Marybel Batjer: Please tell the operator.
Operator: Operator's running.
Marybel Batjer: Okay.
Well, good morning,
and thank you for joining us today,
for the public briefing,
from San Diego Gas and Electric Company,
to update us all on its readiness,
for the public safety power shut off.
This wild fire season.
Today's briefing,
from SDG&E,
on its PSPS event readiness,
is the first in a series of three public briefings,
we will be holding this week.
In addition to today's briefing,
we will also have Southern California Edison Company,
providing a briefing tomorrow,
August 11th,
at 1:30 PM,
and we will have Pacific Gas and Electric Company,
provide a briefing this Thursday,
October, excuse me,
August 13th at 10:00 AM.
Agendas and information,
on how to watch and listen,
to the remote briefings is available,
on the CBUC's,
public safety power shutoff webpage,
at www.cpuc.ca.gov/psps.
I am honored to have,
joining me today on the virtual dais,
Eric Lamoureux,
from the Governor's office,
of Emergency Services,
and also,
Assistant Chief Daniel Berlant from the,
California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention,
as well as my fellow Commissioners,
Commissioner Rechtschaffen and Commissioner Shiroma,
so welcome.
In terms of the format for today's briefing,
following opening remarks from the dais,
SDG&E CEO,
Caroline Winn,
will provide an overview,
of SDG&E's state of preparedness,
for the PSPS events,
this wildfire season.
We will then move on,
to discussion and Q&A,
with Commissioners and panelists,
on the dais,
followed by public comment.
We are scheduled to conclude the briefing,
by 11:30.
The public comment portion of the day,
which is scheduled to be around 11 o'clock this morning.
If you wish to make a public comment,
please dial,
(800) 857-1917,
and enter pass code,
9-8-9-9-5-0-1,
and press,
*1.
You'll be placed into a queue,
and the operator will take your name and organization.
There may be a delay from the time you first press *1,
to the time the operator asks for your information.
So please be patient,
and stay on the line.
You will be called upon to speak,
when we get to the public comment period,
in today's agenda.
Which again will begin around 11,
and we will provide,
three minutes to each speaker.
I will keep my opening remarks brief,
so that the majority of our time today,
can be used to serve the valuable purpose,
of ensuring the public,
impacted communities,
and the agencies who must also plan for,
and respond to,
utility PSPS events,
are able to hear,
and understand,
SDG&E's state of preparedness,
going into this year's wildfire season.
But I do want to touch on a few items first.
This climate change driven weather events,
our wild fire seasons,
are starting earlier and ending later,
and they are persistently more severe.
And after a dry winter and warm spring this year,
we are likely in store,
for a long and difficult wildfire season.
These weather events,
and combined with negligent maintenance,
of utilities electrical system,
can of course be dangerous.
While the legislature,
and the CPUC policies,
are driving utilities,
to significantly plan for and execute approaches,
to mitigate the risk of utility costs of wildfires,
through better planning, rad hardening,
and vegetation management.
One of the tools available,
to the utilities to mitigate wildfire risk,
is to turn off power to customers,
to avoid the potential to start a fire.
Well these shutoffs are one tool available,
to the utilities to protect public safety,
they are a measure of last resort,
and cannot,
I cannot emphasize this enough,
it's absolutely imperative,
that these shutoff events,
also called PSPS events,
if and when called,
are executed safely and thoughtfully.
This imperative is particularly critical,
this wildfire season,
as we are also dealing,
with a COVID-19 pandemic,
which will complicate,
an exert surveyed,
PSPS planning and execution challenges,
and which will make the stakes of ensuring,
PSPS is truly used,
only when absolutely necessary,
that much higher.
The implications of being without power,
the families who are working and learning from home,
to the State's most vulnerable people,
to the critical facilities,
supporting our State's COVID response.
The implications,
are not merely questions of inconvenience.
They are questions of,
can I pay my rent?
Can I feed my family this month?
Do I have enough power,
for my medical equipment?
I need to live.
The impacts on people's lives,
and the stakes can not be overstated.
Utilities have the obligation,
to manage their grids responsibly,
and they have an obligation to keep the safety,
and the wellbeing of their customers,
as their highest priority,
which is what this Commission expects of them,
with each decision they make,
this wildfire season.
So while we can drive a point,
to the utilities,
that they must internalize,
and understand the depth and breadth,
of the impacts of their decision,
to shut off power,
you must also ensure that if,
and when they do decide to call a PSPS event,
they're adequately prepared,
to execute and communicate the shutoff,
in a way that significantly,
minimizes the scope and duration of the events.
They must have significantly planned and prepared,
so the people are without power,
for the shortest amount of time possible,
and are communicated with,
in a way that provides enough notice,
and enough detail,
for them to make the arrangements they need to make,
to ensure their families are safe,
and they prepared,
to weather the duration of the event.
This is a minimum.
It is critical.
This is why we're having these briefings this week.
I was newly in my role,
at the CPUC last fall,
during utilities, haphazardly executed PSPS events,
and I witnessed,
and understood the personal,
and societal costs that resulted.
What we saw play out last fall,
can not be repeated.
And it has been my,
and my fellow Commissioners highest priority,
coming out of these events,
to ensure that the CPUC takes every possible step,
to drive the utilities to do better,
and to ensure that any PSPS event,
that is called this year,
is initiated and executed,
in a way that considers the best interest,
of all those impacted.
CPUC staff and the staff at our sister agencies,
Cal OES and CAL Fire,
have spent countless hours,
meeting with the utilities,
and overseeing their efforts,
to reduce the used, scope and impacts,
of any PSPS events.
The utilities have made progress,
and some are farther along,
the path of progress and maturity,
than others.
But what this comes down to,
is planning and most importantly,
execution.
This week's briefings are focused on PSPS readiness,
because we need to be sure,
that if and when the events are called,
the utilities can bring all of the elements together,
in a way that reflects our highest priority,
and the safety and wellbeing of California.
We are in August.
There is a pandemic that is not going away anytime soon.
SCE has already called a PSPS event.
Last year, PSPS events were in October.
We are in precisely the moment,
to understand and hear from the utilities,
the answers to the question,
are you prepared?
Tell us, and show us.
With that,
I will say that I'm very much looking forward,
to hearing from SDG&E today.
I will now turn to our representatives,
on Cal OES and CAL Fire,
to see if you have any opening remarks,
you would like to make.
I'll first turn to Eric Lamoureux.
Eric.
Eric Lamoureux: Thank you, President Batjer.
Can you hear me okay?
Marybel Batjer: Yep.
We can hear you fine, Eric.
Eric Lamoureux: Okay, great.
Certainly appreciate your comments,
and I know Director Ghilarducci,
who is very much involved today,
unfortunately on some COVID response efforts,
wished he could be here,
to echo those comments.
We've certainly appreciated,
the partnership we've had,
with San Diego Gas and Electric,
and the other investor owned utilities,
are cautiously optimistic,
with the progress that we've seen made,
over the course of this year.
But as,
you so eloquently said,
it is important for us to see,
what those actions resulted in.
And we certainly want to see a reduction in scope,
an expansion of the ability to restore much faster,
and ultimately bringing down,
the impact on the residents.
We talk about customers,
who oftentimes got two and a half to three individuals,
actual people,
that represent those individual customers.
And so it's being cognizant of those people,
at home, in the workplace,
that are impacted by these outages,
and working to do everything we can,
to be prepared to deal with the consequences,
of these significant events,
and while continuing to work,
with the investor owned utilities,
to ensure that they're taking steps,
to reduce the scope and severity.
So I appreciate the opportunity to be with you today.
Thank you.
-: Thank you so much, Eric.
And now I'll turn to Assistant Chief,
Daniel Berlant.
Do you have anything to say, chief?
Daniel Berlant: Yes, good morning,
President Batjer, Commissioners,
Daniel Berlant,
Assistant Deputy Director with CAL Fire.
We have been working very closely with the CPUC,
and the utilities over the last several years now,
in the development of the wildfire mitigation plans.
Obviously our efforts are aimed,
to reduce utility spark wildfires,
mitigate the destruction from these preventable fires.
We continue to look forward,
to seeing the utilities progress,
in hardening their systems,
in reducing vegetation,
as required by state law.
But we are looking forward too as well,
as you had mentioned,
to hearing how we can continue to see reduced impacts,
from these PSPS'.
Obviously we are now,
again,
back in the heart fire season.
It is just the beginning of August,
but we have already seen,
a significant number of wildfires,
with destruction.
We have had homes,
that have already been destroyed this year,
and we are not even yet,
into really the peak of fire season.
