PG&E Cuts New‑Service Delays, Achieves Record Customer Satisfaction

PG&E made big progress in 2025 in how it connects new service to the grid.

The company made processes easier and rolled out new technology. Those improvements led to surging customer satisfaction scores and fewer waiting customers last year.

In 2026, PG&E’s Service Planning & Design team will continue its work to serve new customers and meet California’s energization mandates.

In general, state rules require PG&E to complete all of the company’s new-service steps within an average of 182 calendar days after the company approves a customer’s application.

As of March 1, 2026, the company averaged 118 calendar days to complete its steps after approved application.

“One of our company stands is that it is a joy to work with and for PG&E,” said Service Planning & Design Senior Director Kevin Douty. “We measure our success based on how customers feel about their experience with us. And in that regard, our teams across the company have done incredible work to improve how our new-service customers experience working with us.”

‘They genuinely cared’

Consider overall new-service customer satisfaction, which reached a record 9 out of 10 in December 2025. That was up from 8.2 out of 10 in the second quarter of 2023, when Service Planning & Design launched its ongoing improvement effort.

Customers gave the team particularly high marks for understanding their needs, coordinating projects and providing accurate cost estimates.

In one example, a Sacramento-area customer praised PG&E new-business representative Joseph Hess and work scheduler Missy Hamilton for going “above and beyond at every step of the process” during their electric panel upgrade.

“Their professionalism, responsiveness, and willingness to take extra time to ensure everything was handled correctly made a challenging situation much smoother,” the customer wrote. “It was clear that they genuinely cared about helping us reach a successful outcome, and their efforts did not go unnoticed.  Because of their commitment and teamwork, the project was completed successfully, and we are extremely appreciative of the care and attention they provided. Employees like Joseph and Missy are a true credit to PG&E, and their exceptional service reflects the highest standards of the organization.”

Gains in customer satisfaction were especially high in PG&E’s San Francisco Division. There, they jumped to 8.9 out of 10, up from 6.9 out of 10, between 2023 and 2025.

The number of customers ready and waiting for service continued to drop in 2025 as well.

As of December 2025, the number of customers ready and waiting for new service had fallen nearly 97% since the second quarter of 2023.

Douty credited the improvements to the PG&E coworkers who work with new-service customers.

“The new-business reps, estimators, schedulers and construction crews who help connect new business to the grid continue to deliver for customers every single day,” Douty said. “We focused in 2025 on adding resources that enable our coworkers to deliver consistent, 10-out-of-10 service.”

Those resources include:

·       PG&E’s Production System

·       A dedicated Customer Experience team

·       New technologies to make work more efficient

Production System keeps team on track

PG&E’s Production System is how the company plans, manages and delivers work.

In 2025, the Production System became part of everyday work across PG&E, including in Service Planning & Design.

The Production System gives a clear view of a job from application through completion. Standard steps keep the team on track and show how work moves from start to finish. That process reduces delays and avoids repeat work.

Shared goals and charts are updated daily to help teams see issues faster and solve them together.

The smoother work flow leads to improved customer service.

A dedicated Customer Experience team

Every new-service project is different. Adding EV charging to a home isn’t anything like building a new housing subdivision or commercial project.

PG&E’s Customer Experience team launched in 2025 to meet those varied needs.

The team built new-service models for customer groups including real estate developers, EV charging companies, telecommunications companies and government agencies.

The team also made customer communications easier to understand. It led workshops with the California Building Industry Association. And it held a Customer Communications tour to train regional Service Planning teams on new communication standards and processes.

Every day, the team reviews customer feedback and satisfaction scores for more ideas on improvements.

Among their brainstorms: A Project Tracker with live status updates for customers.

Efficient technologies

The team launched its AI Service Companion in August. The tool lets new-business reps search utility rules and construction manuals for quick answers on customer questions.

In its first month alone, AI Service Companion saved the team more than 1,400 hours of search time, for more than $200,000 in savings.

The team also added shortcuts for faster help through its application portal.

A Customer Escalation option lets customers connect quickly with Service Planning leaders when issues happen.

A Recurring Meeting option lets customers set up regular meetings with their new-business representative.

What’s ahead in 2026 

In the year ahead, the team will continue to focus on meeting state energization timelines.

That will mean doubling down on new technologies to make work simpler and faster. For example:

·       An AI chatbot will let customers ask questions about the application process and quickly check reference materials such as PG&E’s Greenbook, which sets technical, safety and design requirements for new service

·       A Cost Estimator for customers will use details such as service type and electric demand to give a cost range before the customer applies for new service

For applications that move on to the Estimating team, improvements are also coming.

Estimating is drafting software to automate production of materials estimators need to complete a job. The team will also begin using AI to help with calculations that estimators now handle manually.

The goals are to reduce the number of hours estimators spend on each job, and to more quickly get estimates to new-business reps and their customers.

Service Planning & Design is also working on its upcoming report on compliance with the state’s energization timelines. The report, due to the California Public Utilities Commission in late March, will share how PG&E continues to work to meet the timelines. A second update will come at the end of September.

The CPUC will hold public workshops in the fall to discuss potential changes to the rules, including whether to adjust timelines or impose penalties on utilities who miss the targets.