State Regulators Fine PG&E $106 Million For Violations Of Public Safety Power Shutoff Policies
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The California Public Utilities Commission penalized Pacific Gas and Electric Company $106 million for violating guidelines during three Public Safety Power Shutoffs in the fall of 2019.
The net penalty assessed on PG&E amounted to $20 million after the utility was credited for already paying $86 million in bill credits to customers at the governor's direction.
The $20 million will be paid by shareholders in the form of customer bill credits and a contribution to a backup portable battery program.
The issues addressed in the administrative judge's decision included:
- The failure of PG&E's website, which was unavailable or non-functional during the majority of the duration of a PSPS event.
- The inaccuracy of PG&E's online outage maps
- The inaccessibility of secure data transfer portals to PG&E's public safety partners and PG&E's failure to provide advanced shutdown notification approximately 50,000 customers and 1,100 medical baseline customers during three PSPS events.
The decision also orders a PG&E shareholder-funded credit of $12.185 million to be spread across the bills of the general group of customers in the areas affected by the power shutoffs.
