SACRAMENTO, Calif.— State law requires the California Public Utilities Commission to reopen an affordable clean energy program it closed in 2020 without notice, leaving hundreds of thousands of low-income rural residents without safe, affordable heat and electricity, according to a petition filed today by health, environmental and community groups.

In 2018 the commission authorized 10 affordable clean energy projects in the San Joaquin Valley but closed the program in 2020 without completing its final phase — evaluating the pilot to see whether it should be replicated in 160 other communities that lack access to fossil-fuel gas and adequate electricity service. Several of these communities were redlined out of utility service in the 1970s so families burn wood or use propane to cook, stay warm and heat water.

“State regulators shouldn’t be ignoring the law and abandoning families in one of California’s lowest-income, most polluted regions,” said Roger Lin, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity’s energy justice program. “The pilot program sought to rectify racist decisions made decades ago that force San Joaquin Valley households to spend the largest part of their income on basic energy needs. The commission needs to follow the law, relaunch this program and provide affordable energy to the thousands of Valley residents who’ve been waiting for more than a decade.”

The San Joaquin Valley is one of the most economically disadvantaged and environmentally burdened areas in the United States. The Valley suffers from some of the worst air quality in the nation and has repeatedly failed to meet federal health standards for ozone and particulate pollution. These conditions contribute to elevated asthma rates, particularly among children, as well as other cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

California sought to address this with a 2014 law requiring the commission to identify San Joaquin Valley communities that lacked access to adequate utility infrastructure and service. The law was intended to improve regional health, safety and air quality by finding ways to get affordable energy to these places. It became the most ambitious affordable clean energy project in the country.

“The San Joaquin Valley pilots were innovative and groundbreaking at the time. They provided an opportunity to many low-income families to improve their indoor air quality with all-electric appliances accompanied by access to community solar, a guaranteed bill discount, and battery energy storage to defray the costs.” said Sarah Sharpe, a public health advocate with the Central California Asthma Collaborative, which has conducted follow-up research on the indoor air-quality impacts in pilot participant homes. “Households that rely on propane to cook and heat their homes are exposed to unreliable pricing and reliance on fossil-fuels that exposed them to higher indoor air pollution, so these pilots really improved lives.”

The commission identified 178 disadvantaged communities that met the program’s criteria, which included roughly 890,000 households. In 2018 it authorized 10 affordable energy pilot projects, giving households access to solar energy, electric appliances and energy-efficiency resources, and hiring community navigators to help people sign up for electricity and utility discount programs. It also created a utility bill savings program that has reduced electricity costs for participants in the pilot but which is due to expire in 2029.

State law required the commission to evaluate the pilot program and decide whether to expand it. Instead, commissioners closed the pilot in 2020 without public input.

Today’s petition says the commission should reopen the pilot program, analyze its cost-effectiveness and consider extending or expanding its benefits, including access to solar power, and the bill savings and community navigator programs.

“I participated in the San Joaquin Valley pilot program and received an electric dryer, air conditioner, and water heater,” said Maria Dolores Diaz, who lives in the Cantua Creek community in Fresno County. “These appliances are indispensable in an area that gets very hot and where energy affordability gets worse every year. I would like for people who were not able to participate in the pilot to have access to these benefits, especially people like me who are elderly and need this help,”

The petition says the commission also needs to rectify problems with the initial pilot program, including property damage, nonfunctioning air conditioners and appliances, and faulty equipment that increased rather than reduced household energy costs.

“These residents were promised functioning appliances, quality installations, and adequate support, commitments the Commission is responsible for ensuring are fulfilled,” the petition says. “Despite being responsible for ongoing servicing of appliances, however, pilot administrators have largely abandoned their duty to fix and replace faulty appliances.”

The pilot programs were largely successful, demonstrated multiple benefits to health and safety, and provided lessons that could improve the experience for the remaining eligible communities if the commission grants the petition.