State Entity Says PG&E Responsible for Gas Pipeline Safety Upgrade Costs
The Division of Ratepayer Advocates (DRA), an independent consumer advocacy division within the California Public Utilities Commission, last week recommended that shareholders of Pacific Gas and Electric Co., not ratepayers, should fund the vast majority of the utility’s natural gas pipeline safety upgrade costs due to the company’s mismanagement of its pipeline safety programs.
In August 2011, PG&E submitted a plan that it estimates will cost $2.2 billion for high-priority pipeline testing, repairs, and renovations over the next few years. PG&E has asked the CPUC for the authority to charge its customers $768.8 million for phase 1, which would fund safety upgrade measures to be implemented from 2012 to 2014.