SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific Gas & Electric company, the nation's largest utility, would be transformed into a publicly owned company under a bill unveiled in Sacramento Monday. State Sen. Scott Wiener said the bill would involve a takeover the utility and its sprawling network of power lines that have been...
Walters: Who Is Too Big to Fail?
Those to the left of the political centerline often complain — with good reason — about using taxpayer funds to bail out large corporations that are insolvent, or nearly so, due to mismanagement. The criticism erupted 41 years ago when the federal government saved Chrysler Motors from extinction and was...
California Could Make Utilities Pay for Some Blackout Costs
SACRAMENTO — Californians left in the dark by electric companies that shut off their power to prevent wildfires could get paid for things like lost wages or spoiled food under a bill being considered in the state Legislature. In a state plagued by catastrophic blazes started by strong winds knocking...
Judge Threatens to Force PG&E to Hire More Tree Trimmers
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge on Thursday threatened to force Pacific Gas & Electric to hire more tree trimmers to reduce the chances of its electrical grid igniting fires in Northern California and adhere to a requirement imposed after the utility's natural gas lines blew up a neighborhood a...
Assemblyman Adam Gray Demands Probe of PG&E's Chief Regulator
SAN FRANCISCO — A state lawmaker on Wednesday demanded an extensive review of the California Public Utilities Commission to determine whether regulators’ lax oversight enabled neglect at Pacific Gas & Electric that triggered catastrophic wildfires, a messy bankruptcy and exasperating blackouts. The request by Assemblyman Adam Gray could turn up...
Power Returns in Merced After More Than 2 Hour Blackout
Nearly 15,000 PG&E customers in Merced were without electricity Friday for more than two hours likely because of vehicle accidents. Power was lost at 7:39 a.m. and returned about 10 a.m. "We have confirmed two separate car versus pole accidents in the area, one of which is being investigated as...
Santa Has Gifts for Nunes, Newsom, and More
Jolly old Santa Mac is heading down the chimney with a bag of gifts for: — The seven Fresno Unified trustees, in the words of Toby Keith, "a little less talk and a lot more action" on student achievement. — Mayor Lee Brand, one last successful campaign (Keep Fresno Beautiful)...
AP Exclusive: Early PG&E Blackouts Forewarned Later Problems
SAN FRANCISCO — The state senators grilling the CEO of Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. were upset — like millions of other Californians, some spent days in the dark when the nation’s largest utility shut off power during windstorms this fall. The lawmakers demanded that the executive explain why blackouts...
Judge OKs Nearly $25 Billion for PG&E Fire Victims, Insurers
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved two Pacific Gas & Electric settlements totaling $24.5 billion to help pay the losses suffered by homeowners, businesses and insurers in the aftermath of catastrophic Northern California wildfires that sent the nation’s largest utility into a financial morass. The decision...
Walters: What Now for PG&E?
Gov. Gavin Newsom says he wants Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to become a “radically restructured and transformed utility that is responsible and accountable…” But how? Newsom, in rejecting the company’s plan to emerge from bankruptcy late last week, once again denounced it for “more than two decades of mismanagement,...