Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Energy Pg&e topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
PG&E briefs Lassen County on wildfire and EV programs; local plant operator asks board to push for interconnection
Summary
PG&E updated the Lassen County Board on wildfire-mitigation tools, vegetation management and its EV/solar planning; Mount Lassen Power's owner told the board the company's interconnection has stalled and asked the board to send a support letter to PG&E as the plant seeks to begin commissioning.
PG&E representatives visited the Lassen County Board of Supervisors to review local wildfire-mitigation work, their enhanced powerline settings and plans for electric-vehicle and solar programs, and to field questions from supervisors about service reliability and rural operations.
Brenda Narayan, PG&E government-affairs representative, said the company uses multiple layers of protection — including about 2,000 weather stations, an AlertCalifornia camera network and more than 44,000 line miles covered by Enhanced Powerline Safety Settings — to reduce ignition risk. David Hox, a PG&E public-safety specialist, said public-safety power shutoffs have been used only rarely in Lassen County and that the company has reduced their footprint through sectionalizing and other resiliency measures.
PG&E also told the board it completed roughly 170 distribution line miles of vegetation management in 2024 and was continuing work in 2025. On undergrounding, PG&E clarified that distribution segments in the Caribou/Bucks Creek 1102 circuit will be placed underground, not transmission lines.
Supervisors pushed PG&E on how EV mandates and equipment plans would affect rural service and their fleet operations. David Hox said the company is installing battery chargers where practical, is deploying hybrids for some fleet roles and that exemptions can be made for remote-duty vehicles where charging infrastructure is not yet available.
During public comment, Doug Lindgren, representing Mount Lassen Power, described a multi-year refurbishment of a generation plant and said the project had completed air permitting and a power-purchase agreement but remained blocked by interconnection delays. Lindgren said his company has been paying interconnection-related fees and requested the county send a letter to PG&E supporting reinstatement of Mount Lassen Power's interconnection rights so the facility can commission and begin operations. Brenda Narayan said she would escalate the account and submit Doug's customer details to the PG&E customer team for review, but she cautioned that interconnection decisions require internal technical and compliance review.
The board asked staff to coordinate with PG&E about costs and schedules for undergrounding and to follow up on Lindgren's account so the county can assess whether a formal letter of support would help move the interconnection forward.
The meeting closed the PG&E update with a commitment by PG&E to provide more detailed cost information and by county staff to return with next steps on the Mount Lassen Power request.
