PG&E is in bankruptcy court — and public power may be the only way out

By Tim Redmond : 48hills – excerpt

The state has allowed PG&E to socialize risk and privatize profit. That might not be an option any more.

It was, in a weird way, ironic to hear on NPR today that PG&E is one of the first companies that is directly impacted by climate change: The wildfires that Jerry Brown called the “new normal” do, indeed, have their roots in a hotter, drier California – but PG&E has over the decades been a big contributor to climate change. The company has never met even the state’s weak goals for sustainable energy generation…

Loretta Lynch, a former president of the state Public Utilities Commission, said on KQED Fourm this morning that “we have to be very careful before we absolve PG&E for responsibility for these fires.” San Diego Gas and Electric, she said, “woke up” and started turning off the power in in emergency situations, clearing brush, undergrounding lines. PG&E diverted money from safety to executive salaries…

Lynch put the responsibility entirely on the state: The CPUC will have to approve any deal for PG&E to emerge from bankruptcy, and the state Legislature and the governor can mandate that the commission “consider ratepayers, workers, and victims” in any settlement.

That means Gov. Gavin Newsom, who appoints CPUC commissioners, will have a significant role to play…

Four Bay Area community choice agencies — MCE, Sonoma Clean Power, Peninsula Clean Energy, and CleanPower SF — have joined several statewide advocacy organizations in petitioning the CPUC to reconsider its decision. A spokesperson for the CPUC said it will “consider the applications and make a determination.”… (more)

Has anybody started to investigate what happened to the money PG&E was supposed to use to underground the electric grid? We understand that money disappeared. How is that possible? Finding that money should be at the top of the legislative list of efforts to “fix” the state utility system.

PG&E needs an overhaul, but so does the CPUC. That agency that is supposed to oversee and regulate the state power systems has failed to do its job. Our new Governor should take it upon himself to deal with CPUC and conduct an investigation into where the funds collected for undergrounding the system went. Who was responsible for collecting and spending it? Ratepayers/taxpayers should demand an answer.