And as we move into the fall months,
which are just ahead of us,
we are looking to see,
above normal,
fire potential,
across squash,
Southern California including,
down in San Diego County temperatures,
while they have been near normal,
though, it has been hot in many areas,
that normal temperature,
is not the only thing we're looking at.
We are looking closely at thunderstorm systems,
Santa Ana wind events,
offshore wind events come October and November.
And so I think these efforts today are very important,
because again,
fire season is here and these efforts,
that the utilities are making,
truly do make a difference.
So it's my pleasure to be here.
I look forward to hearing more of the presentation.
-: Thanks so much.
Thanks so much Chief.
Now I will turn to my fellow Commissioners,
if they have any opening remarks,
that they would like to make.
Commissioner Rechtschaffen?
I see. You're not.
I see. You shaking your head, no?
So we'll go on to Commissioner Guzman Aceves?
-: No, thank you Commissioner Batjer.
-: Okay, thank you, Martha.
Commissioner Shiroma?
-: Yes. Thank you, President Batjer.
I wanted to express my appreciation to you,
for providing this opportunity,
not only for ourselves,
but also the public,
to hear directly from the utilities.
Since our experience,
of massive public safety power shut off last October,
by Pacific Gas and Electric,
we've analyzed and adopted additional protocols and metrics,
towards protecting our most vulnerable,
and low income customers.
And towards assuring that public safety power shutouts,
are used as a last resort.
San Diego Gas and Electric,
has shown us through those proceedings,
that this is possible through extensive pre-planning,
and partnerships with local governments and organizations,
but there's always more to learn and improve upon.
So I look forward to today's presentation,
from San Diego Gas and Electric.
And I also want to thank,
the team at the CPUC,
the safety staff, our safety division,
the whole team,
for the tremendous work,
the organization of these briefings.
And I do in particular,
want to say thank you,
to Rachel Peterson, Lee Palmer and Caroline Thomas Jacobs.
I'm looking forward to the presentation.
Thank you.
-: Thank you, Commissioner Shiroma.
And thank you for recognizing our staff.
I greatly appreciate that.
With that, I will turn now,
and thank you so much,
Ms Winn,
Caroline Winn,
the CEO of SDG&E.
She's been patiently waiting for about 45 minutes,
to make her presentation.
So thank you very much.
With that, Ms Winn,
would you like to make your presentation?
-: Yes, I would.
Thank you so much.
Well, good morning, everyone.
And I want to thank you for the opportunity,
to come before you today,
to address SDG&E 2020 PSPS readiness.
My name is Caroline Winn,
and I am the Chief Executive Officer,
at San Diego Gas and Electric.
And I'd like to introduce two of my colleagues,
who are on the phone with me,
our Vice President of Customer Services,
Scott Crider,
and our Vice President of Electric System Operations,
and Wildfire Resiliency,
John Jenkins.
You know first and foremost,
I want to let you know,
that we share the commitment of Governor Newsom,
of our legislative leaders,
and all of our CPUC Commissioners,
to ensure that the public safety power shut offs,
are conducted responsibly,
and only as a last resort to prevent catastrophic wildfires.
We absolutely recognize that these power shut offs,
what the effect they have on everyday lives,
on businesses on local and tribal governments,
schools and our vulnerable populations,
such as elderly and those with special medical needs.
And we're also mindful,
as you mentioned Commissioner Batjer,
of the current COVID-19 pandemic,
and the impact of power shut off,
to our customers who are spending more time,
more and more time at home,
working and learning.
You know over the last years,
we have enhanced our capabilities.
Every year, that is our goal,
to enhance our capabilities,
and actively solicit feedback from our customers,
from local public agencies and other stakeholders,
through a series of town halls,
through open houses,
through a community fairs,
and one-on-one meetings,
to make sure that we're improving,
our PSPS operational protocols,
on public outreach, communication and coordination.
And those efforts today are continuing,
in a more virtual fashion, which I'll talk about.
Lastly, our wildfire mitigation plan includes,
investing in fire hardening our grid.
It includes modernizing our electrical system,
with more advanced technologies.
It includes enhancing our situational awareness,
and building more partnerships with community organizations.
And we really have three goals in mind.
The first one, is to prevent catastrophic wildfires.
Number two, is to minimize both the duration,
and the scope of power shutoffs for our customers,
to the greatest extent possible.
And number three, is to strengthen our overall customer,
and community preparedness, response and resiliency.
So we can move to my first slide,
slide one.
Today I'd like to spend my time,
covering key areas of interest.
One is,
I'll provide a very brief overview,
of last year's PSPS event.
I'll go through the outlook for 2020,
including the steps that SDG&E has taken,
to mitigate and minimize the impact,
both duration and scope of PSPS in 2020.
I'll go through the improvements,
to our communication channels,
outreach and coordination with public safety partners.
I'll go through our improvements to situational awareness,
our inspections, and our patrols.
And lastly, the work that's been done,
to address a PSPS event under pandemic conditions.
And as I go through my slides,
I'm happy to take questions from the dais,
throughout my presentation.
If we can move to slide two.
The next slide.
I'd like to maybe start with a quick overview,
of SDG&E service territory.
We serve 1.4 million consumers,
in San Diego and Southern Orange County,
and 4,100 square miles of service territory.
And while our service area is dense,
and it's smaller than others,
64% of the service territory,
is designated as high fire threat areas.
Within that 64% we have,
we serve 206,000 customers that reside in those areas.
And the good news is that,
over 60% of our facilities,
throughout our territory,
are underground.
And 43% of the high fire threat area,
is underground as well.
And we've also hardened,
around 99% of our transmission infrastructure,
in our highest fire threat area,
that's tier three.
Our strategy from the beginning,
was to really start with,
hardening our transmission infrastructure.
And why is that important?
Because it's allowed SDG&E substations,
to remain energized in these high risk events.
Really keeping on as many customers as possible.
And this combined with,
SDG&E dense network of weather stations,
and our own sectionalizing device,
has really allowed SDG&E,
to keep PSPS limited,
to only those areas of highest risk.
Moving on to the next slide.
In October of 2019,
it was a very busy month,
as many mentioned at the beginning,
in terms of extreme fire weather.
In October we experienced four,
really back to back red flag warnings.
The highest number of customers,
was at the end of October,
and it impacted over 27,000 customers.
And that represents less than 2% of SDG&E customer base.
And even though that event,
that particular event,
a majority of our weather stations,
recorded near record winds,
in the 95th and the 99th percentile,
there were zero fires of consequence,
in our service territory,
that were associated with our electrical equipment.
You know, I'll let you know,
our company is about continuously learning.
We have a culture where we collectively feel,
that we're only as good as what we did yesterday,
and we really have a thurst improve every single day.
So after each PSPS event,
it's our practice to gather feedback,
not only just from our employees,
but also our customers,
from public agencies,
telecommunication companies,
and community partners,
so that we can determine what we can do better next time.
And if there are no questions, I'll go to slide four.
Next slide.
And I'll talk about our fire season outlet.
Our meteorology and our fire teams SDG&E,
are closely coordinating with fire agencies,
when determining our 2020 fire season outlet.
The model suggests,
that the summer weather pattern,
is more favorable to Southern California,
and that's due to significant rainfall,
that we experienced this past April.
However, in the later part of fall,
as Assessment Assistant Deputy Director Daniel mentioned,
we do expect to see more Santa Ana conditions to develop,
and that with a combination,
of critically dry fields and hot windy weather.
The latest work have some predictive services,
that are indicating above normal,
significant fire potential,
during the month of October and November,
in the Southwestern portion of California.
Now, SDG&E has taken significant steps in 2020,
to mitigate wildfire risk,
and the potential impacts of PSPS,
which I'll talk about.
Will you go to the next slide?
After the last fire season,
we debriefed and talked about,
how can we get better?
I convened two teams of experts,
pulled them out of their day to day jobs,
and they were dedicated to do two things.
We had team one that was dedicated,
to improve and reduce the impact of PSPS to our customers.
Team two,
their mission was,
to minimize customer pain points through innovation,
through collaboration,
through communication,
and really streamline operations.
So what I'm going to show in this slide,
is really the culmination of the work,
of the team focused,
to reduce the impact of PSPS to customers.
Our team evaluated every single segment of circuit,
that runs through the high fire threat districts.
And they came up with a plan,
and a set of projects,
that would reduce the number of customers,
impacted by a PSPS,
by 25 to 30% by this fire season.
Meaning, if the same set of events that occurred in 2019,
occurred in 2020,
25 to 30% less customers would be impacted.
And that plan included really,
five strategies that we leveraged and we enhanced.
