Tag Archives: PG&E
PUC Emails Appear To Show Former Chief Michael Peevey Overstepping His Role
by Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times
Mark Toney, executive director of the Utility Reform Group, estimated that the email banter and “backroom deals” have cost PG&E ratepayers millions if not billions of dollars, because they may have prejudiced legal decisions, including rate setting. “A regulator is supposed to have an arms-length relationship with the utility,” the ratepayer advocate said, “not an embracing relationship.” Read More ›
PG&E Wields “Pervasive” Influence At PUC, Now Described As A “Rogue Agency”
by George Avalos and Josh Richman, Contra Costa Times
“It’s almost as if PG&E was a Rasputin, or a Svengali, with the magic power to get the PUC to do what PG&E wanted,” said state Sen. Jerry Hill, whose San Mateo County district includes San Bruno [where a natural gas blast in September 2010 killed eight people and destroyed a neighborhood]. … The PUC remains under intense scrutiny because skeptics believe Peevey created and then nurtured a culture of cozy relations with San Francisco-based PG&E and other utility giants in California. Read More ›
SB 215 Sustains Drive For CPUC Reforms Originally Sought Via SB 660
1/27/15 update: The Senate passed SB 215 (Leno) 37-0 yesterday, sending the CPUC reform bill to the Assembly. The bill includes limits on “ex parte” (private) communications that CFC had sought in SB 660, which had passed both the Senate and Assembly last fall but was vetoed by Governor … Read More ›
New CPUC President Promises Reform
by Jeff McDonald, San Diego Union-Tribune
The new president of the California Public Utilities Commission issued a public pledge on Thursday to repair damage done by his predecessor, Michael Peevey. Michael Picker, the former political consultant who was named commission president last month, read a lengthy statement at the outset of the first meeting of the year, promising to improve state oversight of California utilities. … “We have a lot to do,” Picker concluded, “so let’s giddy-up and go.” Read More ›
PUC Leader Critical Of San Bruno Officials, Email Shows
by Marc Lifsher, Los Angeles Times
In what critics described as a growing scandal, federal and state law enforcement agencies have launched investigations into the allegedly improper memos and the relationship between [PG&E] and regulators. The U.S. attorney in San Francisco has filed criminal charges against the utility related to the San Bruno explosion. … The messages, the company said, could reflect improper communications with state regulators. Read More ›
CPUC Commissioner Tied To E-Mail Saying He’d Help PG&E
by Jaxon Van Derbeken, San Francisco Chronicle
Until now, [CPUC Commissioner Mike] Florio has escaped repercussions from the interactions, with much of the focus on outgoing commission President Michael Peevey, whose chief of staff had promised to help company executives who were trying to get a judge of their choice in a key gas rate case arising from the San Bruno explosion that killed eight people and injured nearly 60. … “This shows this is the tip of the iceberg,” said Britt Strottman, attorney for the city. “We now know there are more e-mails out there that PG&E should have disclosed in the first place.” Read More ›
PG&E Got $29 Million In ‘Corrupt Deal’ With State, Group Says
by Jaxon Van Derbeken, San Francisco Chronicle
A ratepayer group demanded Wednesday that the California Public Utilities Commission undo a $29 million profit boost for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. that the commission approved after its president reportedly solicited the utility’s help in defeating a state ballot measure. “We have got compelling evidence of a corrupt deal between PG&E and President Michael Peevey,” said Tom Long, attorney for The Utility Reform Network. Read More ›
Federal Prosecutors Probing PG&E-CPUC E-mails
by Jaxon Van Derbeken, San Francisco Chronicle
Among the documents was a 2010 e-mail in which one utility executive told his boss that Michael Peevey, president of the state commission, expected PG&E to spend “a lot more” than $1 million opposing a ballot measure that would have put on hold California’s law capping greenhouse gas emissions. PG&E announced its opposition to the measure, Proposition 23, less than two months later. It contributed at least $500,000 to the campaign against the initiative, according to the nonprofit campaign-money watchdog Maplight. Voters overwhelmingly defeated the measure in November 2010. Read More ›
PG&E’s Judge Shopping Outrages State PUC Employees
by Jaxon Van Derbeken, San Francisco Chronicle
Staff expressed outrage at PUC officials’ promises to help PG&E get the administrative law judge (ALJ) it wanted to hear a rate case that will decide how post-San Bruno explosion costs will be divided between customers and shareholders. PG&E is seeking to have its customers pay nearly $1.3 billion for pipeline improvements following the 2010 blast that killed eight people and leveled 38 homes. PUC President Peevey’s chief of staff resigned and three PG&E executives were fired over what the commission called “inappropriate” back-channel communications to pick an ALJ for the rate case. Read More ›
Shakeup at PG&E, State Agency over ‘Inappropriate’ Talks
by Jaxon Van Derbeken, San Francisco Chronicle
A string of e-mails shows PG&E influenced the selection of an administrative law judge (ALJ) to decide how much of a burden customers should bear for billions of dollars of gas-pipeline improvements after the September 2010 San Bruno explosion that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes. CPUC President Michael Peevey has asked his chief of staff to resign, and he said he would not take part in any commission vote on how much PG&E should be penalized for the blast. PG&E plans to appeal the $1.4 billion penalty, and an appeal would likely come before the commission. Read More ›
PG&E Faces $1.4 Billion in Penalties for San Bruno Blast
by Jaxon Van Derbeken, San Francisco Chronicle
The CPUC judges levied a $950 million fine for keeping shoddy pipeline records, violating safety rules and failing to make legally required gas-system adjustments before the September 2010 blast that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes. They also ordered the company to refund $400 million it received from customers but failed to spend on safety improvements. “We want to see a lot more to rate relief and fixing the pipes,” said Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network. “The bottom line is ratepayers shouldn’t be left holding the bag.” Read More ›
PG&E pleads not guilty in gas explosion case; San Bruno demands PUC preserve computer drives
by George Avalos, San Jose Mercury News
The 2010 natural gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno killed eight people. PG&E is charged with 28 federal criminal counts, including obstruction of justice for allegedly impeding an investigation into the explosion and safety violations that led to the explosion, San Bruno officials are concerned that key electronic and paper documents could vanish. The utility faces a fine of up to $1.13 billion if convicted. Read More ›
PUC’s invitation reads like PG&E’s language
by Jaxon Van Derbeken, San Francisco Chronicle
PG&E organized a gas safety conference last year to be held under the banner of the CPUC. Documents provide the best evidence yet of an overly cozy relationship between PG&E and the CPUC, which will decide within the next two months whether to fine the company as much as $2.5 billion for the September 2010 gas-pipeline explosion that killed eight people in San Bruno. San Bruno City Manager Connie Jackson said the e-mails were “more than shocking. … They show PG&E and not the PUC was the mastermind behind this symposium.” Read More ›