California regulators authorized utilities to fully electrify select mobile home parks as part of a pilot to evaluate the feasibility of broader electrification.
In a Nov. 20 decision, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) directed Pacific Gas and Electric Co. — along with San Diego Gas & Electric Co., Southern California Edison Co., Southern California Gas Co. and Southwest Gas Corp. — to coordinate with the California Energy Commission (CEC) on a program that would retire gas infrastructure in participating parks and provide residents with new electric systems and appliances.
The electrification initiative will expand on California's existing Mobilehome Park Utility Conversion Program (MHP UCP).
"The purpose of this joint electrification pilot initiative is to better understand technical, legal, and policy concerns related to full mobile home park electrification and to inform potential changes to the MHP UCP in the future," CPUC staff said. "The lessons learned from this initiative will help inform the future direction for the MHP UCP, especially as the commission continues to advance building electrification policies in lieu of investing in new natural gas infrastructure."
The CPUC proposal estimates that a $50 million budget, combined with other funding, can fully electrify appliances in 1,405 mobile homes. Based on 2023 estimates, the initiative is predicted to raise PG&E customers' annual bills by $1.71, SDG&E's by $1.98 and SCE's by $2.95.
The staff also encouraged participants to use current commission programs to complement the electrification efforts and potentially offset the energy costs.
Electrification initiative
The proposal was in line with PG&E's desire to fully electrify a mobile home community. CPUC directed the multi-utility in April 2023 to give more than 200 households in the Santa Nella community the option to install electric heating equipment and appliances and make necessary wiring and panel upgrades at no cost.
However, for residents who declined to join the pilot program, PG&E had to build new gas infrastructure. This resulted in new gas infrastructure for more than 200 San Joaquin Valley customers at risk of losing gas service. The 2023 order illustrated the challenge of introducing community-level building electrification.
Under the new initiative, commission staff recommended that all mobile home lots and common areas in the selected parks be provided with up-to-date infrastructure to handle 200-amp electrical service. Homes without electric appliances will receive a new space conditioning system, clothes dryer and water heater powered by heat pumps, as well as induction cooking equipment. Homes with natural gas or propane appliances would need new wiring, electric panel reconfiguration and other upgrades to accommodate the new electric appliances and meet applicable codes.
The initiative would also provide mobile home lots in the program with technology that allows customers to manage their loads, like smart circuit sharing devices.
Select mobile home parks will also be enrolled in the MHP UCP to convert existing submetered electrical systems to direct-metered, utility-owned systems.
Pilot parks
CPUC staff recommended certain criteria for mobile home parks to be included in the electrification initiative. Both the owner of the parks and the residents must agree to full electrification. The parks must be in one of the large electric utilities' service territories and have submetered natural gas and electrical systems.
The average park has around 80 spaces, the staff said. It recommended including parks of varying sizes and with homes built both before and after 1976, when federal standards for manufactured home construction were first enforced.
Staff suggested that PG&E, SDG&E and SCE each target four parks in their service areas for a minimum of 12 parks among the three largest electric utilities involved.
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) submitted comments urging the commission to select diverse parks "to enable learning" and expand the eligibility requirements of the program, including allowing parks that have already been converted and informal or unpermitted parks.
"NRDC recommends that participating MHPs not be limited to those where the MHP owner owns the land and the coaches," the filing said. "NRDC further urges the Commission to offer a pathway for residents who are interested in electrification even if the owner of the land is not interested in the program."
