The Energy Department plans to supply a report $15 billion mortgage assure to Pacific Gas & Electric, California’s largest utility, to enhance its electrical grid and fund local weather resiliency tasks, the division stated on Tuesday.
The mortgage assure is the most important dedication thus far from the division’s Loan Programs Office, which has doled out tens of billions of {dollars} in loans and ensures beneath the Biden administration to fund power and electrical automobile tasks. The conditional dedication, which nonetheless must be finalized, will assist PG&E spend money on hydroelectric energy technology, batteries and energy traces.
PG&E, one of many largest utilities within the nation serving roughly 16 million folks in Northern and Central California, is grappling with a surge of demand for electrical energy spurred by the shift to electrical automobiles, the growth of information facilities and efforts to part out fossil fuels. The firm can be beneath strain to stop its tools from setting off devastating fires.
“These infrastructure investments will assist PG&E meet forecasted load development, improve electrical reliability and cut back prices for its shoppers throughout California,” the Energy Department stated in a press release.
State regulators have additionally put strain on PG&E to restrict fee will increase for California residents, although officers have authorised a number of fee will increase this yr.
This month, the Public Advocates Office, which represents shoppers in utility fee instances earlier than the California Public Utilities Commission, issued a report citing PG&E’s fee will increase as the very best among the many state’s investor-owned utilities.
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