State regulators vote Nov. 19 on PG&E deal to power a 250-megawatt Google site in San Jose
A revised draft would make Google put up about $150 million more in advance, to keep other PG&E customers from being stuck with grid costs. The site would use more power than all of Marin County.
The California Public Utilities Commission, which sets PG&E’s rules and rates, is scheduled to vote Nov. 19 on an agreement to connect a new Google facility in San Jose to the high-voltage power grid, according to the commission’s draft resolution and meeting notice. The site is at 5079 Disk Drive. The draft calls it a 250-megawatt “data center load.”
A megawatt is a measure of how much electricity is used at one moment. At full build, the site would use more than the average demand of all of Marin County in 2024 and about half of San Mateo County’s, the draft says. PG&E plans to start construction in January 2027 and turn the power on in December 2028.
What the draft would require
The draft would approve the deal with changes meant to protect other customers. Normally a big customer pays upfront for its hookup and later gets refunds. As those refunds are paid, the costs go into PG&E’s books and are eventually charged to all ratepayers. If the customer’s use later drops, everyone else can be left paying.
So the draft would require Google to make an extra refundable advance of $600,000 per megawatt, which works out to $150 million for 250 megawatts. It would also cap Google’s yearly refunds at the money PG&E actually earns from Google that year. That extra advance is new since the commission’s first draft in July. PG&E’s public estimate for the part Google would build itself is $64 million to $137 million.
A bigger power line
The Google site would plug directly into the Newark-NRS line, a new high-voltage line built by LS Power and expected in 2028. Cal Advocates, a state office that represents utility customers, says ratepayers statewide would pay about $100 million a year for that line at first, falling to about $40 million by 2070. PG&E argues the line is being built with or without Google and will serve thousands of other customers.
The state grid operator has said San Jose-area power demand is growing “mostly driven by the datacenter load,” the draft notes. Google’s site alone is about 20% of that expected growth.
Google has called the project a research and development lab, and it could win city approval before the City Council votes in December on new data-center rules, San José Spotlight reported Monday. The commission meets at 11 a.m. in Sacramento, and the meeting is webcast.
Source: CPUC Draft Resolution E-5455, Nov. 19, 2026 version, July 16 draft and CPUC voting meeting notice.