March 19, 2026 CPUC Voting Meeting Results: Commissioner John Reynolds' First Meeting as President
CPUC commissioner John Reynolds presided over his first voting meeting today following his appointment to president. Additionally, Commissioner Christine Harada made her debut appearance, bringing prior experience from the California Government Operations Agency and the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.
As detailed in our update yesterday, the CPUC delayed action on several items. Two matters move to April 9:
- Draft Resolution E-5440 (Integration Capacity Analysis remediation plans for PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E); and
- SDG&E's 2023 ERRA compliance ($215 million cost recovery).
And Draft Resolution E-5436 (DG statistics website funding) is now set for April 30.
Items that carried today include actions on data-center and transmission infrastructure, a pause of the spring 2026 residential electric Climate Credit, and an extension of California's Flex Alert campaign. Meeting results also include issues related to Provider of Last Resort, SCE's finances and EV load management, PG&E's "RAMP" closure, the Self-Generation Incentive Program, petroleum pipelines, and crude oil transportation.
A recurring theme is the advancement of infrastructure ahead of full economic resolution. Increasingly cost recovery, valuation, and rate impacts are deferred to later consideration, while approvals move forward based on reliability, load growth, and system need.
For easy reference, the table below breaks down the day's major transmission and data-center moves, followed by a more comprehensive summary of all notable energy items.
| Project / Asset | Primary Driver | Financial Scale | Recovery Mechanism | Strategic Risk Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power Santa Clara Valley (LS Power) | Reliability / Load Growth | $1.593B (Cap) | CAISO Rates (FERC) | Moderate: High cost but reliability need is established. |
| Power the South Bay (LS Power) | System Overload | $813.2M (Cap) | CAISO Rates (FERC) | Low: Statutory presumption of need applied. |
| Alberhill System (SCE) | Resilience / N-1 Redundancy | $481.7M | GRC / Rate Base | Major Utility Win: Rejects TURN’s lower-resilience metrics. |
| Ringwood Station (STACK Data Center) | 90 MW Load Transfer | Customer Funded | 75% Revenue Refund Cap | Sequential Execution: Build first, sort economics later. |
| Sunnyvale Data Center (Menlo Equities) | 49 MW Data Center | Actual Cost basis | Revenue-Linked True-up | High Developer Risk: 15-year window; no speculative refunds. |