Regulators penalize PG&E $1.6 billion for pipeline blast


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California Public Utilities Commission voted today to penalize Pacific Gas & Electric Co. $1.6 billion for a deadly 2010 gas pipeline explosion.

The commission voted 4 to 0 on the penalty proposed last month by Commission President Michael Picker.

The fine is $200 million higher than one recommended by administrative law judges last year for PG&E, the state's largest power utility.

Picker's proposal would require PG&E shareholders to pay $850 million that would go toward gas transmission safety improvements. It also orders PG&E to pay a $300 million fine that would go into the state's general fund, and it mandates the utility pay $400 million in bill credit. It directs approximately $50 million toward other remedies.

Federal investigators faulted both PG&E and lax oversight by the utilities commission in the 2010 explosion, which killed eight people in the San Francisco suburb of San Bruno.

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