By Jason Fordney
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) will pay $98 million in penalties for past improper communications with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), but the years-old proceeding related to the controversy will continue to drag on because of new emails that came to light last fall.
The CPUC on Thursday approved the $98 million settlement with PG&E, but the ex parte proceeding remains open to consider emails divulged late last fall revealing additional improper communications between the utility and its regulators. (See CPUC to Vote on $98M PG&E Settlement; Probe Reveals More CPUC-PG&E Contacts on Pipeline Blast.) The penalties covered eight different CPUC proceedings, including one related to the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion that killed eight people.
The communications “have cast public suspicion on the integrity of the Commission’s regulatory process,” the CPUC decision said. PG&E released 67,000 emails as part of the proceeding, including a new batch supplied to the agency in September that revealed more back-channel discussions. The ex parte proceeding was spurred by a public records request by the City of San Bruno in the wake of the September 2010 explosion.
None of the five commissioners who voted on the settlement Thursday were involved with the improper communications. Parties to the settlement include PG&E, the City of San Bruno, The Utility Reform Network (TURN), the City of San Carlos and the CPUC’s Office of Ratepayer Advocates and Safety and Enforcement Division.
TURN Executive Director Mark Toney on Thursday issued a scathing rebuke of the utility, saying “customers are tired of all the corruption at criminal corporation PG&E. And they want assurances that they are not paying even a penny of the costs of that corruption in their monthly bills, which is what this settlement provides.” PG&E was convicted of a felony related to the 2010 San Bruno pipeline explosion and in April 2015 paid a separate $1.6 billion fine for safety violations.
The new fines approved Thursday will come from shareholders and not ratepayers and will pay $12 million into the state’s general fund, $6 million each to the cities of San Bruno and San Carlos, and reduce by $10 million the revenue requirement in PG&E’s next general rate case. The utility will also forgo collection of $64 million in revenue in 2018 and 2019.
“PG&E’s failure to report these communications is an unacceptable violation of the CPUC’s rules and justifies the remedy provided in this case,” the CPUC said in a blog post. “Although these violations occurred more than four years ago, today’s decision is an affirmation that all parties to the CPUC’s proceedings must comply with the ex parte rules.”
The settlement was originally crafted in March 2017, but a CPUC administrative law judge ruled that a proposed $1 million payment to the state’s general fund was too low, and PG&E agreed to pay another $11 million to the state. The settlement agreement approved Thursday is the largest financial remedy ever imposed by the commission over violations of its ex parte rules.