By Jennifer Robison

After a difficult winter storm season in 2023’s first quarter that worsened longstanding issues in PG&E’s new-business connections process, the company heard calls for change loud and clear.

PG&E’s Service Planning & Design team has partnered with stakeholders in the design and development industries to build on the progress it made in early 2023 to serve customers.

“The work that we’re doing to reimagine our new-business connection process is some of the most important work happening at PG&E,” said Matt Ventura, senior director of Service Planning & Design for the company. “Improving that process is how we will help California meet its bold affordable housing, economic development and decarbonization goals.”

Those efforts have born success. As of October 2023:

• Average end-to-end lead time has decreased by 13%, or 50 days
• Engineering design times have decreased by 33%, or 37 days, and roughly half of new designs are completed in less than 40 days
• The backlog of design work in progress has declined by 30 percent
• The number of customer projects energized on a timely basis has improved by 25 percentage points year to date, with a 500% improvement of on-time delivery (from 5% to 30%
• PG&E is on track to energize 1,000 more new-business customers in 2023 than in 2022

What made those gains possible? Credit a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between PG&E and the California Building Industry Association (CBIA), and a newly streamlined process for applicants.

Two new California laws signed in October by Gov. Gavin Newsom will drive additional improvements through the end of 2023 and into 2024.

Open lines of communication

The MOU between PG&E and the CBIA laid the foundation for change. PG&E CEO Patti Poppe and CBIA President and CEO Dan Dunmoyer signed the agreement in July 2023.

The memorandum launched a Technical Working Committee and a Policy Advisory Committee composed of members from PG&E, the CBIA and regional Building Industry Associations (BIAs). The committees meet monthly to discuss goals and progress on process improvements and regulations to improve new-business connections.

BIA members appreciate the monthly status updates, said Lisa Vorderbrueggen, East Bay director of governmental affairs for the BIA Bay Area.

“The MOU is a positive indication of PG&E’s commitment to making improvements,” she said. “Both sides are committed to staying with this process in the long haul. When you put your name on something, it helps hold people accountable.”

The Technical Working Committee has been especially helpful to the applicant designers who work with customers to provide PG&E with drawings, maps and other support documents needed to connect a project to the grid.

“Having that line of communication and being able to work on issues that come up is hugely beneficial,” said Paul Giacalone, owner and president of Giacalone Design Services in the Bay Area.

‘Issues get resolved quickly’

Beyond establishing the committees, developing and implementing new processes to better support applicant-design teams was a top priority outlined in the MOU.

PG&E launched that effort over the summer when it centralized the representatives, or job owners, that applicant-designers work with. The company also created a simpler management structure to oversee job owners. The changes are already paying off.

“Everyone knows the playing field now,” Giacalone said. “For example, if we submit a package, the PG&E rep has to get back to us within 10 days. That’s great, because as soon as we submit, we want to know if the PG&E job owner is happy with the application, or if there’s information they still need. That upfront communication is huge.”

Connecting to the grid will always be complicated because it involves safety standards and unique project designs, Giacalone said.

“But if you have someone you can talk to about how to work through issues you’re having, it’s much easier to solve problems,” he added.

BIA Bay Area members also say they’re pleased with the new process, which allows escalation in critical cases.

“It’s given us good results, particularly for homeowners who nearly have keys in hand, and they’re just waiting for energization,” Vorderbrueggen said. “It demonstrates to our members that PG&E is interested in helping people get into their homes.”

The results of the streamlined structure are clear to Service Planning & Design leaders as well: Ventura said his team receives far fewer complaints now about the design phase than it was receiving earlier this year.

Advanced construction scheduling

The MOU also called for PG&E to establish advanced or “soft” construction scheduling for new-business connections.

Traditionally, PG&E didn’t schedule its work until a customer was completely ready, with permits in hand and the site prepared for construction. That policy often left a period of time during which a customer had to wait for PG&E crews to be available.

Under the new protocol, PG&E schedules connection work as soon as a customer pays their contract. PG&E and the customer then work in parallel to meet their respective work milestones as the construction date approaches.

“Advanced construction scheduling is the No. 1 thing customer groups have been asking us to do. In their eyes, it’s a game changer,” Ventura said. “By scheduling early, we have a better chance of performing on the right timeline for the customer.”

Advanced scheduling launched on Sept. 1 for builders of subdivisions with five or more lots. PG&E expanded the process to all new business application types as of Nov. 15.

Improved application process

A sizable chunk of applications for new service are incomplete, which makes it tough for PG&E to begin its pre-energization process. Beyond affecting successful connection rates, incomplete applications consume company resources for work that may never come to fruition.

That’s why PG&E streamlined its application portal with enhancements that include text prompts and checklists of necessary information.

The goal is to educate customers upfront to reduce the number of incomplete applications and to ensure a project is ready to go as soon as customers request a connection.

Since the improvements, applications have fallen 33 percent, even as connections have increased. What’s more, surveys that measure customer sentiment regarding new-business connections show increasing satisfaction — with the application and intake process ranking as the highest-performing phase.

“A more efficient application process allows us to dedicate our time and effort to customers who are truly ready to initiate the new-business connection,” Ventura said. “It also reduces the odds of cancellations later, which improves our completion rate and reduces waste.”

Additional improvements on the way

Two new state laws will lead to improvements.

Based on Assembly Bill 50, customers and stakeholders will benefit from the California Public Utilities Commission’s setting of reasonable average and maximum targets for service-connection time periods, with mandated reporting for utilities that fall short, as well as third-party audits of costs applied to balancing accounts.

Under Senate Bill 410, balancing accounts will enable utilities to recover costs of energization and capacity projects not funded through a General Rate Case, for a nimbler funding structure better suited to today’s load growth.

“This new legislation will accelerate our strategy to improve service delivery to new-business customers,” Ventura said. “We’re accountable for providing Californians with timely and reliable power connections, and additional funding will allow us to perform even more new-business customer work in 2024.”

For applicant designers and builders, the changes are heartening, though they add that they’re hoping for sustained improvement.

“If they keep going in the direction they’re going in, we’re very hopeful,” said Giacalone Design Services owner and Chief Financial Officer Lisa Giacalone-Burns. “We like the changes PG&E is making because they’ll make it much more efficient for everyone. But we need consistency, and for them to stick with it.”

Added Vorderbrueggen: “If we maintain the committee meetings outlined in the MOU and the current level of communication between PG&E and the building industry, we’re hopeful that we will continue to see improvement. It won’t all happen overnight. Everyone will need to stay at the table. But we are committed to working together with PG&E to move this forward.