Tag "michael picker"
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Potential break-up of PG&E looking less likely
Eight months after the head of the California Public Utilities Commission suggested it was time for a radical shake-up of Pacific Gas & Electric, the state’s largest power utility appears to be at much less risk of a hostile takeover
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Community-choice local energy programs keep expanding
Community-choice energy programs – in which a local government or coalitions of local governments procure electricity and use the infrastructure of existing utilities to distribute it – are growing in popularity across California. Proponents say government control will lead to cheaper utility
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Regulators to consider breaking up scandal-plagued PG&E
A California Public Utilities Commission report that Pacific Gas & Electric failed to fulfill its responsibilities to properly maintain natural gas lines from 2012 to 2017 even after a natural gas explosion killed eight people in San Bruno in 2010
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PG&E may have violated its criminal probation from San Bruno disaster
Pacific Gas & Electric – the giant investor-owned utility that serves 16 million Californians – appears to be facing its gravest crisis since its founding in 1905. The initial indications that PG&E’s equipment may have sparked the Camp Fire that killed at
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PG&E may not survive latest wildfire without more state help
How much of wildfire costs not covered by insurance should be paid by California’s giant investor-owner utilities has been a significant issue since at least 2007. That’s when wildfires ravaged northern and eastern San Diego County, killing two people and
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Utilities Commission sides with Edison over family killed by downed power line
The California Public Utilities Commission has had an extremely rough two years. Its former longtime director, Michael Peevey, is facing criminal changes for his actions in arranging for ratepayers to pay 70 percent of the $4.7 billion cost of shuttering
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PUC board dissident has dubious history with PG&E
A member of the California Public Utilities Commission board who has attempted to establish himself as a critic of the PUC status quo by criticizing the scandal-ridden agency’s push for a much flatter electricity-pricing tier system could have a tough
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Gov. Brown boosts energy-policy leverage
Gov. Jerry Brown believes it will take “pragmatic caution” and “active collaboration” to achieve his goal of seeing half of the state’s energy come from renewable sources by 2030. “How we achieve these goals and at what pace will take great thought
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Gov. Brown appoints new chair to scandal-plagued CPUC
After months of damaging headlines and questions about its coziness with energy companies, the California Public Utilities Commission is getting new leadership. On Tuesday, Gov. Jerry Brown promoted Commissioner Michael Picker, a longtime Democratic political consultant and Brown’s former energy
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