So let me just walk you through them quickly.
One,
we're adding more sectionalizing devices,
and you can think of those,
as more automated switches that we can control remotely.
And we paired those,
with more weather stations,
to be even more precise.
And what that means,
is really reducing the size of the impacted areas,
and maintain greater service to a greater number of people.
Number two,
we are installing new underground lines,
to some critical areas,
like town centers.
Number three,
where possible,
we're enhancing our capability to modify,
and reconfigure the grid,
to only impact the most endangered communities.
And we're doing that,
by moving loads to other circuits,
and it gives us greater flexibility,
to keep more customers on.
Number four, we're installing microgrids,
or think of those as power islands,
to critical sites and communities.
And number five,
we'll be installing more local backup generation solutions.
And I'll talk about more of these,
in my subsequent slides.
But I just have to say,
I'm really proud of our team's solution,
and their dedication to this effort.
The team met the challenge that we put upon them,
and we're going to continue the path,
of really learning from all of our events,
but just the results have been fantastic.
Because in addition,
to that 25 to 30% less customers that will be impacted,
we have 14 less communities impacted.
We would have 33 less telecommunication sites impacted,
four less fire stations,
and five less water facilities,
impacted as a result of the upgrades,
that we're making this year.
Guzman Aceves: Maybe, a quick question here.
This is Commissioner Guzman Aceves,
sorry to interrupt you.
-: No, absolutely.
-: Thank you.
The 33 communication sites,
are those located on your property?
-: Those are either located,
They're either AT&T owned by AT&T,
or COP Communications,
and I don't believe they're located on our property.
-: Okay,
maybe you can just send a followup at a later time.
-: Okay.
John, do you want to weigh in there on that?
John Jenkins: Yeah. First of all,
I want to do a sound check so people can hear me.
-: Yeah. -: I can hear you.
John Jenkins: Yeah.
Caroline is correct.
Those are owned by other communication facilities,
and we've worked with them,
to make sure that those places stay energized,
during these events.
We've also worked with other communications sites,
owned by these companies,
to ensure that there's backup power,
in the event that they are outside of the areas,
we've made these improvements.
-: That's excellent.
It'd be great to get a further breakdown of that,
when you have some followup for us.
Thank you.
-: We'll take that in the followup,
thank you Commissioner.
Okay, moving to slide six.
Earlier I spoke about three goals of our program.
Goal number three was really on enhancing and strengthening,
our customer and our community readiness response,
and resiliency.
And this third major goal,
is really ensuring that our customers,
and our communities know,
before, during and after power shut off,
there are never any surprises,
when extreme fire weather is approaching,
or any subsequent PSPS is occurring.
So we utilize a multichannel communication strategy,
to notify impacted customers.
And I think it's important that, you know,
there's really a breadth,
and a depth in language communication channels,
and that we have a diverse set of measures,
that reach our audiences in meaningful ways.
This is a very purposeful effort,
that's occurring this year,
to expand their digital presence,
and to be more quickly and efficiently,
reach out to our intended audience.
So in addition to our real time updates,
that we do on our social media platforms,
like Facebook and Instagram,
we also do proactive outreach,
through regional broadcast and radio media outlets.
And we established a partnership with,
nextdoor.com.
Some of you may be familiar with that.
I know...
I've logged onto our own,
my own neighborhood's nextdoor.com,
and it's a community specific social network.
And this network will allow us,
to get out more pinpointed outreach,
to communities that may be impacted by PSPS.
I think it will be a really great tool,
for our customers this season.
And additionally,
we created a new PSPS mobile application,
I'll touch on in a few moments,
and we're expanding our message signage,
prior to, and during events,
like at schools and community marchese,
really sharing important information.
And we are also,
working on portable changeable message signs,
along strategic routes,
sharing up-to-date information and resources,
for our communities impacted.
And we also have many partnerships,
that we've expanded,
that I'll talk about on a subsequent slide.
We go to our next slide here.
You know,
what is one important way for us to communicate,
and especially with our most vulnerable populations,
that are high fire threat areas,
is our access and functional needs,
and vulnerable populations.
It's really a key focus for us this year.
We're enhancing and leveraging,
some of the strategic partnerships,
to ensure that,
our customers are receiving the appropriate information,
and the services necessary,
to become prepared and self resilient,
during wildfire season.
We're engaged in policy discussions,
that affect the AFN population during PSPS,
through a variety of forums.
We're providing leadership at statewide and regional levels.
And one of the ways we're also doing this,
is our Wildfire Safety Community Advisory Council.
And this is a council that I personally chair,
and they provide to us input,
they provide to us recommendations,
and support from various community leaders,
to our senior management team.
And we have representatives from Meals on Wheels,
from the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce,
we have fire agencies on there,
2-1-1 and other nonprofit agencies,
as well as the chairman of one of our local tribes,
who was also the chairman,
of the California Tribal Chairperson Association.
So this group has been in place for about a year now,
and really,
it provides us the voice of the community.
But one of the most effective,
I think meaningful ways,
that we've been able to achieve,
this high build engagement in education,
is by leveraging those partnerships by region.
So we've set up one stop,
a one stop shop support model,
with 2-1-1 San Diego and 2-1-1 Orange County,
as well as creating these partnerships,
with the Indian Health Councils,
and the Southern Indian Health,
which represents the 18 tribes in our service territory.
And that's important because,
it's focused on supporting their elders,
and their tribal members,
without access to transportation and the internet.
So we're really trying to amplify our messages,
through leveraging these strategic partnerships.
And I do think,
the one stop shop,
of 2-1-1 San Diego and Orange County,
will be very powerful.
And then we'll be able to connect our customers,
with resources quickly and amplify our messages.
Marybel Batjer: I have a quick question.
Ms Winn.
This is Marybel.
You're probably aware,
that our phase two of our PSPS guidelines,
strengthened the importance of identifying baseline,
medical baseline populations and households,
that have self-identified.
I am particularly concerned,
about how each of the utilities,
and of course yours,
are identifying those folks who live behind a master meter,
people that live, for example, in mobile home parks.
People that live in perhaps,
section eight housing,
they pay their rent to a manager,
that manager pays the utility bills.
How do you know who they are,
and where they are and how do you know their needs?
We've had...
We've heard heartbreaking testimonies,
from individuals who do live behind the master meter,
who then improperly,
or not notice,
of a PSPS event,
because the utility doesn't know that they exist.
Have you looked in,
have you addressed,
and per our phase two guidelines,
are you addressing these types of situations?
-: We absolutely are.
Let me just start with,
we're very focused on our customers,
in those types of situations as you described,
especially in mobile home parks.
And we have worked directly with them,
to sign them up for a medical baseline,
and some of those alerts.
I'm going to let Scott Crider,
go into more detail about exactly what we've done,
for our customers behind master meter.
Marybel Batjer: Thank you.
Scott Crider: Thank you Caroline,
and President Batjer,
just a quick sound check.
Can you hear me okay?
Marybel Batjer: Yeah, perfect.
Scott Crider: Okay, great.
Thank you, thank you.
You know obviously this is a really important question,
and Marybel, that we've been really focused on,
especially this year.
As it relates,
let me start first,
with medical baseline customers that are behind the meter.
And so, you know,
when we have a medical baseline customer sign up,
we actually treat them just like they're a customer.
So if a medical baseline customer's even behind the meter,
once they get signed up with us through that program,
we actually collect all their contact information,
and we'll do notifications,
to those customers or to those residents,
just as they would be a customer.
And we'll even go so far as,
if we don't reach them through our normal channels,
whether it be a voice or text or email,
if we cannot get positive contact,
we will still send an SDG&E employee,
to that residence to do an in person check,
to make sure that they're okay.
And so from a medical baseline perspective,
I think we've got a real good process in place,
to make sure that they're taken care of.
Now the rest of the residents,
who may not be medical baseline,
you know,
we're continuing to strengthen our relationships,
directly with park owners and managers,
you know,
in advance of wildfire season.
We're in contact with those parks.
And we have, you know,
for instance,
last year we had about 36 mobile mobile home parks,
that were impacted by a PSPS.
And we're in contact with those facilities.
We provide information, you know,
to the park owners and to the park managers.
And as we're going through our mobile home park,
conversion processes,
as well as you're aware, you know,
we do make sure,
that we're talking a lot,
about the different types of programs,
that their customers can sign up for.
And then finally,
and I'll close here,
and Caroline will touch on it in a second,
but let me just highlight it now,
since you asked the question,
is that we have,
the mobile home park resilience program pilot,
that we're launching this year.
We're actually gonna install a battery backup generation.
