PG&E: In Their Own Words

Ersun Warncke
Nov 3 · 4 min read

The 2018 Camp Fire, which PG&E has admitted culpability for, was one of the worst industrial disasters in human history. The fire, started by improperly maintained power transmission equipment, caused more immediate deaths than the Chernobyl nuclear explosion. Like Chernobyl, the long tail of injuries and deaths, due to pollution and ongoing power interruptions, will only grow over time.

PG&E has allocated 11.7 billion dollars to cover their liability for claims in excess of those covered by its insurance. Total losses, many of which are indirect and non-recoverable, almost certainly run into the tens of billions of dollars.

In their 2019 Joint Proxy Statement PG&E disclosed that in 2018 its executives achieved 160.1% of their performance targets under their Short Term Incentive Plan (STIP) for cash bonuses. PG&E executives achieved 150% of their performance targets for Safety.

Since PG&E’s performance targets apparently did not include items like the number of customers killed and houses set on fire, or whether or not the company went bankrupt, the board decided to cancel STIP cash bonuses for the year. 😔

PG&E executives lost their STIP cash bonuses for 2018, but they also qualified for stock bonuses under their Long Term Incentive Program (LTIP). While PG&E executives received a ZERO rating for Safety, they delivered an absolutely stunning performance on Affordability, where they achieved 200% of their target. As a result, PG&E executives received 100% of their LTIP stock bonuses for 2018. 😁

PG&E has the highest electricity rates of any large provider in California. By comparison, Pacificorp has an average rate of only 14.15 cents per kwh and Southern California Edison has an average rate of 14.91 cents per kwh.

PG&E’s average rate of 20.06 cents ($0.2006) per kilowatt hour is nearly double the national average of 10.48 cents ($0.1048) per kilowatt hour.

In their 2018 Annual Report (10-K) PG&E discloses that they have requested an additional rate increase of 21.25%, spread over the next 3 years.

With the new rates, PG&E customers should be able to pay off the 11.7 billion dollars PG&E has allocated to pay compensation to its victims in about 8–10 years, depending on what kind of interest rates PG&E gets when they have to sell billions of dollars in new bonds after emerging from their 2nd bankruptcy in 2 decades.

For 2018, PG&E CEO Geisha Williams received total compensation of $9,289,942 dollars, an 8% raise from the previous year.

PG&E estimated that total severance payments for Williams would be $7,105,026 in the event of her resignation or retirement.

Geisha Williams resigned as PG&E’s CEO on January 13, 2019. PG&E announced that it would file for bankruptcy the next day. The bankruptcy disclosure includes a statement thanking Williams for her service and praising her dedication to PG&E’s employees and customers.

Williams continues to sit on the board of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a “centrist” think tank. Her biography touts her “focus on safety culture” which resulted in “best ever industrial safety performance” and “focus on customer experience” which made PG&E the “best rated overall electric provider” nationwide.

PG&E: Best ever safety. Best ever reliability. Best ever customer satisfaction. Best. Ever.

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