A proposed decision was issued on May 21, 2010, which sets requirements for the three major California IOUs to follow when drafting their smart grid deployment plans, which must be submitted by July 1, 2011.

Specifically, the deployment plans must follow a common outline, consisting of: 1. Smart Grid Vision Statement; 2. Deployment Baseline; 3. Smart Grid Strategy; 4. Grid Security and Cyber Security Strategy; 5. Smart Grid Roadmap; 6. Cost Estimates; 7. Benefits Estimates; and 8. Metrics. In addition, this decision sets requirements for each of these sections concerning the topics that the Smart Grid deployment plans must address, the information that the deployment plans must provide, and how the deployment plans must link each section and topic back to the policies set forth in Senate Bill (SB) 17 and in relevant federal law. Finally, there are ongoing annual reporting requirements beginning October 2012 and running through October 2020. Each annual report must cover Smart Grid investments up to July 1 of the year in which the report is filed and must include the following; 1) a summary of the utility's deployment of Smart Grid technologies during the past year (July through June) and its progress toward meeting its Smart Grid deployment plan; 2) the costs and benefits of Smart Grid deployment to ratepayers during the past year; 3) current initiatives for Smart Grid deployments and investments; 3) updates to the utility's security risk assessment and privacy threat assessment; and 4) the utility's compliance with North American Electric Reliability Corporation security rules and other security guidelines and standards as identified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and adopted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Although this is a draft decision, a final decision could come as soon as June 24, 2010. A copy of the proposed decision is available on the UTC website. For more information, contact the UTC Legal/Regulatory Department.