PG&E Lost Peole Confidence After the San Bruno Disaster

PG&E seems bent on destroying what remains of public confidence in its ability to serve Bay Area customers.

The latest example: last week, the California Public Utilities Commission blasted the company's "willful noncompliance" with a demand for critical gas-pipeline safety records in the wake of the San Bruno blast. At Thursday's PUC meeting, the commission should make good on its threat of a $1 million a day fine until the information is provided.

Ordinarily we'd suggest waiting until San Bruno questions are resolved before looking at new regulation. But under the circumstances, San Mateo Assemblyman Jerry Hill's proposed gas pipeline legislation is looking pretty good. The bill, AB 56, has its first hearing Monday in the Utilities and Commerce Committee, which should move the package of safety and disclosure rules forward.

Public confidence in PG&E was eroding even before the San Bruno disaster, which killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes in September.

The company botched implementation of smart meters, a technological advance that allows consumers to control their costs. Other utilities have put them in place with no problem, but reaction here has been so bad that the PUC has ordered PG&E to offer alternatives.

Meanwhile, last spring the company blew $46 million on an outrageous (and thankfully failed) ballot measure to prevent competition from communities that want to set up their own utilities, like Santa Clara's. 

After San Bruno, it has become increasingly clear that PG&E can't prove the safety of its gas lines. It says it has provided the PUC with records for 90 percent of its 1,805 miles of pipelines, but that's not good enough. As a publicly regulated utility, it should have at its fingertips basic information such as the construction, inspection, testing and safety records of all of its pipes. It's been looking for six months.

The PUC's executive director, Paul Clanon, says PG&E essentially is saying that the Bay Area should trust that the levels of pressure it uses in its gas lines are appropriate. Why? Because they're the levels it has maintained historically.

"This is PG&E acting as if it is business as usual," Clanon told Mercury News reporter Steve Johnson.
Hill said in a recent meeting with the Mercury News Editorial Board: "I don't see how that culture changes without a change in leadership." But PG&E seems to underestimate its trust deficiency.

Hill's AB 56 would, among other things, require automatic or remote shut-off valves and annual reports of pipeline problems and repairs. It also would bar the utility from paying any fines or penalties with ratepayer money. That could help get the attention of the board of directors.

Six months after the San Bruno tragedy, PG&E customers still don't know who made the pipes that blew up or how they were inspected. PG&E now plans to test 146 miles of gas pipelines in the Bay Area and replace another six miles, but we still have no way of knowing if this is enough.

PG&E says the safety of its customers and communities is its highest priority. But public trust is earned through actions, not words.