And I think we'll have about two ready for this year,
to make sure that the kind of the,
the common area or the clubhouse for the park,
will remain energized.
We think, you know,
we'll obviously get feedback,
from the owners and residents after this season,
and that would be a consideration,
for expansion in the future.
-: Great, I appreciate,
the work that you're doing,
and I trust that we'll continue it well into the year.
Thank you.
Scott Crider: Absolutely. Thank you.
-: I also had a question.
-: Go on, please.
Thank you.
So through the low income oversight board meetings,
which are also public,
and then some of them are marketing workshops,
we're hearing from food banks,
and I wonder if you speak a little bit,
as I recall through those post meetings,
San Diego Gas & Electric said that in 2019,
your food banks were not affected,
but any extra efforts,
towards ensuring that they can,
the community to get food and fresh food to folks.
Marybel Batjer: And stay energized.
-: Yeah, exactly.
-: The food banks were not impacted by any PSPS.
They're mainly located in some of the urban areas,
but I will tell you that,
we did partner with the food bank,
just to make sure that,
customers that were impacted by a PSPS prebuilt previously,
had access to those food banks.
You know,
rolling more mobile services to food banks,
so well, none of them have been impacted,
and we don't anticipate that to happen in 2020.
We are very keen to making sure,
that our customers, our impact,
still have access to those food banks.
Marybel Batjer: I have a followup question,
and I know you want to continue with your presentation...
-: No worries.
-: Okay, since we're talking about very important facilities,
we have new facilities this year,
that we didn't have last year.
And those are COVID-19 testing centers and testing sites.
What are you all doing in your planning,
to make sure they remain up and functioning,
with the proper energy, if they are in a de-energized area?
-: Well, thank you for that question.
It's very important.
And so we've done two things.
One as a result of COVID-19,
we've done special inspections,
to all our medical facilities,
to ensure that they would remain with reliable service,
just during this COVID-19 pandemic,
just generally.
So we've done special inspections,
and any issues that we found we've corrected them.
So that's item number one.
Item number two is,
we've identified these special facilities,
as a critical customer in our database,
so that we know when we're pre planning in advance,
if there's any impact,
to any of these critical medical facilities,
then we will contact them.
We will have constant communication with them.
So they're now identified in our database,
as a critical facility,
and we have the single points of contact,
that will contact them and let them know,
what the fire weather situation will be,
and whether or not they could be impacted by a PSPS.
And we would make any accommodations,
that we could possibly do,
to ensure they stay with power through these PSPS events.
-: That would indeed include,
when you say medical facility,
sometimes the testing centers,
are at fairgrounds and things like that.
So they're not even attached to a medical facility.
So are they part of your planning,
the actual testing sites?
-: They will be.
I can tell you,
that they're popping up in lots of new places by the day.
So it's incumbent upon our team,
to make sure we're identifying where they're at,
because they are there kind of being created as we speak.
So I think our challenge,
is just making sure we keep up,
with all of the new COVID testing centers,
and make sure they are identified as that critical customer.
-: Great, thank you.
-: I believe if we can turn to slide eight,
maybe I'll just talk a minute,
about our mobile app and our website.
And as that's coming out,
I would tell you that,
our team,
one of our dedicated teams has come up with a brand new app,
and it's scheduled to launch in the next few weeks.
And our website is really updated to reflect feedback,
that we received last year,
from our stakeholder to customers.
But first on the app,
our app allows our customers or any user,
to get updates, real time events,
updates on events,
and capture really much needed resource information,
like where our community resource centers are.
The app is free,
allowing anyone from the general public to sign up,
and you can get notifications,
based on where you are.
If you turn your location services on,
it will give you updates,
if you want to know where your sister,
or family members impacted by a PSPS,
you'll get notified.
So it's highly customizable.
And it provides also updates on,
if you're involved in a PSPS,
what that restoration process looks like,
and kind of like equate it,
to like the Domino's pizza tracker,
when you know, your pizza is going in the oven.
And to use my analogy, I have a teenager,
so Domino's is very prevalent in our house.
But it allows customers,
to be able to see where we're at,
on the restoration process.
So I think this will be a great new tool for our customers.
And, you know, in terms of our website,
the infrastructure is very highly scalable.
If we know we're going into a PSPS event,
or if we see lots more traffic,
it's built on the Amazon Web Services Cloud,
and it will allow us to be able to scale up,
or scale back,
based on how many people are logging on,
to view the website.
So we've been using this cloud technology,
since 2011.
And during any type of events.
We're monitoring performance,
but even before that,
you know,
we're making sure there's plenty of bandwidth,
to make sure we can meet the customer's needs.
-: That's terrific.
I have a question related to this.
However,
this is very helpful,
and I'm sure it will be to your customers.
And so of course,
the telecommunications companies have indicated,
tests that their service during PSPS events,
and I'm not sure if this is true in AT&T and COP,
and your service territory,
but their service degree has been degraded,
during these events.
And so customers have difficult time accessing websites,
due to loss of power,
and limited telecommunications bandwidth.
So,
will your website be able to have information on it,
that will provide for a low bandwidth version,
of those things that customers will need to access,
for example, maps and things like that?
-: Yeah.
Let me answer this.
And I'll have Scott,
our VP customer service chime in here,
but I would tell you,
that we're working specifically,
with our telecommunications companies,
especially during COVID-19,
and now overlaid with wildfire,
and actually they've given us some priority areas,,
so that we can focus on any upgrades,
that they need in those specific areas.
But Scott,
why don't you follow on with more details,
on what we're doing there.
Scott Crider: Yeah, absolutely.
Thank you Caroline.
And so let me start with the website first,
so the short answer to your question is yes,
even with a low bandwidth scenario,
you know, we really designed the websites specifically,
one, we start with the mobile first design.
And so it really,
regardless of the device that you're on,
it's going to scale up and scale down.
If it's a consistent user experience,
but with respect to low bandwidth,
we try to keep it without getting too technical,
the code's really light,
meaning we don't have a lot of extraneous scripting,
that the website has to read,
not a lot of images,
so in the event that there was,
limited cellular connectedness,
in our high fire threat areas,
that customers should still be able,
to access the website,
with little limited impacts.
And while at the same time,
they're seeking information from our website,
you know,
we'll continue to notify customers,
really throughout the event,
through landline phones,
text messages, emails,
and then of course,
we'll use traditional media,
social media, et cetera,
to make sure that people have the information,
that they need.
And maybe just one final thing,
you know,
we have shared our website architecture,
and all of our programming,
with Scott MacDonald,
at the California Department of Technology,
so there's been a real,
get back and forth with that organization as well.
Marybel Batjer: All right,
I had spoken to the Director,
Amy Tong recently,
and that she had indicated,
that she was meeting with Scott,
so I appreciate that.
Scott Crider: Absolutely.
Caroline Winn: Thank you Scott.
If we move on to the next slide,
this just gives you a glimpse of,
since we're talking about maps,
of what our customers,
and our public safety partners will see.
So on the last,
you'll see the website,
and what the maps that are our customers will be,
and the public will be able to see,
the areas without power,
or may be without power.
And then on the right is our public safety partners.
And this is an app,
they can access maps through a password protected website.
So these are our,
Cal OES, CAL Fire, CPC, first responder agencies, et cetera.
So I just wanted to give you a glimpse,
of what that would look like.
Marybel Batjer: And have you tested this,
with the County Managers,
and the emergency managers?
I know you just have San Diego,
and a bit of Orange but...
Has this worked for them?
-: Yes.
We have tested our,
this is similar to what we did last year.
We've expanded on it,
so yes, there has been tests that have been going on.
Marybel Batjer: Okay.
Caroline Winn: If we move...
Marybel Batjer: Caroline,
I think we have lost your audio.
Caroline, we can't hear you.
We're not hearing you,
we're not hearing you.
Scott Crider: President Batjer,
I will call her right now.
Marybel Batjer: Yes I see, the technical issues with...
Sorry that we...
Are we getting your audio again?
Robert are you...
Is this an issue from our end,
or is it an issue,
from the San Diego Gas and Electric's end?
Can you tell us?
Robert: According to,
WebEx,
it sounds like,
Caroline was disconnected from the telephone.
Marybel Batjer: It looks like she's trying to reconnect.
Maybe we could...
Yes, John?
Is that John?
Scott Crider: No this is Scott.
I'm just trying to get a hold of her now.
Yeah, just a minute.
One second please.
Marybel Batjer: Okay.
Robert: President Batjer, this is Robert Stanford,
Caroline did disconnect.
Marybel Batjer: Okay.
Are they able to reconnect to her?
