipment's purchase price, reducing the financial burden of installing home charging stations. Charging programs PG&E offers Time-of-Use (TOU) rate plans that incentivize charging during off-peak hours. On the EV2-A rate plan, income-qualified customers can charge their EVs between midnight and 3 p.m. at an equivalent cost of just $1.88 per gallon of gasoline. The EV Charge Manager program, currently available in Santa Clara, Contra Costa, and Alameda counties, assists customers in optimizing their charging habits. It provides insights into battery usage, efficiency, and costs, and participants receive a $75 gift card after maintaining active participation for at least three months. Small business support PG&E's EV Fleet Program supports small businesses in electrifying their vehicle fleets. The program offers personalized assistance and incentives for installing charging infrastructure — helping businesses reduce both emissions and operating expenses. New programs coming in 2025-2026 Residential charging solution launching in San Jose: Later this year, PG&E will introduce a new residential EV charging solution in San Jose, designed to make home charging easier, faster, and more affordable. This initiative aims to eliminate common barriers and encourage more customers to adopt electric vehicles. Affordable public charging pilot: An upcoming program will provide prepaid debit cards to income-qualified drivers, assisting with the costs of charging at public stations and potentially offering up to two years of free public charging. Panel and flexible electrification support pilot: This initiative will offer rebates for electrical panel upgrades and other necessary equipment for low-income customers to install EV chargers at home.
Malaysian Reserve
4 days ago
- Business
- Malaysian Reserve
Wildfire Prevention Today and Tomorrow: PG&E Shares 2025 Wildfire Season Readiness Update, Showcases Local XPRIZE Wildfire Competitors
PG&E's Layers of Protection Are Working, Prevented a Major Wildfire in 2023 and 2024 SAN RAMON, Calif., June 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to monitor wildfire conditions and deploying proven layers of wildfire protection to prevent wildfires, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) shared its readiness ahead of peak wildfire season. These layers of protection helped prevent a major wildfire in 2023 and 2024. Today, at PG&E's Applied Technology Services lab, the company's research and development facility, PG&E shared details about how the layers of protection are applied throughout PG&E's service area to prevent wildfires. PG&E was joined by representatives of XPRIZE Wildfire and two local teams – Ember Guard and Rain – who bring AI power and autonomous firefighting to the competition. PG&E is a proud sponsor of XPRIZE Wildfire and its work to build a pipeline of new technologies that support advanced wildfire mitigation, detection and response. Today's Wildfire Resilience from Layers of Protection Undergrounding Powerlines in high fire-risk areas to permanently eliminate ignition risk. PG&E has undergrounded approximately 915 miles of powerlines since 2021 and plans to have nearly 1,600 total miles of powerlines underground by the end of 2026. Overhead System Upgrades include the installation of strengthened power poles and covered powerlines. This work reduces wildfire ignition risk by nearly 67% once completed. PG&E has completed more than 1,430 miles of overhead system upgrades since 2018 and plans to complete nearly 1,900 total miles of system upgrades by the end of 2026. Situational Awareness Improvements including the deployment of a state-wide network of nearly 1,600 weather stations, of which 1,400 are artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning enabled, and more than 650 high-definition wildfire cameras. The AI enabled cameras process data and provide automated wildfire notifications. Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings (EPSS) automatically turn off power within one-tenth of a second, or faster, if a wildfire hazard is detected. These settings protect 1.8 million PG&E customers in areas with elevated or extreme wildfire risk. In 2024, these settings contributed to more than a 65% reduction in reportable ignitions, compared to the 2018-2020 average. More than half of customers protected by EPSS did not experience a power outage while EPSS was enabled in 2024, and the average duration of outages on an EPSS-enabled circuit decreased 17% from the prior two-year average. Vegetation Management programs continue to evolve using a data-driven, risk-informed approach to help reduce both outages and potential ignitions caused by vegetation contacting PG&E's equipment. Over the past five years, PG&E has inspected, trimmed or removed over 960,000 trees and other types of vegetation in our service area. Drone inspections that more efficiently provide a bird's eye view of assets from the ground and air. Public Safety Power Shutoffs are a last resort during extreme weather conditions to reduce the risk of catastrophic fire. PG&E's experienced meteorologists use cutting-edge weather models to forecast wildfire risk at a granular level to determine the transmission and distribution circuits that will get de-energized. 