Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety adopts 10-year electrical undergrounding guidelines under SB 884

The Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety (Energy Safety) adopted guidelines on Feb. 20, 2025, that set how large electrical corporations will prepare voluntary 10-year electrical undergrounding plans under Senate Bill 884. Kristin Ralph Douglas, program manager of the Electrical Undergrounding Division, opened the meeting and announced the formal adoption.

The guidelines require utilities to set a Plan Mitigation Objective (PMO) that demonstrates a substantial reduction in wildfire ignition risk and a substantial increase in reliability over the 10-year program. "SB 884 places a significant burden on utilities to, quote, show substantial reduction in wildfire risk and show substantial increase in reliability," Kristin Ralph Douglas said during the presentation.

Why it matters: the guidelines establish how utilities must prioritize circuit segments for undergrounding, how they must compare undergrounding to alternative mitigations, and what data they must submit so Energy Safety and the public can track progress over a decade. Energy Safety said the requirements aim to direct limited funds to circuit segments that yield the largest risk reduction per mile.

Key provisions and technical requirements

- Project goals and standards: Each utility plan must include a PMO (the plan-level goal), project-level thresholds and…