If not,
maybe one of her colleagues,
could pick up on the slides,
because we're getting close to public comment period.
Scott Crider: Yes, President Batjer,
this is Scott Crider.
Let me step in while she's getting reconnected.
And in a couple of slides,
so, if we could go to slide five please.
-: Thanks Scott.
-: Robert could you enhance the...
Thank you.
Okay.
Scott Crider: Thank you very much,
and I apologize to the public for the delay here.
You know,
one of the areas,
that we've been really focused on,
is really year round communications with our customers.
And we have traditionally done a lot of,
resilience fairs and webinars,
to make sure that we're getting critical information,
on preparedness, on resiliency and on, you know,
our efforts,
to improve fire safety throughout our region.
And so this year,
given the COVID constraints,
we had to pivot a little bit,
but I'm proud to say,
that we still had,
a number of interactions with our customers.
We hosted four wildfire resilience webinars,
where we had hundreds of customers,
really dialing in and hearing from our experts.
And then really number two is,
we actually held drive through wild fire safety fairs.
And these were done,
in partnerships with a lot of our external partners,
at CAL Fire, the Red Cross, 2-1-1 San Diego,
where we actually set up camps,
and customers could actually drive through the event,
to pick up really critical information,
and really the same information,
that they would have received,
through our kind of our traditional in person events.
And so,
we're still,
even with COVID,
we're maintaining our engagement with customers,
and making sure they have the information,
that they need for this wildfire season.
Can you go to the next slide, please?
Eric Lamoureux: This is Eric Lamoureux,
with Cal OES,
I've got a question on your customer engagement,
especially during responses.
Walk me through a little bit,
what your community,
I don't recall exactly what you guys referred to them as.
I know other utilities,
community resource centers,
sometimes it's brick and mortar,
sometimes it's mobile.
What do yours look like,
and what does that look like this year,
in a COVID environment?
And certainly we want to ensure,
that we're continuing to provide utilities,
are continuing to provide,
that important information and resources,
to individuals during these outages.
Don't want to see that compromise,
because of COVID,
but want to ensure that the right protocols are in place.
Scott Crider: Absolutely,
thank you very much for that question.
And it's something that,
we've obviously been keenly focused on,
you know,
really since the spring,
when it was obvious,
that we were not going to be in a position,
to do things in a traditional manner,
for our community resource centers.
So, the approach that we're taking this year is,
is really through,
kind of a drive through CRC this year.
But they'll still be,
at our traditional fixed brick and mortar sites.
And we'll continue to have all the same types of facilities,
and be able to provide that same amount of information,
and supplies to our customers,
just like we would do it,
if we were 100% in person.
So we'll continue to provide water, snacks,
bulk water, ice.
We will have restrooms, at the facilities.
We will have charging for medical devices.
But in addition to that,
we're also going to be providing kits,
to every customer that drives through,
that has first aid kit.
You know,
hand-crank radios,
a power inverter to be able to charge medical equipment,
portable battery packs,
insulated bags for medication, for items to stay cool.
Sealed water.
So, we're trying to create an experience,
that it's very similar to having customers coming in,
and staying at the CRC as much as we can,
but we obviously need to make sure,
that we're doing this in a way,
that keeps the public safe and our employees safe.
And we think that we can do this,
with the proper social distancing,
and all the safety protections in place.
Eric Lamoureux: Thank you.
Marybel Batjer: Very good question there.
Thank you for asking it.
Caroline Winn: I'm so sorry.
I don't know.
I got kicked out, but I'm back.
Thank you, Scott.
I see we're on the next slide.
Marybel Batjer: And you're back!
Caroline Winn: Yes.
Okay.
Almost through here.
Let me finish up here with a few more slides.
I mentioned one of the lessons,
that we learned from PSPS last year,
was the importance of expanding,
our generator program.
And I think this is even more critical this year,
due to the pandemic.
And as you mentioned,
President Batjer,
more and more customers staying home,
working and learning.
So this year we've designed our programs,
to focus on vulnerable customers.
So medical baseline customers,
Scott talked about our customers in mobile home parks,
low income and care customers.
So around half of the generators,
that we're deploying this year,
are solar battery.
Let me just run through them quickly.
The Generator Grant Program,
is really an extension of a pilot,
that we did last year.
Again, it's for our medical,
any medical baseline customer,
that has been in the past,
impacted by PSPS,
will be receiving a portable solar battery type,
the Yeti unit.
We deployed around 50 of them last year,
and received very positive feedback,
from our medical baseline customers,
that were on our pilot.
So we extended it,
to all medical baseline customers,
impacted by PSPS.
Scott talked about the mobile home park.
Our Generator Systems Program,
is open for tier three customers,
and low income customers.
And we'll provide about a 50% rebate,
or $300 for our tier three customers,
and a 75% rebate or a $450 value,
for our low income customers.
And then the last program,
is really the Whole House Generator Program.
And it's being deployed,
it's keeping entire homes energized,
especially those that have been impacted,
previously by PSPS.
And we have around 300 of those going in.
So, these generators will just become,
more and more important,
especially as we see this pandemic continue.
If we move to the next slide,
which is on Microgrids.
You know,
we're proud to have developed,
one of the nation's first community based microgrid,
and the community of Borrego Springs,
and with the Commission's encouragement,
we were building on that experience.
So we're building out four additional microgrids.
Our microgrids are targeted,
to provide customers and communities,
impacted by PSPS,
that have been historically de-energized,
so two of these microgrids,
are serving low income communities.
In the interest of time,
I won't go through all of them,
but maybe just one that I'll point out,
is at the Ramona Cafe,
and it's a strategic location,
especially in our community, in San Diego,
in Southern orange County for CAL Fire air operations,
they have a complex operations,
and it's really dependent on sophisticated technology.
And this facility,
provides direct protection,
of 1.4 million acres for CAL Fire,
300,000 acres for the US Forest Service,
and covers all of San Diego County.
So, you know,
this will provide service consistency,
and resiliency and reliability.
So Daniel, I know you're on,
so I appreciate your support,
in helping me get this one done,
especially before fire season.
Daniel Berlant: Yeah, we're looking forward to it.
Do you have an idea of the exact completion date?
I know it says on there into 2020,
but just curious,
if there's a target date.
Caroline Winn: Yeah. We're working in October.
We have experienced some delays,
in obtaining some of the necessary equipment,
resulting from impacts of COVID-19 on supply chain.
But yeah,
we're hoping that in October,
we've gotta be able to get those ones done.
Daniel Berlant: Right.
-: Okay, moving on to slide 14.
-: I know that Commissioner Rechtschaffen,
has been trying to...
Marybel Batjer: Commissioner Rechtschaffen,
has been trying to ask a question.
He has some audio issues,
so Cliff are you still with us,
and do you want to ask your question?
Oh, shoot.
-: [Genevieve Shiroma] Well, we're trying to get him online.
I'll just make a comment.
Caroline, I appreciate that,
for the cam recorders,
Butterfield, Agua Caliente Coachella Valley,
that you're looking to have renewable sources,
of the microgrid by July and December, 2020.
And of course,
if there's any way to move up,
that December, 2021 to the fall of 2021,
that'd be outstanding,
but I did want to acknowledge,
that you've got that on there.
-: That absolutely will be our goal.
And you know, again,
we are trying to make sure,
we have the products that we need.
Some of our energy storage units have been delayed,
because of the pandemic,
but that, absolutely.
If we can get it in before fire season,
and anything humanly possible,
we'll do that.
-: Commissioner Rechtschaffen has sent me the question,
he would like to know.
It's back on the CRC's follow up,
on Eric Lamoureux's question.
What are your hours for your CRCs?
Scott Crider: Thank you, this is Scott Crider.
Sorry Caroline.
-: Go ahead Scott.
Scott Crider: Okay.
From 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM,
I think the decision was pretty specific in that area,
and I believe it's at 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM.
-: And your CRCs,
are they,
are they also,
are you locating any in the tribal lands?
Scott Crider: I don't know,
but they're certainly adjacent to tribal lands.
I don't know if this year,
I don't think we have one on tribal lands this year.
I know we have in the past,
but we do have a dedicated tribal liaison,
and working, you know,
directly with the tribal governments,
on the kind of response generally,
as Caroline mentioned earlier, as well,
in terms of the AFN communities,
within the tribal communities,
we're working towards having,
kind of, a very summer arrangement,
that we established with 2-1-1 San Diego,
and 2-1-1 Orange County,
to make sure that we have very specific focus,
on those who live within the tribal communities.
Because sometimes they're very,
it's very, very unique needs.
