CPUC workshop advances plan to standardize reliability data; IOUs urge phased approach

The California Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday convened a workshop to shape a rulemaking track aimed at improving how investor‑owned utilities report outage and reliability data to the agency.

Commissioner Matt Baker, the proceeding’s assigned commissioner, said the effort is meant to help the commission and the public better understand outages and their causes. "For many Californians, a reliable electric grid is not just a convenience of modern life. It is an absolute necessity," Commissioner Matt Baker said, framing the proceeding around customers' lived experience.

Why this matters: CPUC staff and stakeholders said current reliability reporting is fragmented across multiple filings and agencies, which makes it difficult to assemble a clear, timely picture of outages for regulators, local governments and customers. Eric Swanson, a research data specialist with the CPUC safety policy division, summarized one key consequence: "There can be a lag of up to 10 months between an outage event and the CPUC receiving a report assessing it." That delay, staff said, often forces ad hoc data requests and leaves gaps in near‑term oversight and public communication.

Staff proposal and framework

CPUC staff presented a three‑part technical framework staff envisions to address data silos: a data governance protocol to set standards and access rules; a data dictionary to standardize field names and definitions; and a data‑reporting schema to organize how data are submitted and linked. Staff described three possible data‑transfer approaches to implement the schema: (1) a central database that would house standardized, relational data; (2) an enhanced secure file transfer…