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The executive who was in charge of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s natural gas division when employees there wined and dined top customers just before the utility’s mass power outage last week is no longer with the company.

Mel Christopher, who was until recently the top PG&E gas executive, was gone as of Tuesday.

His departure comes days after The Chronicle reported he was among 10 to 12 PG&E gas employees who attended a retreat with as many as 60 major gas customers at a Sonoma County winery just before their colleagues initiated an unprecedented blackout in parts of 34 counties.

The retreat also coincided with the twoyear anniversary of the October 2017 North Bay wildfires, most of which the state blamed on PG&E. Those fires caused widespread damage in Sonoma County.

Bill Johnson, CEO of the utility’s parent com

pany PG&E Corp., indicated he wanted Christopher removed from his role.

“Everyone at PG&E needs to be working to better serve our customers and earn back their trust,” Johnson said in a statement. “The timing and location of the event held in Sonoma, given the twoyear mark of the 2017 North Bay wildfires and the imminent Public Safety Power Shutoff, was insensitive, inappropriate, and tone deaf. As such, it did not reflect the values of our company.”

This is the second leader PG&E’s troubled gas business has lost this year.

Christopher’s predecessor, Jesus Soto, exited the company more than four months ago, shortly after Johnson took the reins. At the time, Johnson told employees he had “determined some changes for our path forward together” after reviewing PG&E’s leadership.

PG&E’s gas operations were implicated in a devastating San Bruno explosion that killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes nine years ago. The company has tried to rehabilitate the division since then, but it was recently involved in another controversy with the California Public Utilities Commission.

Regulatory staff determined that PG&E employees repeatedly falsified records about their efforts to locate and mark underground gas pipelines. The company just agreed to a $65 million settlement in the case, though it must still be approved by the five commissioners who oversee the agency.