And so we're just trying to make sure,
that we extend that regional partnership model,
to make sure that we're being very specific,
with our tribal partners.
-: You might want to give us a little followup,
on information on that,
if you could please.
Scott Crider: Absolutely.
-: Okay.
-: Caroline, if I could ask you a question.
You were talking earlier about your work on micro grids,
and I appreciate that,
you also mentioned earlier in your presentation,
about working to keep community centers open.
And perhaps you're going to get to this,
I was a little interested,
in hearing more about what that looks like,
obviously where we can create,
you know,
islands of power within the polygons,
that are de-energized.
It reduces the overall consequence management,
that local government has to deal with,
so we have to support them with,
at the state level.
So I'm interested in hearing more about that.
-: So, there were three town centers,
that we will have energized this year.
One of them is Julian.
The other one is Campbell.
And the last one is San Isabel.
And John Jenkins, you can weigh in here,
but those are the three town centers,
that will be energized through the PSPS.
And John, why don't you confirm.
John Jenkins: Yes,
it's those three town centers, Caroline,
but then also you can think of the microgrid,
as energizing of little pockets of the community as well.
So Shelter Valley and Agua Caliente,
which were on the microgrid slide,
will also remain energized through the year.
And, going back to Commissioner Shiroma's question too,
you know,
in the event that they're not ready by the fall,
we do have plans for portable generators,
in the event that the renewable,
and solar installations aren't ready.
So they will be energized this fall regardless.
And then there's some other ways,
that we're looking at energizing town centers,
which is providing express underground feeds,
from certain substations in the back country,
to these town centers,
and then under grounding,
just the critical facilities in those town centers,
so residents have a place,
to go get supplies and goods,
and critical care facilities,
and those sorts of things.
And so,
even over the course of the next 18 months or so,
we're going to continue to see,
community town centers energized,
to help mitigate the impacts,
that our residents are seeing in the back country.
-: Thank you, John.
Okay, if we can move to slide 14.
Maybe I'll just talk about...
Forecasting fire danger,
is such an important tenet of our program,
and it not only helps SDG&E,
but also our public safety partners,
be able to plan ahead,
pre-positioned resources,
staff up and really adjust operations,
to minimize the risk,
and respond to emergencies effectively.
I'm just proud to hear,
that we've done a lot of work in this area.
It's such an important aspect of our program.
You know,
we have our very large utility weather network,
and it's the practice now being replicated,
by weather stations across the nation.
And you know,
these wind speeds remain a really key factor.
So, I would tell you all,
on our high speed weather data,
we're upgrading our network.
We first started installing these in 2010,
and now we're upgrading it this year,
such that we can get wind,
wind and temperature and humidity every 30 seconds,
instead of 10 minutes, what was before.
And this will really facilitate more precise,
data driven decision making to keep our community safe.
Maybe I'll just touch on,
the Satellite Wildfire Detection.
And so we're adding satellite alerts,
and this is an addition to our proven,
and our tested high definition camera networks.
that quickly detects monsoons.
So I kind of think of this,
as a second layer,
or a second set of eyes,
through a new generation of satellites,
that are taking pictures all across the US, every minute.
We partnered with Noah.
Now we're receiving,
these near instantaneous texts,
about hotspots detected.
And maybe the last thing I'll just mention quickly,
is the integration of artificial intelligence.
We have AI based predictive models,
that increase the accuracy or weather forecast.
Now that we have 10 years of weather forecast data,
there's,
you know,
there's just millions of pieces of data,
to be able to get better accuracy,
of our weather forecast,
and help prevent any equipment-caused wildfires,
and allow our company to further mitigate,
the impact to our customers.
As we go onto the next slide,
which is,
on our aerial inspections and firefighting,
I would just tell you,
not only are we working on eliminating ignition,
but we're also focused on early detection of fire,
and suppression.
So these aerial assets really play a significant role,
for us in the flight mission category.
And I'll obviously start with drones,
and tell you that drones have given us,
a different viewpoint from the air,
of our infrastructure.
And it really provides a higher level of granularity,
from inspections down on the ground,
or the helicopter,
and it's kind of playing a significant role,
in really eliminating potential,
equipment-related ignitions.
And one that I think has huge opportunities,
when you think about AI and machine learning.
Some of the other flight mission capabilities,
of course the Erickson air crane,
capable of over 2,600 gallons of water drops.
It's now contracted at SDG&E,
365 days out of the year.
We have our UH-60,
capable of an 800 to 1000 gallon water drop.
We have our dual engine Airbus,
our H 145, that's really key for us,
to ensure sufficient air inspection,
and patrol resources,
pre-event,
prior to re-energizing.
And then, you know,
we're adding another dual engine,
H 135,
again to help support overall wildfire suppression,
and patrol events.
I think one interesting fact,
is over the past five years,
over 80% of the fires in the state,
in our region,
have been limited to a quarter acre or less,
which I really attribute,
not just a great first responders,
and our strong partnerships with our first responders,
but also I attribute it,
to the alert SDG&E cameras,
and our aerial assets,
again, with our strong partnerships.
Moving on to my last...
-: Caroline.
-: Oh yes.
-: Caroline,
you've highlighted here a number of critical air assets,
Two questions.
One is,
which of these are new to your operation,
in an effort to try to get us restoration faster.
And then can you speak a little bit to your ground assets,
so the folks on the ground,
that are helping to do inspections for you.
My questions are all in the context,
of the steps you're taking,
to be able to bring restoration quicker.
-: Sure.
And we have a new H 145,
that we've added to our aerial assets.
It's the dual engine air H 145.
And that, again, will help us with suppression,
and our patrol efforts.
In terms of folks on the ground,
obviously, one of the things we've been working on,
as I mentioned earlier,
is this pandemic,
and now you combine flu season.
So we're really working,
not just with our own employees,
and doing all the things,
that we've been doing to keep them safe,
during this pandemic,
but we're also adding contractors,
to our readiness team,
making sure they can help us pre-patrol.
They can help us post-patrol,
and they can help us on the ground.
So I would tell you,
not only do we have our own employees,
but we have our contractors,
and deep strategic partnerships with our contractors,
to be able to help us on the ground as well,
as well as our,
our team that is with us,
that are working side by side with our employees,
when we're out working in the field,
especially on Elevate Bay,
that if there is any fire ignitions,
that fire would be out very quickly,
our caps have improved,
So, that's just a little recap.
John, do you want to add anything to what I just mentioned?
John Jenkins: Yeah.
I'll just add a few things, Caroline.
Obviously we get our resources organized,
and obviously we have some coastal districts,
that aren't affected as much during these wildfire events.
We start moving resources,
East to help with observations and patrols.
We have all of our segments,
and our high fire threat district,
are mapped in books or pre made,
for people to go out and patrol these,
and document anything that we find,
to safely re-energize our customers.
We start using employees from our gas side,
as drivers during these conditions.
So some of our employees can go out and patrol these lines,
and with other people driving the car,
that aren't electric side employees,
and secure as many air resource or resources,
as we can to help with the aerial patrols,
to get done.
And this has allowed us to,
you know,
on the slide that Caroline showed,
with the events from last year,
the average customer,
was out for around 24 hours in all the events.
And it's all of this work,
that has helped us maintain that performance.
Daniel Berlant: Hey Caroline,
this is Daniel from CAL Fire.
Just a quick question.
Is it part of SDG&E's protocols,
to have your operations,
contact the CAL Fire tactical air operations,
within a day or two prior to helicopter air patrols,
following a PSPS event?
-: I think the answer to the question,
is yes, that, you know,
we're in constant communication with CAL Fire,
which we meet Jim with his staff,
as well,
talking about not only our,
you know, the forecasts,
but also our aerial operations.
And as you probably know,
all of our aerial assets,
like our air crane and the blackhawk,
is all controlled through CAL Fire.
Daniel Berlant: Right, thank you very much.
-: Absolutely.
Thank you.
-: Caroline, just a bit of a followup to this topic.
I recall during a winter meeting,
we had with some of the chairman across the state,
Chairman Badmer Betty was there,
that you mentioned earlier,
and he raised the issue,
that occurred last year,
for many of their nations down there,
in particular his,
in recons territory,
that the delay in re-energization.
And they wanted to know,
what kind of partnerships that they could offer,
to try to safely expedite the re-energization.
And I wonder if you've had any,
progress in that area,
or any update you can give,
with regards to that.
-: Well, thank you for the question.
You know, that's the first that I've heard,
of that exact recommendation,
but I love how you mentioned,
our restoration process in 2019.
