DATE: Nov. 13, 2017 TO: BIA|Bay Area Executive Officer Bob Glover FROM: BIA|Bay Area East Bay Executive Director

for Governmental Affairs Lisa Vorderbrueggen RE: Summary of BIA|PG&E Task Force Meeting on Nov. 1, 2017 Dear Bob, Here are the highlights of the third BIA|PG&E Task Force meeting, which was held in San Ramon on Nov. 1, 2017. You will also find attached an updated PG&E leadership contacts list, which is available for members’ use in the event specific situations require escalation.

The online project owners’ “dashboard” promised this fall has been pushed to February 2018 after PG&E switched software platforms. The “dashboard” will provide builders with specific details about the status of their projects, upcoming deadlines, scheduled inspections, etc. In the interim, PG&E agreed to host demo sessions of the company’s existing “Customer Connects” online system, which provides limited information. (Watch BIA’s Monday Weekly Reports for announcements of dates and times for the demonstration sessions.) PG&E may also be able to add fields onto the Customer Connects system if builders have specific requests. In addition, the utility is working on providing telephone text notifications of project-related event changes through Customer Connects.

PG&E is rolling out its new project cost estimating system and expects to apply it to all new development by the end of 2017. Once it is fully implemented, PG&E’s goal is to cut the time it takes to complete contracts by two-thirds. For example, the utility’s goal in 2018 is to reduce the time to deliver contracts for small and medium projects from its current 73 days to 44 days.

Developers continue to struggle with high turnover among PG&E’s assigned project or job managers, a trend fueled by high housing prices as the utility employees transfer frequently among their offices. PG&E reports that it is continuing with the consolidation of its 70 design centers into 12, a shift that the agency believes will significantly reduce the transfer rates.

In 2018, PG&E will require all project designers to be certified. Currently, the utility reports that 22 percent of applications are approved after the second submittal, 25 at the third submittal and 53 percent at the fourth or later submittal. PG&E wants to reduce that figure to 89 percent approval at the second submittal. Gas and electric designers will each have a separate

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test. Any planner who has four rejected applications in a 12-month period will be required to retake the test. PG&E will publish online a list of certified project designers.

If you are having difficulty with the online “new premise” service on PG&E’s website, the software is experiencing problems. Contact your job or project manager and have the problem solved manually, PG&E advises.

As of Nov. 1, all PG&E crews have returned to their regular duties following the devastating Wine Country fires. No delays or problems associated with servicing new residential development have been related to the fires as of this date.

On the construction side, PG&E said is committed to meeting all currently scheduled project dates and is adding overtime hours. The utility estimates that it has approximately 120,000 hours of pending new business construction work in 2017. In addition, they are working to move into 2017 construction dates currently set for 2018 in order to allow home builders to close escrows before the end of the year. The South Bay is experiencing the most significant delays due to heavy demand.

To improve construction timeliness in 2018, PG&E announced it is re-establishing its

soft schedule process. It is also working on reforming its meter sets system to allow self-scheduling through the use of a common form and online process. Lastly, the utility will soon allow credit card payments online through Customer Connects.

The Task Force agreed to hold a minimum of two regularly scheduled meetings a year,

the first in February and the second in September. Watch BIA’s Weekly Report later this year for details about the next scheduled meeting.

BIA and PG&E will collaborate where possible on their respective efforts to help the

North Bay rebuild in the wake of the devastating October wildfires. Sincerely yours,

Lisa A. Vorderbrueggen BIA|Bay Area 1350 Treat Blvd., Ste. 140 Walnut Creek, CA 94598 925-348-1956 lvorderbrueggen@biabayarea.org Attachments: Updated PG&E Contacts List