Pg&E

Undaunted by a series of public rebukes, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) late Thursday filed with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), seeking to limit where the monies go from the upcoming penalties the utility will be ordered to pay for the 2010 natural gas transmission pipeline rupture in San Bruno, CA.

Mike Florio, one of California’s five top energy regulators, made an unprecedented public apology Thursday for his role in recently divulged private e-mail communications between himself and Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) concerning a pending regulatory case (see Daily GPI, Sept. 16).

State and local elected officials from around San Bruno, CA, on Friday called for California Attorney General Kamala Harris to investigate the latest revelations of inappropriate state regulator-utility contact evolving from Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s (PG&E) pending natural gas system rate case (see Daily GPI, Sept. 16).

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) dropped a grenade on state regulators Monday, admitting a number of inappropriate contacts between utility and regulatory staff over the past five years. The initial fallout has cost the jobs of three PG&E executives and a top aide to the state’s chief regulator, Michael Peevey, who himself has been accused of violating ex-parte rules.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) said Wednesday it will ask state regulators to review two regulatory judges’ recommendations that combined would assess $1.4 billion in penalties against the San Francisco-based utility for its failings leading to a natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion four years ago in San Bruno, CA.

With California Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday requesting that the three-county South Napa earthquake area be designated as a disaster area by the Obama administration, officials for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) are calling the combination utility’s coordinated quake response an indicator of how far it has come in improving its safety and emergency responsiveness.

In four decisions that could go through a still-lengthy review process, two California regulatory commission judges on Tuesday recommended $1.4 billion in penalties against Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) for the fatal San Bruno natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion four years ago (see Daily GPI,Sept. 13, 2010).

Pacific Gas and Electric Co.. (PG&E) lawyers went to federal court Monday, responding to a superseding indictment charging the San Francisco-based combination utility with obstructing a safety investigation and violating the 1968 Pipeline Safety Act (PSA) related to the rupture in 2010 of a natural gas transmission pipeline that killed eight people in San Bruno, CA (see Daily GPI, July 31).

Pacific Gas and Electric Co., still facing multi-billion-dollar penalties for its natural gas system safety lapses, was granted a 2014 general rate increase of $460 million, or 6.9% above current rates, by California regulators Thursday with heavy implications for its current and future safety programs. This case is separate from still-pending pipeline penalty cases (see Daily GPI, May 7, 2013).