§ 61-1803 — WILDFIRE MITIGATION PLANS

(1) For the purposes of this chapter, "commission" means the Idaho public utilities commission.
(2)(a) Each electric corporation that is a public utility as defined in sections 61-119 and 61-129, Idaho Code, shall adopt and file a wildfire mitigation plan with the commission for its review and approval pursuant to section 61-1804, Idaho Code. The commission may order the plans be filed at a date determined by it and may stagger filing dates.
(b) An electric corporation that is not a public utility, including but not limited to a cooperative association distributing electric power to its members or a municipal electric distribution system under section 50-342, Idaho Code, may adopt and file a wildfire mitigation plan with the commission for its review at any time permitted by the commission. If such a plan is filed, the commission may assess reasonable fees to the electrical corporation that is not a public utility for its review. The fee may not exceed the actual reasonable cost incurred by the commission for the review and consideration of a plan submitted to it.
(3) Each wildfire mitigation plan shall be developed using approaches and methods that are designed to protect the public interest and are reflective of and commensurate with the size and complexity of the electric corporation’s operations and of the nature of the fire risk. At a minimum, each wildfire mitigation plan shall identify a means for mitigating wildfire risk that reflect a reasonable balancing of mitigation costs with the resulting reduction of wildfire risk, including:
(a) Identifying geographical areas where an electric corporation has infrastructure or equipment that the electric corporation considers may be subject to a heightened risk of wildfire at the time the wildfire mitigation plan is finalized by the electric corporation;
(b) Preventative actions and programs that the electric corporation will carry out to reduce the risk of wildfire;
(c) Community outreach and public awareness efforts that the electric corporation will use before, during, and after wildfire season to identify and inform the public of relevant wildfire risks and notify the public of wildfire-related outages;
(d) Outreach efforts to coordinate with federal, state, tribal, and local officials and agencies on wildfire preparedness and emergency response plans;
(e) Financially prudent and reasonably practicable methods of line design for new, planned, and existing lines to mitigate fire risk;
(f) Monitoring of forecasted and current weather data for the purpose of assessing and responding to current and anticipated fire risk; and
(g) Developing standards, procedures, and schedules, subject to timely approval of access to rights-of-way, if necessary, for the following actions:
(i) Inspection of the electric corporation’s assets, infrastructure, and facilities within the areas that are identified as heightened fire risk areas in the wildfire mitigation plan, where financially prudent and reasonably practicable;
(ii) De-energization of the electric corporation’s power lines, if considered appropriate by the electric corporation; and
(iii) Vegetation management within the areas that are identified as heightened fire risk areas in the wildfire mitigation plan and are within the electric corporation’s rights-of-way or lands adjacent thereto and that threaten the power lines or other electric corporation infrastructure. If live marketable timber is identified for removal from timber company land adjacent to the rights-of-way, compensation at fair market value shall be made to the landowner for such timber.
(4) Commission-approved wildfire mitigation plans shall be implemented upon approval by the commission and shall be reviewed and updated annually. The plans shall be updated, publicly filed, and approved in accordance with this section and section 61-1804, Idaho Code.
(5) An electric corporation with a commission-approved wildfire mitigation plan shall submit a report to the commission updating the commission on the electric corporation’s compliance with its wildfire mitigation plan on an annual basis or on such other basis as the commission may prescribe by rule or order. The report shall include documentation describing the development and adoption of the wildfire mitigation plan’s components and measures, the wildfire mitigation expenditures, and the work taken to develop and adopt the plan’s components and measures.

Legislative History

[61-1803, added 2025, ch. 249, sec. 1, p. 1103.]