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Energy Safety reports progress on 2025 WMP evaluations; PG&E, SCE received revision notices
Summary
Energy Safety staff updated the board on evaluations of 2025 wildfire mitigation plan (WMP) updates and related filings: petition-to-amend decisions for SDG&E, rejected change-order requests for Liberty, revision notices issued to PG&E and SCE, and a revised evaluation schedule published Aug. 15.
Dakota Smith, supervisor in Energy Safety’s Policy Division, briefed the Wildfire Safety Advisory Board on the office’s work on 2025 Wildfire Mitigation Plan (WMP) updates and related processes. Smith said Energy Safety evaluated a petition to amend filed by SDG&E (submitted April 10, 2025) and published a decision July 11, approving six amendments and denying 11 amendments because they either fell outside the petition-to-amend criteria or the performance period had elapsed.
Smith also described a change-order request from Liberty submitted April 22; Energy Safety published a decision June 17 and rejected all three requested change orders because they did not meet the change-order criterion of demonstrably reducing risk. Smith noted the change-order process is not active in the newest guidelines.
On the base-plan updates, Smith said Energy Safety has received submissions from all nine regulated investor-owned and transmission entities and has issued targeted actions: revision notices to PG&E (late June) and SCE (Aug. 15) for critical plan issues, and a rejection-and-resubmit to SDG&E on June 24; SDG&E submitted a revised WMP on July 18. Smith said the office is issuing data requests and conducting internal reviews and that all update decisions have been ratified by the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC).
Smith summarized public outreach: Energy Safety held public workshops May 21 and July 29 covering all nine IOU plans; this year staff tried a prompt-driven format that produced more stakeholder interaction. He said Energy Safety published a draft update-requirements chapter for the WMP guidelines on Aug. 19 and is accepting comments through Sept. 18; a workshop on that chapter was scheduled for the following morning.
Smith also gave brief status updates on related work streams: a risk-model working group (participants include IOUs, SMJUs, PUC, Cal Fire, technology firms such as Technosylva) is developing guidance on how electrical corporations model wildfire risk; 2024 safety culture assessment draft reports are under review with publication expected before a 2025 SCA kickoff in Q4; 2025 executive compensation structures were submitted May 23 with decision letters targeted in late Q3; safety certification guidelines were adopted April 25 and the 2025 safety-certification request schedule targets late Q3.
Board members asked procedural questions about future workshops for WMP updates and requested staff continue to share docket links and follow-up data requests. Smith said staff published a revised evaluation schedule Aug. 15 that extends draft-decision dates and that all documents referenced are on Energy Safety dockets.
