TRANSPORTATION, WATER & INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE
Meeting Date: November 24, 2025
Subject: RECEIVE the status report on the Letter of Understanding (LOU) for the maintenance of PG&E streetlights in Contra Costa County and MONITOR its implementation by PG&E
Submitted For: Warren Lai || Director | PUBLIC WORKS
Department: PUBLIC WORKS || ENGINEERING SERVICES
Referral No: 14
Referral Name: Monitor implementation of the Letter of Understanding with PG&E for the maintenance of PG&E streetlights in Contra Costa
Presenter: Rochelle Johnson || Special Districts Manager | PW
Contact: Rochelle Johnson | (925) 313-2299
Referral History:
The Transportation, Water, and Infrastructure Committee (TWIC) accepted the 2023 status report regarding the coordination between Cities (Countywide) and PG&E on November 13, 2023.
Referral Update:
TWIC has 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 November 13, 2023, regarding this item. No report was provided in 2024 in an effort to coordinate with PG&E regarding mutually agreed upon improvements to the 2021 LOU.
Background:
The Letter of Understanding (LOU) dated February 2021, 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.
The LOU was originally drafted by the county in 2008 with support from the 19 cities and towns. It was revised in 2021 to address changing maintenance and inventory needs. This document was written by county staff and PG&E working collaboratively to draft language that would support maintenance needs identified by the County, towns, and cities.
For almost four (4) years, Public Works management has utilized the 2021 LOU as a guide for service level management for street lights within the County, towns and cities.
Public Works provides an annual report to the TWIC on the status of the working relationship detailed in the LOU between PG&E and the county and the associated cities and towns. At the last report in 2023, the TWIC requested that County staff draft a letter that could be presented to PG&E management from TWIC. The goal of the letter was to request PG&E management support in revising the LOU and garner support of maintenance and inventory management improvement needs.
The drafted letter was submitted on January 22, 2024, to the Department of Conservation and Development (DCD), who coordinates communication on behalf of the TWIC. Staff is currently coordinating to determine the status of the letter.
In October 2024, it was determined that there had not been sufficient engagement with PG&E to provide a substantive TWIC report. As a result, Public Works staff opted to take additional steps to coordinate with PG&E management to address street light concerns within the county.
As a result of these efforts, Public Works staff have identified the appropriate management staff and have been able to re-engage communication.
County and PG&E staff met on May 8, 2024. The goal of that meeting was to proactively address the requested revisions to the LOU. At the request of PG&E, the County prepared a draft revision of the LOU and presented it to PG&E on July 10, 2024. PG&E stated that this would be used by management and legal staff to review and provide feedback.
On February 20, 2025, County staff met with District II staff and Sarah Yoell, of PG&E. Following that meeting, County staff were informed that per PG&E counsel advisement, PG&E would not be affirming the existing or any future LOU. In its place, PG&E provided their Street Light Service Level Commitment (SLSLC). The SLSLC closely mimics the language of previous LOU. The variation is that it excludes requested GIS inventory data. This data continues to be a request of the County, towns, and cities to assist in resolving inventory and billing discrepancies.
In addition to the LOU coordination, the County organizes quarterly coordination meetings within the county which include the County, its constituents, and cities and towns. Since the last report, the coordination meetings have continued to convene once per quarter.
These meetings have included regular attendance by participating agencies. The meetings have been hosted by the County via Microsoft Teams, a virtual collaboration platform. Meetings using this platform have been a convenience to participating agencies and allowed opportunities to review effective practices throughout the County. As this has been beneficial to the cities and towns, there is no consideration to return to in-person meetings.
County staff continually poll cities and towns for presentation topics of interest. Since the last TWIC report, meeting topics have included:
• Wireless Facilities agreements between PG&E and telecom companies;
• Billing Tracking, General Rate Case and additional adjustments;
• PG&E interface for navigating the PG&E website and options for reporting down
street light poles;
• Process for installation of shield s on LS1 street lights;
• Emerging technology;
• PG&E street light pole maintenance schedule;
• Replacement of LED lights installed in 2016-17, with a reported life span of 10 years;
• LOU revision review; and
• Improving inventory records management and billing.
