BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Pacific Gas and Electric Company is hosting multiple open houses this week to gather public feedback on the proposed Wheeler Ridge Junction Project, which aims to improve electric reliability for more than 115,000 customers in the Bakersfield area.
The comprehensive infrastructure project would strengthen 27 miles of power lines across Bakersfield and surrounding Kern County areas to support the region's continued growth.
"There's very a tremendous amount of growth in the Bakersfield area. And we expect that that growth is going to continue," said Jeff Smith with Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
The project addresses the need for increased electrical capacity to accommodate new housing developments, commercial strips and businesses coming to the area.
"Increased capacity that's going to be necessary to support the growth and by growth, I mean, additional, whether it's housing developments or strip walls and businesses and things like that coming up," Smith said.
The proposed power line improvements would run from the Kern Power Plant in northwest Bakersfield, through southeast Bakersfield to White Lane and Cottonwood Road, then continue south into Kern County near Highway 99 and David Road.
"And so it's really a pretty comprehensive project to increase capacity and reliability for the Bakersfield and Kern County area," Smith said.
Construction cannot begin until the California Public Utilities Commission completes its approval process and issues a permit. PG&E plans to submit a permit application to the CPUC in 2026.
Starting Monday, PG&E will hold a series of open houses to collect community input on the project.
Monday, October 6 at 10 a.m. and at 6 p.m. at Friendship House Community Center.
Tuesday, October 7, at 10 a.m. at Silver Creek Community Center and at 6 p.m. at Warren Junior High School in Bakersfield.
"Show the public what we are picturing right now, the stage of the stage of the project that we're in right now is to kind of propose to the community what we are looking at," Smith said.
If approved as planned, the Wheeler Ridge Junction Project would begin construction in 2028.
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