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.

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