California § 8550 - Except as provided in subdivision (b), each utility shall, on or before March 1,

§ 8550. Except as provided in subdivision (b), each utility shall, on or before March 1,

(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), each utility shall, on or before March 1, 2026, automatically enroll its customers in alerts for service outages and updates. (b) (1) A local publicly owned electric utility that does not have the necessary system to implement the requirements of subdivision (a) shall, on or before March 1, 2026, develop appropriate and feasible procedures to maximize the automatic enrollment of its customers in alerts for electrical service outages and updates. (2) (A) A local publicly owned electric utility that does not have the necessary system to implement the requirements of subdivision (a) shall, on or before March 1, 2028, develop a plan to update its system to automatically enroll its customers in alerts for electrical service outages and updates. (B) If the governing board of the local publicly owned electric utility determines the plan developed pursuant to subparagraph (A) is cost effective, the local publicly owned electric utility shall implement the plan during the next significant, planned upgrade of its system or by March 1, 2030, whichever is sooner. (c) Customers shall be provided with the opportunity to opt-out of alerts for service outages and updates that the customer does not wish to receive, except for required or essential notifications. (d) Each utility shall annually provide information on a customer’s bill on how to update the customer’s preferred contact method and shall allow a customer to update the customer’s contact information on the utility’s internet website or, if feasible, by telephone. (e) For purposes of this section, “utility” means an electrical corporation, as defined in Section 218, a local publicly owned electric utility, as defined in Section 224.3, a gas corporation, as defined in Section 222, or a water corporation, as defined in Section 241.