The average time was 24 hours,
but, you know,
we have a single point of contact,
that works with all of our tribe leaders,
in terms of coordination,
when we're de...
Have to de-energize,
if we have to do it for PSPS,
and then when we re-energize.
But I will take that as an action item,
to work directly with Chairman Betty,
and see what we might be able to do,
to partner in that area.
Thank you for letting me know.
-: Excellent.
Thank you.
-: I just have one more slide,
and I'll be very quick on,
as this is our slide 16,
and that's just to talk about,
you know,
how we're preparing,
to execute our wildfire event,
during the COVID-19 pandemic,
I'll just run by it very quickly.
There are two things that we're doing,
the first is lots of exercises and drills.
We want to be prepared for the worst case event,
which would be 100% virtual.
Our emergency operations center,
has been working virtually,
since March during the pandemic,
and it's really afforded us the opportunity,
to fine tune our emergency operations,
as we approach wildfire season.
But in addition to that,
we reviewed our entire wildfire playbook,
from 10 days before an event,
all the way to post event.
And we've identified the gaps,
and being able to do that virtually,
and essentially then closing those gaps,
as we get into wildfire season.
We've redesigned all the IT systems,
to support remote operations.
We're engaging all those critical facilities,
I mentioned on earlier,
the medical facilities,
and coordinating with external agencies.
So we're doing a lot of exercises,
and a lot of drills,
to make sure that,
we can operate during a pandemic effectively.
We have three stages.
One would be,
100% virtual,
another would be,
you know,
if it's extreme wide spread wildfire,
bringing in,
just a very small core group of leaders in the organization,
in our emergency operation center,
we've redesigned it,
so that there's plexiglass and plenty of social distancing.
I would say number two,
we really put contingencies in place,
to respond to a PSPS response.
We're employing, you know,
many of the same techniques we do today,
for our employees to keep them safe,
which includes,
temperature and health screenings,
before they enter a facility,
we have,
we keep our crews together,
so there's crew continuity.
We have them reported to many different work locations,
so there's not a large gathering of people.
But in addition to that,
we're also increasing our contractors,
that will help us respond to these emergencies,
especially if we have high levels of absenteeism.
And then I think we've talked about,
the drive through community resource centers,
being able to be prepared for that.
And certainly the aerial assets that I talked about.
I would just say,
I just want to close with this,
and I'll,
we're happy to take questions,
but I want to assure you that our commitment,
to keep the safety of our community,
that we service is unwavering.
And, we will continue,
every single day from improvement.
We'll continue to work with state leaders,
with our regulators,
with agencies,
to help identify and implement right solutions,
to adequately address wildfire risk,
and really minimize,
the public power safety shut off.
And I can tell you,
I'm personally committed,
to look for gaps in our organization and close the gaps,
so that, more people can have power during this,
and our communities stay resilient.
And as a company,
we're really committed,
to consistently looking for ways,
to improve our efforts.
And I'll just end by telling you,
continuous learning and innovation,
is really the hallmark of our company culture.
And I'm happy to answer any questions.
And thank you for the opportunity,
to explain our 2020 plan.
-: Sorry, I was on mute.
Thank you very much, Caroline,
that was an excellent presentation,
a lot of information,
and we have just a couple areas of followup,
that we would like.
You may have to commit.
We do.
We're running about 20 minutes late.
I had promised that we'd go into,
but we started about 10 minutes late,
because of our technical issues.
But we do have one member of the public waiting,
before I turn to the operator,
do any of my fellow Commissioners,
or Cal OES or CAL Fire,
have any other questions for SDG&E?
Guzman Aceves: President Batjer,
this is Commissioner Guzman Aceves again.
-: Yes, please, go ahead.
Guzman Aceves: One question,
I do recall my first year here in 2017,
we had a meeting with Supervisor Jacobs,
and I wonder,
and she subsequently followed up,
with a letter regarding many of the rural residents,
North and East County,
that had a dependency on wells,
on water wells,
and I know maybe you could talk a little bit about,
any strategies,
including any coordinated strategies,
with the County on that,
and neutral requirements,
to establish things like,
storage tanks or anything like that.
Is there any progress on the issue of residents,
who are obviously dependent on their power,
for pumping their well water?
-: Thank you, Commissioner Guzman.
That's an excellent question,
it's something that's been on our radar,
it's something that we've worked hard towards,
in terms of improving that experience for our customers,
and there's been a lot of work,
in our community resource centers.
Scott Crider, why don't you,
elaborate on,
the work that we've done in that area?
Scott Crider: Great, thanks Caroline.
Commissioner, you know,
probably in this area,
probably the,
what we've really been focused on,
is making sure that we have,
large water trucks at our CRCs.
And so if customers need bulk amounts of water,
that was one of the pieces of feedback,
that we got from our customers,
that they really wanted to see both for home use,
but there's also larger animals,
that are in some of our back country communities.
And so, that's really what we've been focused,
in addition to working with,
a lot of our back country residents,
just on backup generation.
You know,
Caroline had outlined,
a number of generator programs,
that we're putting in place.
But in terms of establishing,
like really large facilities,
to kind of store water,
we have not done that.
It's a little bit difficult,
just given the,
how far apart a lot of these communities are.
A lot of these residents actually are.
They are pretty extreme rural areas,
and then again, really being in the mountains,
but we'll certainly take that back,
and see what else we can do for the water usage.
-: Thank you.
Any other questions?
We still have one member of the public waiting.
Any questions?
Okay, so I'm going to turn,
to the public comment section then.
And again,
just to remind,
if any members of the public,
do wish to call in,
please dial (800) 857-1917,
and enter pass code 9-8-9-9-5-0-1,
and press *1,
and be patient,
for the operator to call on your name.
Operator, would you please introduce,
the caller?
Operator: Our first caller is Melissa Kasnitz,
your line is now open.
Melissa: Thank you.
Can you hear me?
-: Yes.
Melissa: Can you hear me?
-: We can hear you.
Melissa: Thank you.
This is Melissa Kasnitz.
I'm the Legal Director,
with the Center for Accessible Technology.
We've been an active party,
in all of the Commission's work on de-energization.
And I appreciate the presentation here today.
There were a couple of items,
that I'd like to stress and ask,
for further consideration of.
First, is the issue that shutoffs,
are supposed to support public safety overall.
And so I'd like to reemphasize,
that the IOUs, including San Diego,
need to actually consider and balance the farms,
from turning the power off.
Not just the risks of keeping the power on,
when they decide whether or not to engage in a shutoff.
And now more than ever with the pandemic,
the shutoff increases the risks,
and harms to people,
who have extended power outages.
So we need to focus also on mitigation.
But mostly,
we need to focus on there being fewer and shorter shutoffs.
Well, we certainly want,
any shutoffs to be handled well,
we don't want all the focus,
to be on ways that normalize,
the concept of turning off the power.
We really want these shutoffs,
to be a temporary fix,
that isn't institutionalized,
by either the utilities or the Commission.
More specifically,
for my particular constituency of people with medical needs,
I very much appreciate President Batjer's question,
about how these people are being identified,
but there was nothing in the presentation,
or a response about identifying customers,
beyond those enrolled in medical baseline,
who have medical needs.
The phase two guidelines,
had some specific items of data,
that the utilities have in their database.
People who have self identified as having a disability,
people who have requested,
communications in alternative formats,
and people who have been identified,
as being eligible for an in person visit,
prior to a shutoff for nonpayment,
as being a medical risk.
So I'd very much like to hear,
what San Diego is doing to use those,
data entries in their system,
to identify people at risk.
And my one other question,
that I'd love to get a response to,
is dealing with COVID risk,
and the main focus seems to be,
in the conversation about the risk to employees.
But I'd like to ask about communities.
The only specific offered,
was drive through CRCs,
but that of course,
doesn't provide any assistance,
for people without their own cars,
which is a high portion,
of the most at risk population.
So these people without their own cars,
maybe trapped at home without power,
and I'd like to hear what protections are in place,
to make sure they have food,
adequate air conditioning options,
if the weather is extreme,
and the other risks that they will face,
if they can't access the drive through CRC,
and they're trapped at home,
for an extended amount of time,
during the pandemic.
Thank you.
-: Thank you for your question.
-: Yeah.
Would you like to respond Caroline,
to any of those questions,
and I'm particularly interested,
if you can't today,
but follow up on the,
cause it was part of my question too,
the phase two,
PSPS guidelines,
and some of the particular information,
that we are requesting that you all have,
that Caroline outlined it very well.
So please, go ahead.
-: Thank you for your question Melissa.
There was a lot in there,
so I might miss some of them,
miss some of it,
but I want to respond to it,
and I'll let Scott,
add onto that.