To support PG&E in addressing related matters, the County has maintained 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 service concerns. Possible concerns would be related to extended street light outages and customer service engagement, considering the County, towns, and cities as the customer.
The County has encountered two (2) instances with the Customer Fund Management (CFM) Group. This group is responsible for overseeing street light account initiation, which includes billing and management of existing accounts for unmetered streetlights. In both instances presented, the CFM closed the cases without discussion or resolution. At the insistence of county staff, one of the matters was satisfactorily resolved in 2024. The final item was resolved in October 2025 after months of discussion.
As stated, the intention of this GIS inventory data 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. While PG&E has initiated efforts to rectify the inventory and billing discrepancies on a case by case basis when agencies submits inquiries on specific issues, the process is slow and on-going. As such, the County, towns, and cities continue to request a GIS inventory be provided to their respective agencies. The County can receive all data and distribute on behalf of PG&E to support this effort.
An example of this need is a discrepancy that was discovered in 2023 in the County inventory. This included more than 500 streetlights that had been converted from high pressure sodium to LED. The cost for LED street lights is significantly less than high pressure sodium. County street lights were converted to LED’s in 2016. PG&E has stated that they can only correct the billing for three (3) years, even though the error was theirs. To prevent these on-ongoing discrepancies, the County recommends that PG&E work with each agency respectively on a review of GIS and billing data on a recurring five (5) year cycle.
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 of the Electric Schedule is effective May 2021. In 2024, the County learned that the guiding language for determining the party responsible for lights meeting the LS1C criteria (PG&E owned lights) has been inconsistently applied by PG&E. For the reporting period of 2021-2023, PG&E has confirmed that LS1C street lights are owned and maintained by PG&E.
Town and city staff have continued to monitor ownership and maintenance issues related to billing and inventory and report findings to the County, who in-turn reports to the TWIC.
During this report period, three agencies have experienced extended cases related to street lights.
City of Pittsburg -- there were six (6) on-going outages that took twelve months to resolve (Reported November 2024, Resolved November 4, 2025).
City of Walnut Creek - street light on North San Carlos Drive (no badge #) has wiring issues. PG&E has stated that the spliced wires are not their responsibility. However, the City of Walnut Creek has confirmed that these street lights and wires are included in PG&E inventory. An update to this incident noted that PG&E has identified that this work will require some further Environmental/Land review prior to PGE completing any actual field work. Additionally, a service box was hit and has not been repaired.
Contra Costa County -- reported an outage May 2024. PG&E documented it as resolved in May 2024, however, staff confirmed that the item is still pending and has not been resolved.
The County would like to advocate for PG&E to recommit to the LOU and use the existing municipal relationships to support requested services levels. Cities and towns have continued to request the items listed below. Please note that these were the proposed changes presented in the revised drafted LOU sent to PG&E in July 2024.
• More transparency from PG&E with their planned maintenance projects. This will allow cities and towns to coordinate services and inform the local community to manage expectations.
• A mechanism for public agencies to report imminent hazards directly to PG&E staff without using the standard reporting features, which can result in a delayed response.
• GIS maps of street lights
• Consistent response times to down and/or out street lights as described in the LOU.
• Consistently updating the reporting system to reflect the status of repairs and an indication of when the work is complete.
• Providing cities and towns with an advisement of General Rate Case (GRC) changes that are planned to be submitted to the PUC. This will allow public agencies to plan for changes in their respective financial and maintenance responsibilities.
Contra Costa County Public Works recommends TWIC submit a written communication to PG&E to confirm Street Light Services Level Commitment and direct PG&E to provide GIS inventory data every five (5) years beginning in 2026 and rectify billing and inventory discrepancies and provide financial compensation to the respective agencies once discrepancies have been identified and resolved.
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, Towns 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.