(a) Except in the event of a wildfire, deenergization event, or a breakage or failure of a dam, pump, pipeline, or conduit causing an immediate emergency, the governing body of a public water supplier shall make a declaration pursuant to Section 350 only after a public hearing at which consumers of the water supply shall have an opportunity to be heard to protest the declaration and to present their respective needs to the governing board.

(b) For purposes of this section, a “deenergization event” means a planned power outage, undertaken by an electrical corporation, as defined in § 218 of the Public Utilities Code, to reduce the risk of wildfires caused by utility equipment, pursuant to Public Utilities Commission Resolution ESRB-8 and any decisions issued by the commission, the Wildfire Safety Division, as set forth in § 326 of the Public Utilities Code, the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, or any other agency with authority over electrical corporations. A deenergization event commences when an electrical corporation provides notice to any state agency or political subdivision of the potential need to initiate a planned deenergization of the electrical grid, and ceases when the electrical corporation restores electrical services to all deenergized customers, or at such time as the electrical corporation cancels the deenergization event for some or all of its affected customers, and rescinds the notice of the potential need to initiate the deenergization event. A deenergization event does not include any planned outages in connection with regular utility work.

(Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 68, Sec. 1. (SB 708) Effective January 1, 2022.)