Let me first tell you,
that we take the decision to turn off power,
we take that very seriously,
and there are a number of factors,
that go into that decision,
not just wind speeds,
but there are there literally,
there are over a dozen factors that go into that decision.
So we take that decision very seriously,
and we try to make sure,
that we're always balancing the risk of wildfire weather,
with a risk to our customers.
I think,
I hope that you heard from our presentation,
just that the focus on our customers with generators,
with open houses,
and webinars and these drive-through wildfire safety fairs,
which is just so important,
to make sure that every customer understands,
the risks and when extreme wildfire weather,
is coming and the risk of a PSPS.
I would tell you that we have really tried,
to make sure that,
again, no customer is,
doesn't know that a PSPS is coming,
or doesn't know there are extreme wildfires,
weather it's coming.
That is exactly why,
we made sure to have this strategic partnership,
with 2-1-1 San Diego and 2-1-1 Orange County.
That is really the importance of that.
But let me just share an example,
because I think you mentioned customers,
without transportation.
Last year,
we had one of our PSPS events,
during cold weather.
You know, overnight loads,
in thirties and forties.
We quickly partnered with,
Meals on Wheels and the Red Cross,
to make sure we were getting out.
Not only, partnering with Meals on Wheels for meals,
but also on blankets and other needs for customers,
because again, it was a colder type PSPS.
So we are working our partnerships,
to make sure that we can amplify our reach.
But Scott,
why don't you talk specifically,
about the requirements on phase two,
to answer that question, if you could.
Scott Crider: Great, thank you.
Well, let me start,
maybe with a little bit bigger picture,
because this is,
this is such an important issue, Melissa,
thank you for raising it.
So let me again,
kind of reiterate,
kind of structurally and strategically,
how we're approaching,
providing more services,
to our AFN communities broadly.
I had mentioned briefly,
I think John did as well,
you know, we had establish formal agreements,
not just ad hoc,
but formal agreements,
with both 2-1-1 San Diego and 2-1-1 Orange County,
and they're going to help us,
and they're going to serve as the resource hub,
of providing services,
to a lot of our customers who may need it,
during a PSPS event.
For example,
Melissa,
to your exact point,
if somebody doesn't have to have transportation,
they're going to be able to call 2-1-1,
and they will get them connected,
with a transportation provider,
that can drive into a CRC,
or drive them,
to you know,
to maybe a relative's home.
Same thing for food security.
And if we have an extended outage,
which hopefully it's not,
because generally ours are about average,
about 24 hours,
with that 2-1-1,
we'll be able to help organize,
additional welfare checks,
beyond what we normally do here at SDG&E.
So we think,
and then again Melissa,
we're gonna work with the block AFN community,
as well as the app,
to make sure as we,
kind of go down this pathway,
with this newer model,
we think this is a great foundation,
to serve our AFN communities,
but we're gonna need to keep learning.
We're gonna need to keep listening,
to make sure that we can shape this,
in a way that meets the needs,
of a very diverse set of set of customers.
And as it relates,
to kind of the phase two,
that President Batjer,
one thing,
I want to make sure that I'm hitting it correctly,
so if you don't mind,
I'd like to,
maybe be able to provide a response,
on those specific elements.
They don't have those right in front of me,
but please understand that our outreach to the AFN,
our vulnerable populations,
is going to take a very big step forward for this year,
because 2-1-1 and it's also helping us,
through their network,
of hundreds of community based organizations,
and in terms of communications and outreach as well.
So we think that this is going to be a model,
to be able to last us for a very long time in San Diego.
Melissa: Is my line still open?
Thank you.
-: Yeah, go ahead Melissa.
Melissa: I wanted to know whether San Diego,
or what San Diego has done specifically,
with the information in their own databases,
to better identify,
who exactly their AFN customers are.
I would very much appreciate more information on that.
Scott Crider: We'll definitely provide that too,
Melissa as well the Commission.
Melissa: Thank you very much.
-: We appreciate that as well.
We have a question from Commissioner Rechtschaffen again,
he has some audio issues,
so I'm going to take him to the public comments.
So to ask his question,
this relates back to slide 13.
How many medical baseline customers,
will be receiving the GETI batteries,
and confirm that all of those affected,
by the PSPS will receive one?
-: The answer is 1,250 medical baseline customers,
will receive...
Marybel Batjer: And is that,
your full population?
-: No, that's medical baseline.
A part of that has been impacted in the past.
-: Okay.
And did you update some of your AFN information,
on the sense that that will include,
an effort to make sure that they have,
GETI batteries as well?
-: Yeah.
-: We're having some.
We're having some audio issues,
I'm sorry.
Scott Crider: John, do you want to take this one?
John Jenkins: Okay, can you hear me?
-: I can. Thank you.
Yes.
-: Yeah.
John Jenkins: The program for this year,
as Caroline mentioned,
identified all of the customers,
in our high fire threat districts,
that experienced the PSPS event in the past.
And I believe what we are doing to...
They all gonna get one.
Well, it's up to them.
We can't force them to take it,
but we do give them the opportunity,
which most take us up on it.
And then as with any event,
we're going to continue to look at,
and learn and expand,
either the programs themselves,
or the populations that we look at.
So I believe the question was,
are we looking at other groups,
outside of just medical baseline?
And as I just mentioned,
we're going to continue to look at every event,
and see what we can do,
to better serve our customers going forward.
-: Okay. Thank you.
I think we have one more caller,
who is in the queue.
So we'll go back to the public comments please.
Operator.
Operator: The next caller is Joseph Mitchell,
your line is now open.
Joseph Mitchell: Hello,
this is Joseph Mitchell,
with the Mussey Grade Road Alliance,
and we're interveners at the CPUC,
and have been engaged in power shut off proceedings,
since 2008.
I have a question.
During power shut off,
customers have reduced the ability to learn about,
and report emergency information,
and to conduct evacuations,
especially with forecasts,
of above average potential,
for extreme fire weather.
There may be ignitions of severe fire,
from non utility sources.
Are there any plans to notify customers,
or re-energize equipment,
if customers in power shut off areas,
are threatened by wildfire.
-: Thank you for your question Joseph,
I'll take it and John you can add in here.
So what I would tell you is that,
we work very closely with law enforcement,
and the fire agencies,
and have evacuation route map book,
prepared in the event there is a wildfire,
and we do have to evacuate.
In terms of,
is there any mechanisms to turn back on the power,
for any specific emergency?
We take all of that on a case by case basis,
but I can tell you,
when we are activated,
again,
pre-prepared 10 days in advance,
all the way through every customer be restored.
We, you know,
we have these direct conversations with law enforcement,
and with our fire agencies,
and we take all of that on a case by case basis.
John would you like too add on in here?
John Jenkins: No, you did a good job answering Caroline.
I mean,
there's a lot of communication,
that goes on throughout the year,
to make sure that we're prepared,
going into these events,
for coordination,
for things like these.
And I would just say, in addition,
we're looking at all sides of communication channels.
So in the event that,
they don't have their internet or phone service,
we also have radio spots,
and TV ads and road signage along the roads,
to help communicate where to,
and where to go and get information.
-: Thank you.
-: I believe that,
we have another caller on the line operator.
Could you please invite them to speak?
Operator: I'm showing no further callers.
-: Okay.
Just a reminder.
If you do wish to call in,
please call (800) 857-1917,
and enter passcode 9-8-9-9-5-0-1,
and press *1.
We'll just wait one minute.
We are way over the time.
So I'm just wanting to make sure,
there may have been some people from the public,
who wish to speak,
and had to get off the line,
since we were scheduled at 11.
So we'll just wait one more minute, Caroline,
if that's okay with you,
and for a comment from the public.
Okay, operator,
could you check the lines again, please?
Operator: I'm showing no further callers.
-: Okay.
Thank you very much operator.
With no more callers on the line,
the public comment period is now closed.
And I want to thank you all,
for joining us today,
for a very informative presentation,
and discussion.
I would thank you all.
And I'd like to invite everyone,
to join us tomorrow at 1:30,
for the Edison public briefing,
and Thursday at 10:00 AM
for the PG&E public briefing.
I wanna thank Caroline,
you and your staff today.
For the time, I'm sorry,
we had some technical difficulties.
I apologize for that,
but you were very adept at dealing with them.
I thank you,
and I appreciate the follow up information,
that you'll be sending us as well.
Thank you, Caroline.
-: Thank you.
Thank you Commissioners.
Thank you, CAL Fire.
And thank you Cal OES.
Bye.
-: Bye bye.
Bye everyone.
Thank you all for participating.