'Rather than being reactive to conditions, our wildfire work proactively protects and prevents wildfire. We're keeping our system safe while we build resilience for the future. This work is essential in light of extreme weather and extended wildfire seasons,' said PG&E Wildfire Mitigation Vice President Andy Abranches. Tomorrow's XPRIZE Goal: Detect Earlier, Extinguish Faster As wildfire conditions are dynamic from year to year, PG&E is committed to supporting a pipeline of new research, development and innovation to address climate-driven wildfire challenges. PG&E today joined XPRIZE Wildfire and two local teams participating in the four-year, $11 million competition to accelerate the speed of detection and suppression of destructive wildfires. XPRIZE Wildfire encourages teams from around the world to innovate around a wide range of firefighting technologies across two complementary tracks designed to transform how potentially catastrophic fires are detected, managed and suppressed. PG&E is the co-title sponsor of XPRIZE Wildfire along with the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. 'For 30 years, XPRIZE has spurred innovation to address the world's most pressing challenges. In 2023, we launched XPRIZE Wildfire with a goal to end destructive wildfires,' said XPRIZE Wildfire Program Director Andrea Santy. 'Today, we have an incredible global cohort of dozens of teams making monumental strides towards developing solutions to reach this audacious goal.' One of the Bay Area teams showcased at the event was Palo Alto-based Ember Guard, a cross-disciplinary team led by Ahvish Roy, founder of ARX, and supported by Sangram Ganguly, Chief Technology Officer of Rhombus Power. It uses deep learning along with AI to produce a scalable cloud-based high-resolution wildfire model that forecasts the likely propagation and intensity of a wildfire so that firefighters can prioritize their limited resources Also participating was Alameda-based Rain, which recently showcased autonomous wildfire suppression technology in California. A Black Hawk helicopter equipped with wildfire mission autonomy from Rain and MATRIX™ autonomy technology from Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, conducted a demonstration of a wide range of wildfire response missions and tasks, including finding and suppressing early-state wildfires, all commanded via tablet. Rain is a participant in the Electric Program Investment Charge program, a research and development project. Learn more about PG&E's wildfire safety efforts at About PG&EPacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than 16 million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit and
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Wildfire Prevention Today and Tomorrow: PG&E Shares 2025 Wildfire Season Readiness Update, Showcases Local XPRIZE Wildfire Competitors
PG&E's Layers of Protection Are Working, Prevented a Major Wildfire in 2023 and 2024 SAN RAMON, Calif., June 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to monitor wildfire conditions and deploying proven layers of wildfire protection to prevent wildfires, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) shared its readiness ahead of peak wildfire season. These layers of protection helped prevent a major wildfire in 2023 and 2024. Today, at PG&E's Applied Technology Services lab, the company's research and development facility, PG&E shared details about how the layers of protection are applied throughout PG&E's service area to prevent wildfires. PG&E was joined by representatives of XPRIZE Wildfire and two local teams – Ember Guard and Rain – who bring AI power and autonomous firefighting to the competition. PG&E is a proud sponsor of XPRIZE Wildfire and its work to build a pipeline of new technologies that support advanced wildfire mitigation, detection and response. Today's Wildfire Resilience from Layers of Protection Undergrounding Powerlines in high fire-risk areas to permanently eliminate ignition risk. PG&E has undergrounded approximately 915 miles of powerlines since 2021 and plans to have nearly 1,600 total miles of powerlines underground by the end of 2026. Overhead System Upgrades include the installation of strengthened power poles and covered powerlines. This work reduces wildfire ignition risk by nearly 67% once completed. PG&E has completed more than 1,430 miles of overhead system upgrades since 2018 and plans to complete nearly 1,900 total miles of system upgrades by the end of 2026. Situational Awareness Improvements including the deployment of a state-wide network of nearly 1,600 weather stations, of which 1,400 are artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning enabled, and more than 650 high-definition wildfire cameras. The AI enabled cameras process data and provide automated wildfire notifications. Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings (EPSS) automatically turn off power within one-tenth of a second, or faster, if a wildfire hazard is detected. These settings protect 1.8 million PG&E customers in areas with elevated or extreme wildfire risk. In 2024, these settings contributed to more than a 65% reduction in reportable ignitions, compared to the 2018-2020 average. More than half of customers protected by EPSS did not experience a power outage while EPSS was enabled in 2024, and the average duration of outages on an EPSS-enabled circuit decreased 17% from the prior two-year average. Vegetation Management programs continue to evolve using a data-driven, risk-informed approach to help reduce both outages and potential ignitions caused by vegetation contacting PG&E's equipment. Over the past five years, PG&E has inspected, trimmed or removed over 960,000 trees and other types of vegetation in our service area. Drone inspections that more efficiently provide a bird's eye view of assets from the ground and air. Public Safety Power Shutoffs are a last resort during extreme weather conditions to reduce the risk of catastrophic fire. PG&E's experienced meteorologists use cutting-edge weather models to forecast wildfire risk at a granular level to determine the transmission and distribution circuits that will get de-energized. "Rather than being reactive to conditions, our wildfire work proactively protects and prevents wildfire. We're keeping our system safe while we build resilience for the future. This work is essential in light of extreme weather and extended wildfire seasons," said PG&E Wildfire Mitigation Vice President Andy Abranches. Tomorrow's XPRIZE Goal: Detect Earlier, Extinguish Faster As wildfire conditions are dynamic from year to year, PG&E is committed to supporting a pipeline of new research, development and innovation to address climate-driven wildfire challenges. PG&E today joined XPRIZE Wildfire and two local teams participating in the four-year, $11 million competition to accelerate the speed of detection and suppression of destructive wildfires. XPRIZE Wildfire encourages teams from around the world to innovate around a wide range of firefighting technologies across two complementary tracks designed to transform how potentially catastrophic fires are detected, managed and suppressed. PG&E is the co-title sponsor of XPRIZE Wildfire along with the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. "For 30 years, XPRIZE has spurred innovation to address the world's most pressing challenges. In 2023, we launched XPRIZE Wildfire with a goal to end destructive wildfires," said XPRIZE Wildfire Program Director Andrea Santy. "Today, we have an incredible global cohort of dozens of teams making monumental strides towards developing solutions to reach this audacious goal." One of the Bay Area teams showcased at the event was Palo Alto-based Ember Guard, a cross-disciplinary team led by Ahvish Roy, founder of ARX, and supported by Sangram Ganguly, Chief Technology Officer of Rhombus Power. It uses deep learning along with AI to produce a scalable cloud-based high-resolution wildfire model that forecasts the likely propagation and intensity of a wildfire so that firefighters can prioritize their limited resources Also participating was Alameda-based Rain, which recently showcased autonomous wildfire suppression technology in California. A Black Hawk helicopter equipped with wildfire mission autonomy from Rain and MATRIX™ autonomy technology from Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin company, conducted a demonstration of a wide range of wildfire response missions and tasks, including finding and suppressing early-state wildfires, all commanded via tablet. Rain is a participant in the Electric Program Investment Charge program, a research and development project. Learn more about PG&E's wildfire safety efforts at About PG&EPacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than 16 million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit and View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Pacific Gas and Electric Company Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Surging Data Center Growth to Help Lower Energy Costs for PG&E Customers
Every 1,000 MW (or 1 GW) of New Electric Demand from Data Centers Could Decrease Monthly Electric Bills by 1-2% SAN JOSE, Calif., May 27, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) is seeing a huge jump in the amount of electricity needed for new data centers. These centers, which power things like cloud storage and artificial intelligence (AI), are expected to need about 8.7 gigawatts (GW) of electricity over the next 10 years. That's a big increase from the 5.5 GW PG&E reported at the end of 2024. To give an idea of how much power that is—just 1 GW can power around 750,000 homes at the same time. PG&E is also proud to be the host utility for this week's DTECH Data Centers & AI Conference in San Jose. The event brings together leaders from tech, government, and energy to talk about meeting the growing power needs of AI and data centers. PG&E leaders will speak on topics like: How AI is changing energy use How to speed up power delivery to data centers How to work better with developers and communities Mike Medeiros, Vice President, South Bay Delivery, PG&E, participates in the opening keynote today with several other utility executives to discuss load growth, reliability, and equitable data center expansion. "What differentiates the opportunity for data centers in California is a diversified set of customers and projects, excess clean power supply, and a regulatory approach which ensures that our existing residential customers will save money," Medeiros said. Of the 8.7 GW, PG&E is working on 18 new data center projects totaling approximately 1.4 GW that are in the final engineering phase (the last step before project construction starts) and projected to begin operations between 2026 and 2030. Most of these are in Silicon Valley and the greater San Francisco Bay Area, but some are also in