Pacific Gas & Electric fined for safety code violations

San Francisco, California – The California Public Utilities Commission issued two citations to California’s energy company, Pacific Gas & Electric, for safety code violations totaling $7.5 million on Monday.

The biggest fine was $5 million for PG&E’s failure to properly examine the Ignacio-Alto-Sausalito transmission lines from 2009 to 2018, as well as for failing to execute 22 high-priority repairs within the period specified by commission regulations.

The commission noted that while the company fixed deficiencies detected on 21 transmission towers in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in April 2020, the work was not completed in the time frame needed.

The utility giant was also fined $2.5 million by the commission for failing to complete mandatory inspections of nearly 55,000 power poles in 2019.

The commission also ordered PG&E to take corrective action in the case of a separate incident in Danville in 2020, when a Cellon-treated pole failed in a customer’s yard.