Below is a summary of the Commission's Thursday, November 20 voting meeting results. Today's meeting offered a cross-section of the state’s most pressing energy transitions:
The end of PG&E’s zonal electrification pilot;
The launch of a deeper mobilehome-park electrification initiative;
New energy-efficiency market-transformation directives;
A reset of the Avoided Cost Calculator cycle; and
Another round of mid-term reliability procurement.
The Commission also approved a significant crude-oil pipeline rate increase and pushed several items to December. The meeting blended procedural cleanup work with long-term policy direction across gas, electric, and Distributed Energy Resource portfolios.
PG&E ZONAL ELECTRIFICATION at CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY MONTEREY BAY
A decision adopted Thursday dismisses PG&E’s application for a zonal electrification pilot at CSU Monterey Bay after PG&E exercised its contractual option to terminate the project. In requesting termination, PG&E cited pipeline safety concerns and an incompatible regulatory timeline.
Originally framed as a model for transitioning entire zones from gas to all-electric service, the project shrank over time (from 1,200 dwellings and eight miles of pipeline to roughly 400 dwellings and four to five miles) and ultimately became infeasible once PG&E concluded that needed remediation of the aging gas system could not wait for Commission approval.
Several parties opposed the withdrawal, arguing that PG&E may be attempting to avoid an unfavorable outcome and that the case raises broader policy questions about ratepayer-funded electrification, stranded costs, and gas system transition.
While granting PG&E’s request to terminate, the decision preserves the value of the two-year record by directing PG&E to prepare a lessons-learned report summarizing policy, cost, ratepayer, and operational findings. PG&E must file the report in the state’s ongoing Building Decarbonization and Long-Term Gas Planning rulemakings, where it may inform future proposals.
INSTANT ANALYSIS: Thursday's decision avoids resolving the core policy tension (whether gas ratepayers should finance electrification that retires gas assets) but preserves the full evidentiary record and forces PG&E to translate its experience into a formal report. Ideas explored in this case will reappear in other procedural venues, even though the pilot itself collapsed.
MOBILEHOME ELECTRIFICATION PILOT
The CPUC adopted a decision establishing a joint CPUC–California Energy Commission Mobilehome Park Electrification Initiative aimed at fully electrifying selected mobilehome parks and retiring their natural-gas infrastructure.
The decision does not approve any new ratepayer funding and actually declines staff's proposal to use $50 million in Public Purpose Program funding. "This approach," the decision states, "supports the importance of finding alternatives to ratepayer funding, to avoid adding additional upward pressure on electric rates, which can discourage customers from pursuing electrification."
Below are some additional details.
The initiative builds on an existing Mobilehome Park Utility Conversion Program, which already converts submetered systems to direct utility service, but expands the scope to include full behind-the-meter electrification for every participating home.
Under the pilot, selected parks served by PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E will receive no-cost replacement of all major gas appliances with high-efficiency electric technologies, along with any necessary in-home remediation such as rewiring, panel upgrades, and code-compliant repairs.
The program is designed to help the CPUC better understand the technical, legal, and policy implications of large-scale electrification in manufactured-home communities, while also ensuring tenant protections, bill-impact safeguards, and coordinated termination of gas service.
The decision directs electric and gas utilities to collaborate with the CEC’s Equitable Building Decarbonization program on infrastructure needs, funding alignment, and sequencing of work, and requires participating park owners to record deed restrictions prohibiting new gas infrastructure for at least 20 years.
INSTANT ANALYSIS: This decision transforms a narrow infrastructure-upgrade program into a controlled trial of full gas retirement in mobilehome parks, pairing utility-installed 200-amp electric service with CEC-funded appliance replacements and in-home remediation, at no cost to residents. By requiring deed restrictions that bar new gas lines for 20 years and refusing to authorize new ratepayer spending, the CPUC is testing whether deep electrification retrofits in low-income manufactured housing can be executed affordably and at scale. The outcome will directly inform how California approaches future gas phase-outs, cost recovery, and transition planning in communities that are typically the hardest to modernize.
ENERGY EFFICIENCY
A decision adopted Thursday approves the California Market Administrator (CalMTA)'s first two statewide market-transformation initiatives:
Full approval for a room heat-pump initiative; and
Conditional approval for an induction-cooking initiative, which must be narrowed to 120-volt products and resubmitted via a Tier 2 advice letter by April 3, 2026.
Together with CalMTA’s administration, operations, and evaluation activities, the decision authorizes a $114.6 million budget for 2026–2031, aligning the market-transformation initiative cycle with the next statewide energy-efficiency portfolio cycle.
Notably, the Commission withdrew a competing proposed decision (alternate proposed decision, or "APD") issued by Commissioner Matt Baker. Had it been adopted, Commissioner Baker's APD would've authorized the room heat-pump initiative while denying the induction-cooking initiative. Accordingly, the budget authorized by Baker's APD was about half the amount authorized in today's final decision.
INSTANT ANALYSIS: This decision gives CalMTA enough runway to move from a multi-year setup into actual market deployment, but with a clear note of caution. The Commission is comfortable with room heat pumps but remains uneasy about the broader induction strategy. Thursday's decision directs CalMTA to narrow the that strategy, update related assumptions, and stay within a tighter budget. While the budget authorization shows that market transformation is still a live priority under state law (even under constant affordability pressures), the Commission is drawing firmer boundaries around risk, bill impacts, and methodological rigor.
AVOIDED COST CALCULATOR
The CPUC adopted a decision revising the CPUC’s biennial Avoided Cost Calculator (ACC) update process while substantially increasing the annual consultant budget that supports ACC modeling.