the Central Valley and Sacramento. Growth in data center demand is good news for all PG&E customers. PG&E estimates for every 1,000 MW (or 1 GW) of new electric demand from data centers it serves, PG&E electric customers may save between 1-2% on their monthly bill in the long term, while serving those customers with some of the cleanest electricity in the United States. New energy demand from data centers allows PG&E to utilize more of its existing power infrastructure. By spreading the costs over more units of energy, each customer's dollar can go further. Looking Ahead: More Projects Across California After a successful study of data center needs in Silicon Valley last year, PG&E is now doing a follow-up study across its entire service area—70,000 square miles of Northern and Central California. In addition to the current 8.7 GW in PG&E's data center project pipeline noted in its first quarter 2025 earnings report, PG&E received 21 new data center project applications through its follow-up cluster study (launched in April 2025) totaling approximately 4.1 GW of additional power demand. PG&E is actively working with these customers through the end of the year to scope and finalize their requests. By grouping applications and projects together, rather than individually, PG&E can plan better, save money, and connect customers faster. PG&E is also working with real estate developer Westbank on a new net-zero community in downtown San Jose. Construction has started on infrastructure upgrades, and Westbank is now looking for data center partners to join the project. To learn more about PG&E's plans for the future, including how it is accelerating connecting data centers and other large loads, visit About PG&EPacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG), is a combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than sixteen million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit and View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
As wildfires intensify, utilities want liability protections. But then who pays?
Power lines extend through heavy wildfire smoke in Estacada, Ore., in 2020. Utilities in Oregon and elsewhere are pushing lawmakers to pass liability protections, giving them legal immunity in exchange for following safety plans. () As climate change drastically increases the frequency and severity of wildfires, power companies say they're facing growing risk for payouts that could bankrupt them or require massive rate hikes on customers. Across the West, electrical utilities are pushing state lawmakers to grant them legal immunity or limit damage payouts if their equipment sparks a blaze. They're backing bills, which have passed or been proposed in at least eight states over the past few years, that would require the utilities to follow plans to limit their risks of causing a fire, such as trimming trees or burying power lines. In exchange for taking those steps, lawmakers would give utilities protection from lawsuits that could expose them to billions of dollars in damage claims. 'We're only one wildfire away from bankruptcy,' said Shawn Taylor, executive director of the Wyoming Rural Electric Association, a group that represents electrical cooperatives. 'Even if we avoid bankruptcy, we'd have huge rate increases to cover the cost of a lawsuit.' Already, utilities are facing soaring insurance premiums because of the magnitude of claims they would face if they caused a fire. Taylor and other industry leaders argue that power companies should be granted relief if they take actions to limit their risk. In 2019, Pacific Gas and Electric Company in California declared bankruptcy over its roughly $30 billion liability from a series of wildfires caused by its equipment, including the devastating Camp Fire. And in Oregon, PacifiCorp is facing billions of dollars in damage claims due to its role in the state's 2020 Labor Day fires. PacifiCorp has been a key player backing liability bills in five states, the Oregon Capital Chronicle reported. We're only one wildfire away from bankruptcy. Even if we avoid bankruptcy, we'd have huge rate increases to cover the cost of a lawsuit. – Shawn Taylor, executive director of the Wyoming Rural Electric Association The proposals face strong opposition from wildfire victims, insurance companies and trial lawyers. Those groups say the bills don't do enough to protect residents from dangerous electrical infrastructure. And insurers say their own customers could pay the price if lawmakers protect utilities. 'When you push in one side of the balloon, it comes out somewhere else,' said Greg Van Horssen, a representative for State Farm Insurance, delivering testimony before the Montana House Judiciary Committee in February. 'If we have a problem with recovering costs for burnt-down houses in Montana, from an insurance company's perspective, we only have one option, and that's to raise the rate of homeowners' insurance.' Utah became the first state to limit utilities' liability when it passed a law in 2020. The law protects companies from negligence charges if they have a wildfire mitigation plan in place, and it puts limits on the damages victims can collect, using a fair market value figure that can fall well short of the full cost to rebuild. This year, Idaho and Wyoming have enacted similar measures, and Montana lawmakers have sent a proposal to the governor. A bill in Arizona has cleared the House, while a North Dakota bill passed the Senate but was narrowly defeated in the House. An Oregon measure is still in committee. Alaska has also considered liability legislation in recent years. Utah state Rep. Carl Albrecht, a Republican who sponsored that state's liability law, said it has compelled power companies to trim trees, bury lines and take other steps to ensure they are complying with their safety plan. He said utilities are frequent targets of litigation. 