SB 1196 puts a clock on the utility's paperwork for small hookups. The one way you can still lose the application is not answering.

SB 1196 does not set a deadline for your next hookup

SB 1196 was signed on September 27, 2026. It is Chapter 684 of the Statutes of 2026. Its title is “Small energization projects: electrical service connections.”

Nothing about the utility process changes on your next job. The CPUC has not adopted the new timelines yet. It has until September 30, 2027, to establish them.

That date comes from new Public Utilities Code Section 934.5. The section directs the CPUC, in a new or existing proceeding, to establish timelines for electrical corporations to respond to and process requests to energize small projects.

The bill targets the front end of the utility process. That means getting the application reviewed, finding out what is missing, keeping the application from being cancelled, and getting a complete cost estimate.

Existing law mostly uses targets and reporting. It does not require fixed timelines for each individual project. SB 1196 tells the CPUC to set those individual timelines.

A panel upgrade qualifies only if the utility side stays small

A “small energization project” is an energization project that does not require distribution or service line extensions or upgrades under the utility’s Rule 15 and Rule 16 tariffs.

It also includes a project that does not require distribution or service line extensions when the only utility-side upgrade is a new electric meter.

That is the dividing line. Not the size of your panel.

Rule 15 covers distribution line extensions, from the primary line to the secondary transformer. Rule 16 covers service line extensions, from the secondary transformer to the meter. If the utility has to extend or upgrade the line or transformer, the project is not small.

If the only utility-side change is a new meter, it still counts as small.

On a panel upgrade call, the homeowner usually knows what they want to add. It may be an EV charger, a heat pump, or an ADU. They almost never know whether the utility will need to touch the line or transformer. That question decides whether the job fits SB 1196.

The address answers another question first. It tells you whether the property is in PG&E, SCE, or SDG&E territory, or in a municipal utility territory such as LADWP or SMUD.

SB 1196 applies to the CPUC-regulated investor-owned utilities. If the job is in LADWP or SMUD territory, SB 1196 does not apply.

For intake questions you can ask before booking a panel call, see what to ask before you book.

The CPUC must set a clock for completeness and deficiencies

Section 934.5(b) directs the CPUC to establish the time by which an electrical corporation must determine whether an application is complete and communicate that determination.

The CPUC must also require the utility to provide a list of deficiencies in response to an individual application. The list must explain how to cure those deficiencies.

There is a separate requirement to establish the time by which the utility must notify the applicant that the application is complete.

Those are different front-end duties. The utility must say whether the application is complete. If it is not, the utility must identify what is missing and how to fix it. Then the CPUC must set the time for the utility to confirm a complete application.

The CPUC must also determine the penalties for a utility that fails to comply with the timelines. Those penalties will be set by the CPUC in the implementing rules and orders.

The CPUC may consider shortening the existing timelines under Section 934.

You can submit the utility application with the building permit

Once implemented, SB 1196 will require utilities to allow an energization application to be submitted at the same time the applicant applies for a building permit.

That does not merge the two processes. The permit and the utility hookup remain separate clocks. You control your electrical installation. You do not control the utility’s review, line work, meter work, or energization.

The difference matters on EV work. California’s EV charger permit rules have a city permit clock that is separate from the utility’s clock. See the EV charger permit shot clock. A permit approval does not mean the utility has completed its work.

A heat pump may have a permit fee cap under another law, while a panel replacement can still be a separate permit. That issue is covered in the heat pump permit fee cap and panel carve-out.

The utility cannot cancel unless the applicant fails to respond

SB 1196 says the utility may not cancel an energization application without the applicant’s consent unless the applicant fails to respond within a CPUC-set timeline.

That exception is the part you need to manage.

If the homeowner receives a deficiency notice and leaves it unanswered, the utility can still cancel after the applicable response period. The bill does not protect an application from cancellation when the applicant stops responding.

That makes utility notices part of your job intake. Ask the homeowner to send every notice to you. Do not let a missing document or unanswered question sit in a personal inbox.

Wirewoman answers 24/7 and asks the electrical intake questions herself, including panel size, single-phase or three-phase service, and where the work is located. Within 30 seconds of hang-up, she texts your phone the caller’s name, address, the problem in the caller’s words, urgency, and booked time. Every call is logged to a dashboard.

If a homeowner calls at 7 p.m. saying the utility sent a notice that something is missing from the application, that message reaches your phone within 30 seconds instead of sitting in voicemail. You tell Wirewoman which keywords mean “call me now,” and she routes those calls under your escalation rules.

The applicant and utility may also agree to extend a timeline if either side requests a delay. That agreement is different from ignoring a notice. Get the response or extension handled before the deadline.

Preapplication review and written costs are part of the future rules

SB 1196 requires the utility to provide the applicant with an option to engage utility staff for preapplication project review.

Use that option when the utility side is unclear. The goal is to identify the utility’s requirements before the project is moving toward a promised finish date.

The utility must also provide estimates of costs for the completed application. Those estimates must include related fees, charges, and potential upgrades.

Do not quote a final customer completion date while the utility-side cost and upgrade requirements are still unknown. Get the estimate in writing first. A panel upgrade price from your scope of work does not answer what the utility may charge for its own work.

The new requirements must complement, and not conflict with, existing CPUC rules under the Powering Up Californians Act.

Existing energization targets still apply to three investor-owned utilities

The Powering Up Californians Act came from SB 410 and AB 50 in 2023. The CPUC adopted energization targets in Decision 24-09-020 on September 12, 2024.

The CPUC’s summary gives these targets in calendar days, counting only steps within the utility’s control:

• Main-panel upgrade: 30-day average and 45-day maximum.
• Application decision: 10-day average and 45-day maximum.
• Rule 16 jobs: 182-day average and 335-day maximum.
• Rule 15 jobs: 182-day average and 357-day maximum.

Those targets apply to PG&E, SCE, and SDG&E. They do not apply to LADWP or SMUD through this CPUC process.

Decision 24-09-020 also requires the utility to assign a dedicated project manager within 10 business days after application approval. Customers can file an Energization Delay Reporting Form with the CPUC’s Energy Division. Utilities file energization reports twice a year, on March 31 and September 30.

If an investor-owned utility exceeds the 45-day maximum for a main-panel upgrade, the reporting form already exists. For utility delays caused by grid conditions rather than an application problem, see flexible service connections and energization delays.

Change your intake before the CPUC finishes the rules

On every qualifying job, confirm the utility first. File the utility application with the building permit where the utility allows it. Ask whether the utility side needs a Rule 15 or Rule 16 line or service upgrade. Ask for the written estimate of fees, charges, and potential upgrades. Answer every deficiency notice the same day. Watch for the CPUC’s implementing rules by September 30, 2027.