California utility PG&E is studying the impacts of electrification to understand and prepare for a future grid with high levels of distributed energy resources, and significantly higher power demand.

But although PG&E expects to spend about $25 billion by 2040 on grid upgrades, the distribution portion of customers’ electric bills could decrease up to 25% over that period as added revenue from increased power usage more than covers the investment costs.

In this episode, host Dan Testa speaks with Quinn Nakayama, PG&E’s senior director of grid research, innovation and development, about this process and how the utility is deploying technology to make electrification easier for customers, particularly by lowering the cost of upgrades necessary to charge electric vehicles at home.

PG&E's endeavor to make electrification easier