Legislators Overwhelmingly Approve State Audit of the CPUC’s Oversight of Utility Delays

Sacramento-In an effort to improve customer service by California's largest utilities, the Joint Legislative Audit Committee voted 13-0 yesterday to approve a State Audit of the California Public Utilities Commission's (CPUC) oversight of utility delays in approving customer-sited solar and storage. The audit by the California State Auditor will examine whether the CPUC has adequately ensured the utilities' compliance with mandated interconnection timelines and whether enforcement actions should be taken to compel the utilities to follow the rules.

"A successful and complete transition to a renewable energy grid requires an efficient, reliable process to install solar and storage for both larger commercial customers as well as single-family residences," said Senator Allen (D-Santa Monica), author of the audit request. "Consistent delays to bring these projects online not only undermines consumer confidence in transitioning to renewable solar, but also increases utility costs for ratepayers and strains on our grid. We have required timelines in place for this very purpose, and it's time we start enforcing them."

Customers seeking to install solar panels and batteries must request utility approval to turn on their system. This approval process, known as interconnection, is governed by Rule 21, which establishes mandated timelines for each step in the process. PG&E and SCE routinely ignore those timelines and cause extensive delays for solar installations. Timeline violations are most frequent for larger customer projects, like those installed for schools, hospitals, apartments, and businesses. They are also common for residential customers seeking to increase the size of their solar systems when they install electric vehicle chargers and heat pumps.

The CPUC established a standard in 2020 that utilities meet the established timelines for 95% of projects and ordered the utilities to submit quarterly reports on their performance. Those reports show that PG&E and SCE comply with some timelines as little as 18% of the time. Other steps of the review process have compliance rates as low as 27%-45%. The CPUC now has nearly five years of data showing routine violations, but action to enforce these rules has not occurred. This is despite PG&E performance hitting record lows for some steps in the last quarter of 2025.

The Legislature's approval of this audit follows a joint letter from 18 California legislators submitted on November 24 of last year to the CPUC regarding this same issue. The CPUC failed to respond to this letter until March 5 of this year, the last day of former CPUC President Alice Reynolds' term. Reynolds stated that the CPUC's primary focus is on large-scale solar farms and that customer systems are not worthy of equal attention.

"By allowing the utilities to ignore the rules, the CPUC has shown PG&E and SCE that there are no consequences for failing to serve local communities that install their own clean energy," said Kevin Luo of the California Solar & Storage Association. "SDG&E's consistent success in meeting timelines shows that PG&E and SCE are capable of providing reasonable customer service."

These delays slow the state's progress toward its clean energy goals and raise costs for customers installing solar and storage. While customers wait for the utilities, they continue to carry loans and pay interest for unpredictably long periods of time. Customers will also be slower to install electric vehicle chargers and heat pumps if it is too difficult to install onsite generation at the same time.

State audits generally take at least six months to complete. In parallel, the CPUC is currently reviewing what measures are warranted to improve utility timeline performance. The CPUC's findings are not expected until next year.