San Francisco, CA…The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), in its ongoing efforts to ensure safe and reliable gas and electric service to Northern Californians, today issued a ruling requesting parties to comment on proposals that may improve the safety culture of Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E).

The ruling requests parties to comment on the safety, financial, and legal concerns of the following four proposals:

1. Separating PG&E into separate gas and electric utilities or selling the gas assets;

2. Establishing periodic review of PG&E’s Certificate of Convenience and Necessity;

3. Modification or elimination of PG&E Corp.’s holding company structure; and

4. Linking PG&E’s authorized rate of return or return on equity to safety performance metrics.

“As a safety regulator, we must understand whether Pacific Gas & Electric is too big to succeed, is adequately incentivized to make the right choices, and is structured appropriately to provide just and reliable service to its customers,” noted CPUC President Michael Picker.

This ruling builds on the record develop thus far in this investigation, and the decisions already adopted addressing shortcomings in PG&E’s corporate safety culture and the qualifications of PG&E Board members, respectively. On December 21, 2018, CPUC President Michael Picker posed a series of questions addressing PG&E’s corporate governance, management, structure and ownership. In early 2019, parties submitted statements addressing the future of PG&E and the CPUC held public forums to discuss PG&E’s safety culture and corporate governance models impact.

Parties in the proceeding should address whether the proposals could improve how PG&E pursues safety, and identify any potential issues in the proposals. Parties need to submit comments on the proposals in this ruling by July 19, 2019.

The Ruling issued is available at: http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Efile/G000/M302/K240/302240744.PDF.

More information about the proceeding is available at: https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/CPUCNewsDetail.aspx?id=6442460399.

The CPUC regulates services and utilities, safeguards the environment, and assures Californians’ access to safe and reliable utility infrastructure and services. For more information on the CPUC, please visit www.cpuc.ca.gov.

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