The state's top auditor is calling out the regulators who oversee and approve PG&E's wildfire safety strategies for approving a plan that had "serious deficiencies."
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California's acting auditor Michael Tilden is criticizing state regulators in a recently released audit for green-lighting wildfire mitigation plans in 2020, even though there were "significant shortcomings."
"The Energy Safety Office's mitigation plan approval process and the CPUC's [California Public Utilities Commission] audit process do not hold utilities sufficiently accountable," said the audit.
Such flaws include, for instance, a failure provide safety measures for the most vulnerable and high-risk portions of the electrical grid, particularly in wooded areas.
It was just last year that PG&E CEO Patti Poppe admitted that a tree falling on a power line sparked the largest single wildfire in state history, the Dixie Fire.
"That tree that fell on our line is one of eight million trees that are in strike distance to our lines," said Poppe. "This is an extraordinary problem."
According to the audit, the failure in oversight leaves California in danger from even more large wildfires and blackouts.
The Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, is defending its approval of the mitigation plans in response to the criticism.
The office asserted that the new plans are a massive shift in the way utilities plan for safety and implement those plans and will ultimately make the state safer.
California has suffered through dramatic wildfire seasons in recent years, and after an especially dry winter, it's likely the state has another on the horizon. The annual wildfire mitigation plans are a key piece of the state's efforts to curb massive wildfires.
Along with his critique, Tilden also included recommendations for improving oversight for PG&E going forward, such as fully explaining in their mitigation plan the "improvements they would have to make to prevent power shutoffs on the parts of the electric grid routinely affected by them."
Tilden also recommended the California Public Utilities Commission create "a risk-based audit plan for consistently auditing all utility service areas that prioritizes districts in high fire-threat areas."
This would also include various penalties for issues uncovered in the audits.
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