Continuing to report a trail of red ink, PG&E Corp. Wednesday said its first quarter results turned up a $951 million, or $2.62 per share, loss, driven by a $1.1 billion (after tax) cost of wholesale power by Pacific Gas and Electric Co.in unreimbursed power costs and power purchases by the state transmission grid operator, Cal-ISO.

Before the charge for the uncovered power costs, PG&E net income from operations in the first quarter was $243 million, or 67 cents per diluted share, compared to $284 million (78 cents/share) in the same period last year. The utility contributed $192 million, or 53 cents-per-share, and the PG&E National Energy Group (NEG) produced $54 million in net income, or 15 cents/share — essentially the same as last year’s first quarter ($56 million, 15 cents per share).

PG&E CEO Robert Glynn expressed disappointment that the state’s energy situation “continues to have such a negative impact on our reported financial results,” adding that the company hopes its April 6 Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing ultimately will “restore shareholder value associated with our strong operating results.” He and Tom Boren, the head of NEG, maintained that the bankruptcy, however, is not stopping the nonutility businesses from moving ahead with major capital projects, for which some of the financing will be announced in the near future.

Meanwhile, in the bankruptcy proceeding, state regulators have asked the federal bankruptcy court judge in San Francisco to toss out the utility’s claim of exemption from CPUC regulation, according to CPUC President Loretta Lynch, who briefed news media on the regulators’ expected moves in a regular business meeting Wednesday.

Glynn said the PG&E utility is preparing its reorganization plan under the bankruptcy proceeding and it “intends to move through and emerge from the Chapter 11 process as expeditiously as possible. It will file its reorganization plan “ahead of the 120-day deadline” in early August.

He and other company officials refused to speculate about reports from Gov. Gray Davis’s office about state legislation to implement the pending deal with Southern California Edison Co. The legislation reportedly will carry a placeholder for PG&E to choose a similar deal as its bankruptcy reorganization plan in lieu of the one now being put together, which would not include sale of the PG&E utility’s transmission grid assets, for example.

Aside for the legislative and reorganization plan issues, there is a May 14 hearing in before the bankruptcy judge in which PG&E’s utility and the CPUC square off over a utility filing in the case to distance itself from CPUC oversight while it is in Chapter 11, prompting the regulators’ to file requests to throw out the utility request.

“We filed a motion to dismiss that proceeding under well-settled federal law that clearly establishes the CPUC’s regulatory authority to continue unabated regardless of the company’s business choice to go into Chapter 11 reorganization,” the CPUC’s Lynch said. “That is like saying that as soon as a company goes into Chapter 11 it doesn’t have to follow safety or minimum wage laws.

“We feel clearly that our regulatory authority continues unabated, and we think we have the law, precedent and common sense on our side.”

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