California utilities outline integrated grid-planning pilots; stakeholders press for standard cost‑benefit tests

Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric presented competing approaches to “integrated planning” at a California Public Utilities Commission workshop, saying combining multiple types of distribution work — wildfire mitigation, equipment replacement and capacity upgrades — can reduce repeated construction and lower costs for customers.

Commissioner Maryam Hough opened the workshop by saying, “The purpose of today's workshop is for the utilities to consider how to better align the distribution needs under undergrounding, capacity upgrades for distribution infrastructure, wildfire mitigation, and the risk based decision making framework.” The workshop, organized under the High DER proceeding, is intended to inform advice letters the utilities must file later this year.

Why it matters

Utilities argued that planning projects to address multiple needs together can cut unit costs and reduce customer outages, but stakeholders pressed for a standard, transparent methodology to determine when upsizing or bundling is justified — especially where future load growth is uncertain. The commission directed two workshops and an advice-letter filing under the High DER Track 1 decision; participants said the record should make clear how integrated planning will interact with existing risk frameworks and general‑rate-case processes.

What the utilities said

PG&E described an “Integrated Grid Planning” (IGP) process that aggregates circuit-level needs — wildfire risk, asset…