Agenda

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TRANSPORTATION, WATER & INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE

Meeting Date:	11/08/2021
Subject: RECEIVE the status report on the Letter of Understanding (LOU) for maintenance of PG&E streetlights in Contra Costa County & MONITOR implementation.
Submitted For:	TRANSPORTATION, WATER & INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE
Department:	Conservation & Development
Referral No.:	14
Referral Name:	RECEIVE annual report on the Letter of Understanding with PG&E for the maintenance of PG&E street lights in Contra Costa County.
Presenter:	Rochelle Johnson, Department of Public Works	Contact:	Rochelle Johnson (925)313-2299

Information

Referral History:

The Transportation, Water and Infrastructure Committee (TWIC) accepted the 2020 status report regarding the coordination between Cities (Countywide) and PG&E on October 12, 2020. A supplemental report was presented on December 14, 2020.

Referral Update:

The TWIC requested that Public Works management report annually on the status of street light maintenance coordination efforts with PG&E. Management last reported to the TWIC on October 12, 2020, regarding this item.
Background:

The Letter of Understanding (LOU) dated February 2008, between PG&E and the County, states the commitment of PG&E for open communication, responsive service levels, and actions in resolving issues related to street light performance.
Over the past two years, Public Works management has worked with PG&E management to revise the LOU to address current service levels.

As of February 25, 2021, Public Works staff is pleased to report that a signed LOU has been received from PG&E. Both Contra Costa County and PG&E will be monitoring service levels provided by PG&E and are prepared to reassess the LOU on a semi-annual basis and revise as needed.

A feature of the LOU is to maintain open communication channels. This is accomplished by conducting regular discussions at Street Light Coordination meetings which include the County, its constituents, and Cities and Towns.
Since the last report period, the Coordination meetings have convened once per quarter.

These meetings have included regular attendance by participating agencies. In response to the needs of participating agencies amid the pandemic, the meetings have been hosted by the County via Zoom. Meeting using this platform has been a convenience to participating agencies and also allowed opportunities to review effective practices throughout the County. As agencies move beyond the pandemic, we anticipate that in-person meetings will resume.

County staff continually polls Cities and Towns for presentation topics of interest. To date, meeting topics have included:

• Decorative LED program and rates for energy use;
• Street lights and pole maintenance, wire theft, pole knockdowns and graffiti;
• Decorative LED lighting program;
• Advanced controls;
• Portal service planning ;
• Small cell sites;
• Letter of Understanding (LOU) Revision Review; and
• Improving inventory records management.

To support PG&E in addressing related matters, the County has established a relationship with the California Street Light Association (CAL-SLA). This organization has maintained a continued relationship to support the needs of Coordination Meeting Participants.

In preparation for this report, Cities and Towns were invited to report any service level concerns. Reported feedback was generally positive with City, Town, and County staff stating that PG&E responsiveness was consistent with the LOU.
PG&E has stated that services levels should continue to improve once Salesforce support is incorporated into their services.
There is an ongoing request for PG&E to provide participating agencies with GIS data of streetlights. The intention of this request is to mitigate inventory and billing discrepancies. PG&E has stated that they are not able to provide this data as the costs are excessive, and that it is anticipated that the implementation of Salesforce should help cleanup inventory and billing discrepancies.

Details of the PG&E billing structure are described in the Electric Schedule, approved by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and provided by PG&E. The most recent version is effective March 2021. We have recently learned that the guiding language for determining the responsible party for lights meeting the LS1E criteria inconsistently applied by PG&E. We have confirmed with CAL-SLA, that streetlights identified as LS1E should be maintained by PG&E. Staff will continue to monitor this issue and other issues related to billing and inventory and report findings to the TWIC.

The Cities, Towns, and County will continue to monitor overall service levels as detailed in the LOU as well as service needs that at present that have not been included in the LOU. Should it be deemed appropriate, those service needs will be included in future iterations of the LOU.

Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):

RECIEVE and COMMENT on the status report on the street light service coordination effort between PG&E and the County Public Works Department and Cities for street light maintenance.

Fiscal Impact (if any):

None. All costs for street lights are funded by County Service Area L-100 and Community Facility District 2010-1.

Attachments
BO-LOU with PG&E streetlights 4-8-08
Rate Schedule LS1 - PG&E owned lights
PGE LOU 2021FINAL_signed