PG&E debacle calls for a full review of the CPUC’s failures
California can’t allow the uproar over PG&E’s bankruptcy proceedings to obscure the need for a full review of the California Public Utilities Commission’s role in the debacle.
The wildfire-related orders issued last week by U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup illustrate the extent of the CPUC’s inability to make PG&E put safety before profits.
The CPUC’s mission statement reads: “The CPUC regulates services and utilities, protects consumers, safeguards the environment, and assures Californians’ access to safe and reliable utility infrastructure and services.”
The federal judge’s orders strongly indicate the CPUC is failing miserably to fulfill that goal.
Alsup is charged with overseeing PG&E’s probation after the fatal San Bruno gas pipeline explosion. Any reckless operation or maintenance of electrical lines would constitute a violation of the PG&E’s probation. A responsible utility would try to avoid that at all cost with meticulous maintenance and record-keeping. A responsible regulator would ensure the probation wasn’t violated. But the judge felt the need to ask PG&E the most basic question last week: Is the utility in compliance with the state law regarding clearing trees and other vegetation from near the company’s electricity lines? Alsup gave PG&E until Feb. 22 to respond.
It’s an embarrassment to the CPUC that the question had to be asked. And that PG&E didn’t have a ready answer. The status of the utility’s safety efforts should be readily available. Instead, PG&E spokesman James Noonan said in comments emailed to this news organization, “We will respond to the court’s order within the time frame requested.”
The judge proposed that he may demand that PG&E remove all trees that could fall onto the company’s electrical lines and require that the utility shut off power when fires become a threat.
In other words, fulfill the role that the CPUC should have been playing for the past decade. It’s about time someone brought fuller transparency to PG&E’s record on fulfilling its safety obligations.
The urgency can’t be overstated.
The summer months are rapidly approaching. California needs to do everything possible to avoid a repeat of the devastating wildfires that burned throughout Northern California over the past two years.
California wildfires have killed dozens of people and burned thousands of homes during the past two years. PG&E equipment was the cause of 17 of the 2017 wildfires, and Californians are waiting to see if the utility’s transmission lines were the cause of the November 2018 Camp Fire blaze that destroyed the town of Paradise. It was the most deadly wildfire in California history, killing 86 people and burning more than 11,000 homes and buildings.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said last week in his State of the State address that he is forming a team of advisers to deal with PG&E’s bankruptcy challenges. He wants to ensure that Northern Californians have a reliable supply of power and that wildfire victims and ratepayers are protected. The governor made a point of saying that PG&E “didn’t do enough to secure dangerous equipment or plan for the future. My administration will work to make sure PG&E upholds its obligations.”
Californians should demand that he give the CPUC the same level of scrutiny if the state hopes to avoid further wildfire disasters.