The decision concludes that the existing ACC schedule (characterized by lengthy evidentiary hearings, multiple testimony rounds, and a prolonged resolution sequence) has produced delays and is no longer compatible with the growing complexity of Distributed Energy Resources cost-effectiveness work.
To realign timing with the Integrated Resource Planning cycle, the decision replaces reliance on the IRP Preferred System Plan with the most recently adopted IRP Transmission Planning Process base-case portfolio, which – in the CPUC's view – offers more predictable availability for the 2026 update.
The decision increases the ACC update budget from $350,000 to $1.2 million per year, citing historically insufficient funding, inflation, the growing modeling burden (including integration of transmission and distribution avoided-cost studies), and the need for a durable funding baseline.
INSTANT ANALYSIS: The Commission is taking steps to adapt to the rapidity of new energy paradigms e.g., restructuring the ACC update cycle around whichever Integrated Resource Planning portfolio becomes available first, even if that means relying on the Transmission Planning Process base case instead of the Preferred System Plan.
The budget jump to $1.2 million/year, recovered from ratepayers, reflects how large and complex the ACC has become (especially with transmission, distribution, and Net Billing export modeling now baked into the workload).
The decision acknowledges stakeholder worries about compressed timelines but holds firm: the ACC must be updated faster, and the resources must match the task. Going forward, ACC revisions may arrive on a more predictable cadence, with modeling updates delivered earlier in each cycle, with fewer slowdowns between portfolio adoption and ACC deployment.
COST-EFFECTIVENESS TOOLS for DERs
The CPUC adopted a decision denying the California Efficiency + Demand Management Council’s request to modify a 2019 decision (D.19-05-019), which established the Total Resource Cost (TRC) test as the Commission’s primary cost-effectiveness tool for Distributed Energy Resources.
The Council sought to replace TRC with a "Program Administrator Cost" test solely for allocating DER program budgets, arguing that recent policy developments and analytical concerns justified the shift. Thursday's decision finds the petition procedurally deficient and untimely.
INSTANT ANALYSIS: The key takeaway here is that TRC remains the CPUC's primary DER cost-effectiveness test, and attempts to reframe DER budget allocation standards will only be entertained within live proceedings.
MID-TERM RELIABILITY
The CPUC adopted Resolution E-5428, which approves eight new mid-term reliability contracts and one amendment submitted by SCE under its 2025 procurement plan.
The portfolio includes solar-plus-storage projects in Kern and Riverside Counties and a solar project in Arizona, totaling about 498 megawatts, plus a 75-MW amendment to the Gateway battery facility in San Diego that extends its delivery date to 2027 following a 2024 thermal event investigated by the CPUC and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Collectively, these contracts supply roughly 151 MW of effective capacity toward SCE’s obligations under the CPUC's original "mid-term reliability" decision (D.21-06-035) and a supplemental procurement decision (D.23-02-040). The solar agreements also contribute to SCE’s Diablo Canyon Replacement and Renewable Portfolio Standard targets.
Resolution E-5428 finds the contracts consistent with SCE’s 2024 RPS Procurement Plan, competitively priced, and procured through a transparent, least-cost/best-fit process verified by independent evaluator Sedway Consulting.
Costs will be recovered through the Portfolio Allocation Balancing Account (the 2021 sub-account for solar and 2023 for storage) with all ratepayers sharing benefits and costs. Contract prices and cost data are confidential, pursuant to the Public Utilities Code.
Instant Analysis: By approving SCE’s solar-plus-storage portfolio and extending the Gateway BESS contract after a 2024 fire, the Commission is demonstrating some flexibility toward operational realities. The confidential pricing underscores a cautious stance toward market sensitivity, which is par for the course on these types of agreements.
CRUDE OIL TRANSPORTATION
A decision adopted Thursday authorizes Crimson California Pipeline, LP to raise crude-oil transportation rates on its Southern System by 26.35%, retroactive to August 1, 2024, with interest.
The decision finds the increase just and reasonable after Crimson removed parent-company CorEnergy's finances from its filing and adopted a 60/40 equity-to-debt ratio, 12% cost of debt, and 15% return on equity, consistent with Bluefield and Hope standards for financial soundness. According to the decision, a smaller 10% increase would have left Crimson operating at a loss.
Instant Analysis: By approving a 26.35% increase (more than double the statutory 10% self-implementation cap) the Commission is telegraphing that maintaining safe, solvent operations outweighs short-term rate stability. The decision also establishes an apparent precedent: parent or affiliate financials cannot be used to inflate cost recovery. But once excluded, the CPUC will still accommodate reasonable equity returns to prevent underinvestment or safety degradation.
DELAYED ACTION
Note that the Commission delayed action on the following items until December 4:
Undergrounding of Electrical Equipment: Draft Resolution SPD-37 which updates the CPUC’s Senate Bill 884 program overseeing the expedited undergrounding of electric distribution lines by large utilities.
Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGI): A proposed decision that closes out the ratepayer-funded SGIP and establishes procedures for the return of unspent funds to customers while launching a "Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund."
Bioenergy Market Adjusting Tariff (BioMAT): A proposed decision denying a petition for modification filed by the Bioenergy Association of California to modify a 2020 CPUC decision (D.20-08-043), which had extended the BioMAT program through December 31, 2025.
Union Island Pipeline: A proposed decision denying a request of California Resources Production Corporation for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity to operate the 35-mile Union Island natural gas pipeline as a public utility gas corporation.