It’s fundamental to the concept of utility service that the company can reliably provide power whenever customers want it. Now the experience of having a utility purposefully deny service is part of what one might call the New Reliability.

It starts with an electric grid that is becoming less dependent on fossil fuel and more dependent on solar and wind energy. Those renewable sources provide power intermittently, and operators of the electric grid are trying to determine how to maintain 99.9 percent reliability with those variable resources as the state moves to generate all of its electricity from renewable and zero-carbon sources by 2045. Power shut-offs for public safety further undermine those efforts. If the New Reliability means less certainty from traditional grid-based power sources, then it also provides an opportunity beyond the old approach of relying on fossil fuels: Communities and individuals can begin generating renewable electricity on their own to improve reliability in a world where that is now less certain.

The time is right for this change, as solar photovoltaic systems and battery storage become less expensive. Many neighborhoods are considering microgrids, which can supply power and battery storage to interconnected customers even when the traditional grid is out of service. A microgrid circuit can run underground to reduce wildfire risk. But this approach for improving reliability raises serious equity issues: Will customers with limited funds and renters, in general, be left with less reliable service, and what should we as a society do about it?

The utilities have a lot of basic work to do. Strengthening towers, poles and wires is important. So is the more strategic use of money to convert old distribution lines from above ground to below. While new developments automatically put distribution lines underground, utilities are slow to replace older infrastructure because of the cost. The first priority must be focused exclusively on burying lines in high fire risk areas. Ugly poles and wires may cost less initially, but if they lead to multibillion dollar wildfire liabilities, they were not so cheap after all. If utility regulators were to consider the potential costs resulting from claims for fire damages, burying lines that deliver electric power and developing locally based generation from solar, wind or hydrogen fuel cells might start looking like a better deal.

Another aspect of the New Normal is that greater fire danger means utility customers will face higher prices for electric service. Those increases come in the form of higher cost for infrastructure improvement, more expensive wildfire insurance, higher allowed utility earnings if the business is now perceived to be riskier and wildfire liabilities that customers are required to cover. A new law requires ratepayers to pay $10.5 billion to help fund an insurance pool for future California wildfires.