'People look at the utility as deep pockets that can pay out a lot of damages,' he said. 'It's whoever has the best attorneys and can sell their case in court.' Trump's cuts to federal wildfire crews could have 'scary' consequences Michele Beck, director of the Utah Office of Consumer Services, serves as an advocate for Utah energy customers. She said it's difficult to protect electrical customers and wildfire victims at the same time. 'The costs for ratepayers are substantial, and it's reasonable to try and find a balance between these extremely high jury awards,' she said. 'I admit, it's a devastating loss for people who are impacted [by wildfires], but somebody is also paying on the other side.' In Oregon, consumer advocates are similarly torn. 'It is a difficult place to be, having utilities close to bankruptcy and unable to make investments that are necessary to provide service,' said Bob Jenks, executive director of the Oregon Citizens' Utility Board, a nonprofit representing ratepayers. 'At the same time, the principle that customers shouldn't be bailing out utilities for bad practices is a critical standard.' PacifiCorp says it faces more than $45 billion in liabilities, much of that driven by the 2020 Labor Day fires in Oregon. Multiple juries have found the company liable for failing to cut power to its lines. The massive costs PacifiCorp is facing have limited the company's ability to invest in its infrastructure and clean energy, Jenks said. PacifiCorp did not grant a Stateline interview request, but the company has been involved in shaping legislation across several Western states. Oregon state Rep. Pam Marsh, a Democrat, said her bill would not give utilities legal immunity. It would establish a certification process to ensure utilities are mitigating wildfire risk. 'The utilities need somebody else to help them identify the risk they're carrying,' she said. 'We never meant that if you got a safety certification in April that you're bulletproof over the next year for any sort of wildfire liability.' But some legal experts told the Oregon Capital Chronicle that utilities would likely use their compliance with the certification process in a legal defense against wildfire claims. In Arizona, a liability measure has passed the House and advanced in a Senate committee. The bill would protect companies from lawsuits if they follow mitigation plans. Utility leaders say it's necessary to ensure they can continue providing service. 'Unlike other businesses that might stop doing business in an area where risk has grown too high, we have an obligation to serve customers,' said Joe Barrios, senior media relations specialist with Tucson Electric Power. 'Wildfire liability costs and higher insurance costs are passed along to customers through the rates that they pay. [This bill] helps to maintain service affordability.' California fires show states' 'last resort' insurance plans could be overwhelmed But state Rep. Alex Kolodin, a Republican, believes the proposal violates a state constitutional provision that bars the state from limiting residents' right to sue. And he said that limiting utilities' liability will reduce their incentive to take safety measures. 'I wouldn't want to be the legislator who voted for this, and then the utility causes a fire that burns down 200 houses in my district,' he said. 'Then I have to explain to my constituents why they can't recover any damages. 'Sorry, guys, it's because your legislator is an idiot.'' Brandon Vick, a regional vice president with the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies trade group, said utility groups have made a coordinated push across several Western states this session. He noted that more and more residents in fire-prone areas are going without insurance coverage, leaving them with no recourse if they can't seek damages from a utility. 'Utilities are rightfully concerned that they're gonna do something that causes a catastrophic wildfire,' he said. 'The question we've been posing is, who should be responsible when that ultimately happens? [These bills] are really pushing that liability onto the people who can least afford it.' Several states are also considering a wildfire fund similar to the one California enacted in 2019. Such measures allow utilities to set aside money, funded by a mix of rate increases and shareholder contributions, which they can later tap into to help cover damages caused by wildfires. Marsh, the Oregon lawmaker, said her proposal would allow wildfire victims to quickly access funding to rebuild their lives. Residents would still have the option to forgo payouts from the fund and sue utilities for full damages. The bill died in committee amid opposition from wildfire victims who characterized it as a bailout for utilities. Stateline reporter Alex Brown can be reached at abrown@ SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
