The California Public Utilities Commission unexpectedly postponed its planned vote Thursday on Pacific Gas and Electric’s bankruptcy reorganization plan because a party to the proceedings improperly sent out a mass email earlier in the week.
“This proposed decision is being held because a party sent an ex parte communication by email on Tuesday,” President Marybel Batjer said. “This was a prohibited ex parte communication under state law and the CPUC rules of procedure.”
The CPUC was planning to vote on an administrative law judge’s decision to approve PG&E’s Chapter 11 plan with some modifications, including enhanced oversight by the commission.
Batjer angrily denounced the party’s action and warned of possible consequences for issuing a communication during a required quiet period from May 15 until the Thursday vote.
“For my part, I am not pleased that an error in understanding our rules or a disregard for them will delay the vote on a proposed decision,” Batjer said. “We will implement this delay to ensure that we have very clearly taken the procedural steps we need to take to ensure we issue a legally sound decision.”
The email was sent by William Abrams, a wildfire victim and party to the CPUC proceedings, who sent an email with attached documents to hundreds of individuals on the CPUC’s service list.
“This is to notice the Commission and parties of this proceeding regarding my objections and those of the [Tort Claimants Committee] filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court (Case #19-30088-DM),” it said in part.
Abrams has represented himself in the bankruptcy court proceedings and has urged delay to more closely examine PG&E’s reorganization plan. He apologized in a notice to the CPUC Wednesday.
“My understanding was that posting publicly available documents to the docket for this proceeding was not a violation of the quiet period,” Abrams said. “However, I apologize if this was not in keeping with policies and procedures of this proceeding and of the commission.”
Batjer gave parties, including PG&E, a chance to respond to the email until midnight Thursday and insisted that the commission’s rules against ex parte communications during the “quiet time” before a vote be strictly obeyed.
“We will not tolerate any further delay to this proceeding,” Batjer said.
The CPUC could pursue “remedial action” if it finds a party intentionally delayed the vote, she said.
The vote will now be held on May 28, one day after a hearing is scheduled to start in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in San Francisco on PG&E’s Chapter 11 plan. The quiet time for the next hearing will last from May 22 until the conclusion of the hearing, she said.
PG&E needs the bankruptcy court and CPUC to approve its reorganization plan by June 30 in order to participate in a state insurance fund for future wildfires. Massive fires sparked by its equipment caused PG&E to seek bankruptcy protection in January 2019.