PG&E and Itron Expand Collaboration to Enhance Customer Experience and Improve Grid Management

The partnership will make home electrification easier and more affordable, while strengthening grid resilience and wildfire prevention.

Published on Feb. 3, 2026

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Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and Itron are expanding their collaboration to transform the energy landscape, enhance the customer experience, reduce wildfire risk, and create a more reliable and flexible grid. The partnership will leverage Itron's Grid Edge Intelligence solutions to make home electrification more accessible, optimize grid operations, and improve real-time grid awareness to detect and prevent issues.

Why it matters

This collaboration aims to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles and home electrification by removing key barriers, while also enhancing grid safety, reliability, and efficiency. By leveraging distributed intelligence and real-time data, PG&E and Itron can help customers electrify their homes more affordably and enable the utility to better manage the grid as more customers adopt electric technologies.

The details

The partnership will enable PG&E customers to install fast Level 2 EV chargers at home without costly electrical upgrades, as Itron's grid edge devices can automatically adjust charging speeds based on the home's electrical limits and local grid conditions. This approach could also eventually support the integration of other electric appliances like heat pumps and water heaters. Additionally, the distributed intelligence applications can provide PG&E with real-time grid awareness to quickly detect and respond to issues, mitigate wildfire risks, and optimize load management as more customers adopt EVs and electrify their homes.

  • PG&E plans to install up to 1,000 new Itron devices through 2026, with plans for scaling to hundreds of thousands of devices.
  • The collaboration is partially funded through PG&E's electric R&D budget under the Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program.

The players

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E)

A combined natural gas and electric utility serving more than sixteen million people across 70,000 square miles in Northern and Central California.

Itron

A company that is transforming how the world manages energy, water, and city services through its intelligent infrastructure solutions.

Mike Delaney

Vice President, Strategy & Innovation at PG&E.

Don Reeves

Senior Vice President, Outcomes at Itron.

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What they’re saying

“This collaboration is about innovating to improve the lives of California's families and businesses. By using grid-edge technology and real-time data, we can make it easier for our customers to charge an EV at home and for us detect potential problems with equipment early, allowing PG&E crews to investigate the issue and prevent outages or wildfires before they happen.”

— Mike Delaney, Vice President, Strategy & Innovation, PG&E (bakercityherald.com)

“This collaboration between PG&E and Itron is paving the way for a more resilient and adaptive grid. By leveraging peer-to-peer communications within our distributed intelligence platform, we're enabling devices to work together locally, making real-time decisions that improve safety, reliability and customer experience. This approach not only accelerates electrification but also empowers utilities to optimize operations and respond faster to changing grid conditions.”

— Don Reeves, Senior Vice President, Outcomes at Itron (bakercityherald.com)

What’s next

PG&E intends to scale the deployment of Itron's grid edge devices to hundreds of thousands of units as part of its long-term advanced metering infrastructure plans.

The takeaway

This collaboration between PG&E and Itron demonstrates how utilities can leverage distributed intelligence and real-time data to make home electrification more accessible, enhance grid resilience, and improve overall customer experience as the energy landscape continues to evolve.