PG&E Says It Has 12.7 GW In Data Center Pipeline As It Courts Smaller Loads

By Emma Penrod of UtilityDive,

Pacific Gas and Electric now counts 12.7 GW in its data center pipeline, of which 490 MW of projects have executed interconnection agreements and another 3.9 GW are in final engineering, company officials said Thursday during a second-quarter earnings call.

The company’s data center pipeline has fluctuated over the past year, from 7.3 GW at the end of 2025 to 5.4 GW in the first quarter of 2026 as projects dropped out. The company’s most recent investor presentation Thursday retroactively revised down its queue from last quarter to 5.1 GW, citing changes to its methodology.

Executives attributed the changes to stricter vetting of potential projects and expressed confidence that their efforts to attract the right kind of customer are paying off.

PG&E Corporation CEO Patti Poppe said she expects to serve 1.8 GW of new data center load by 2030.

“As we continue to build our pipeline, we’re focusing not on size, but on quality,” Poppe told analysts on Thursday’s call. “We remain very focused on pricing this load correctly — attractive to data center customers, but still rate-reducing for our other customers. … Done right, these efforts can help build a high-confidence pipeline that lowers electric bills, drives economic growth and keeps California at the forefront of technology and innovation.”

Although PG&E attracted interest from some larger data center projects this past quarter, Poppe said smaller data centers with electric demand under a gigawatt constitute the bulk of the company’s queue to date.

By the numbers — PG&E Q2’26

• 22.7 GW: Data center pipeline, with 3.9 GW in final engineering
• $1.25B: Amount PG&E expects to receive from the California Wildfire Fund for the 2021 Dixie Fire.
• $16.6B: Revenue requested in the utility’s 2027 General Rate Case, for which evidentiary hearings are underway
• $73B: Five-year capital plan

Meanwhile, the 2026 wildfire season remains relatively quiet, with Poppe noting that 2026 is — so far — the company’s fourth consecutive year without a major fire. She said the company has managed to avert 13 potential ignitions this year thanks to its monitoring and mitigation efforts.

However, the company continues to face significant costs and liabilities related to previous wildfires. Earlier this month, the California Public Utilities Commission proposed a settlement agreement that would impose a $22 million penalty on the utility for the 2022 Mosquito Fire in Placer County.

Pending public comment and approval, the settlement would end the CPUC’s investigation into the utility’s role in the fire. PG&E faces at total of $400 million in liabilities for the Mosquito Fire, plus $2.25 billion related to the 2021 Dixie Fire. It expects to receive $1.25 billion from the state Wildfire Fund for the Dixie Fire and has already received $128 million from the fund for the 2019 Kincade Fire. It does not expect reimbursement from the fund for the Mosquito Fire, according to company filings.

The utility expects California lawmakers to pass reforms to shore up the state Wildfire Fund later this year. Though S&P recently upgraded PG&E’s credit rating, legislative reform remains critical to the company’s strategy for achieving investment-grade ratings, PG&E executive vice president and CFO Carolyn Burke said on Thursday.

“There’s no case for no action,” Poppe later added. “In other words, if the legislature does not act or if they act and don’t actually solve the problem, then we’re going to have to take action.”

Poppe and Burke declined to answer analysts’ questions about the details of that potential action, but indicated that all aspects of the company’s $73 billion financing and capital plan would be on the table.

Under its current plan, the company will spend about $58 billion on transmission and distribution lines and $3 billion on power generation, according to the company’s earnings presentation. A 2027 General Rate Case currently underway seeks more than $16 billion in revenue.

Poppe said the interim rate request — opposed by some intervenors — was intended to reduce rate shock for customers. She said it would have no bearing on the company’s financing plan.