California Governor Calls for Refunds From PG&E After Blackouts -- Update
15 Oktober 2019 - 2:54AM
Dow Jones News
By Jim Carlton
California state officials on Monday lambasted PG&E Corp.'s
handling of last week's planned power shutdown, with a regulator
ordering corrective action and the governor calling for rebates to
customers.
At issue were numerous problems the utility encountered in
blacking out power to about two million people in an attempt to
avert potential wildfires, including a crash of its information
website and waits for restored service that for some customers took
days.
The California Public Utilities Commission directed PG&E on
Monday to accelerate the restoration of power after future planned
outages with a goal of less than 12 hours, similar to what is
required after major storms, and to beef up call centers and its
website to make sure they can handle high traffic.
"Failures in execution, combined with the magnitude of
this...event, created an unacceptable situation that should never
be repeated," Marybel Batjer, president of the utilities
commission, said in a letter Monday to PG&E Chief Executive
Bill Johnson.
In addition, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday called for PG&E to
issue refunds to consumers and small businesses. Many across
Northern California who lost power for up to several days last week
complained of financial losses, with some businesses saying they
totaled tens of thousands of dollars.
In letters to the company and the utilities commission, the
governor asked Mr. Johnson to provide those affected with an
automatic credit or rebate of $100 per residential customer and
$250 per small business. The Democrat said the rebates should be
funded by shareholders of the bankrupt company, not ratepayers.
"We appreciate the significant impact that turning off power for
safety has on our customers and the state," Mr. Johnson said in a
statement. "While we recognize this was a hardship for millions of
people throughout Northern and Central California, we made that
decision to keep customers and communities safe. That was the right
decision."
Regulations don't require PG&E to cover losses from
intentional blackouts, and the company has previously said it
generally won't do so, though it would consider claims case by
case.
Mr. Johnson acknowledged in a press conference last week that
his company was "not adequately prepared" for the shutdown.
In her letter, Ms. Batjer directed the company to perform an
"after-action" review and file with her commission its response by
the close of business Thursday. She said the commission would hold
an emergency meeting on Friday to hear from top PG&E executives
on which steps will be taken to ensure the same mistakes aren't
repeated in future planned shutdowns.
Katherine Blunt contributed to this article.
Write to Jim Carlton at jim.carlton@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 14, 2019 20:39 ET (00:39 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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