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Wildfire Safety Advisory Board adopts advisory opinions for publicly owned utilities and cooperatives
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Summary
The board unanimously adopted its 2025 advisory opinions for publicly owned utilities and cooperatives, emphasizing improved risk identification and carefully planned preemptive deenergization (PSPS) programs while acknowledging community impacts and the need for utility-specific approaches. Six votes in favor, none opposed.
The California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board voted unanimously Dec. 3 to adopt its 2025 advisory opinion to publicly owned utilities (POUs) and electric cooperatives, a document that spotlights risk identification and the careful use of preemptive deenergization, often called Public Safety Power Shutoffs.
Board staff framed the advisory opinion around two priorities: improving how utilities identify ignition and consequence risk at the circuit level, and ensuring that any preemptive deenergization program be built on planning, testing and mitigation for vulnerable populations. Gifford Wong, staff lead on the opinion, told the board the document "looks for increasing maturity and development in utilities' plans" and that the opinion provides examples rather than prescriptive mandates.
Energy Safety staff and utility representatives said they welcome the clarity. Nicole Dunlap, program manager in the Electrical Safety Policy Division, said Energy Safety generally agrees with the board's recommendations and plans to incorporate many of them when it revises its wildfire mitigation plan (WMP) guidelines. "We agree that measuring effectiveness is very important in wildfire mitigation planning," Dunlap said, noting SB 254 introduces new WMP reporting requirements such as an estimated cost per avoided ignition.
Utility trade groups that filed public comments — including the California Municipal Utilities Association and the Golden State Power Cooperative — expressed support for the working-group process used to develop the opinion and urged the board to account for the diversity of POUs and the disproportionate impacts PSPS can have on rural communities. A representative for CMUA said the collaborative process has "greatly improved the communications between the board, POUs and co-ops."
Board members praised the working-group consultations and the clarifications added in response to public comment. The motion to adopt the advisory opinions was moved and seconded and passed on a recorded vote of six in favor, none opposed, and no abstentions.
The advisory opinion does not require POUs to exercise preemptive deenergization; rather, it recommends that utilities with overhead facilities in high-fire areas thoroughly analyze and document how they would make and execute such decisions. The board and staff said they will monitor how Energy Safety incorporates the recommendations into revised WMP guidelines next year.
The board appended the adopted advisory opinion to its public docket and will notify POUs and cooperatives of next steps for commentary and implementation.
