SAN FRANCISCO, July 27 (San Francisco News Online) — California regulators in San Francisco approved stronger protections against utility shutoffs during dangerous heat, setting new limits on when electric companies can disconnect customers for unpaid bills.
The California Public Utilities Commission approved Resolution E-5468 at its July 16 meeting. The decision changes a proposal from Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas and Electric, San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas, and it applies statewide to the state’s regulated electric utilities.
What changed?
The CPUC said the utilities must use CalHeatScore Level 2 as the main trigger for pausing disconnections during extreme heat. CalHeatScore is a state heat-health forecasting tool developed by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.
In plain terms, the new rule ties shutoff protection to local heat risk instead of relying only on one statewide temperature number.
The commission also ordered PG&E, SCE and SDG&E to use a temporary fallback rule: if CalHeatScore data is not available, or if the system is not yet fully ready, they must stop disconnections when a 90-degree forecast appears within a 72-hour look-ahead period.
Why is the CPUC doing this?
The main goal is to keep more households from losing electricity during dangerous heat, when power is especially important for cooling, medical devices and basic safety.
The CPUC’s action strengthens protections that had already existed in California, but it moves them toward a more location-specific standard. Secondary reporting on the decision said regulators rejected the utilities’ preferred approach and wrote stronger rules into the final resolution.
Who is covered?
The rule affects customer shutoffs for nonpayment at California’s investor-owned electric utilities. The commission’s order does not address every kind of outage.
It does not cover outages caused by equipment failures, wildfire-prevention shutoffs, or other emergency power interruptions.
How will the new system work?
The CPUC gave the electric utilities six months after final adoption to put CalHeatScore Level 2 into place.
Until that system is fully available, the 90-degree fallback rule will serve as the interim standard.
The resolution also requires the utilities to file annual reports for three years. Those reports must track implementation costs and customer arrearages, or unpaid balances, so regulators can judge whether the policy is working as intended.
Why does this matter for customers and utilities?
For customers, the change could mean fewer shutoffs during the hottest parts of the year.
For utilities, the order adds new operational steps. They must track a more detailed heat standard, adjust their shutoff practices and report back to the commission on costs and unpaid bills.
That makes the decision more than a consumer protection rule. It is also a grid operations and utility billing policy, because it changes how electric companies manage service during heat waves.
What happened before?
The new rule replaces an earlier statewide approach that used a simple temperature threshold. Coverage of the CPUC action said the prior standard had been in place since 2020.
The new decision shifts away from that one-size-fits-all model and toward a heat-health system that is meant to reflect local conditions more closely.
Bottom line
The CPUC’s July 16 decision raises the bar for cutting off power to customers who fall behind on bills during extreme heat. It uses CalHeatScore as the main trigger, keeps a 90-degree backup rule in place for now, and gives utilities six months to adapt.
For California households, the change is meant to reduce the risk of losing electricity when the heat itself can be dangerous.
