PG&E wants state to set it free Bankruptcy ruling could reshape energy industry
|
|
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. wants to get out of bankruptcy largely free of state restrictions on what it can charge for electricity. To get there, PG&E says it needs to be freed from the clutches of California laws and regulations — at least 37 of them, by the utility’s count. The company says it’s all legal because federal bankruptcy law overrides state law. The state and consumer advocates disagree, saying the bankruptcy system was not intended to abolish a state’s supervision of its utilities. The dispute will come before a federal bankruptcy judge in San Francisco this month — and his ruling could affect power bills for 4.6 million California households and the future structure of the entire energy industry. “If this plan goes through, it would behoove every CEO of every regulated utility across the country to go into Chapter 11 (bankruptcy reorganization),” said Gary Cohen, chief attorney for the state Public Utilities Commission. “Who wouldn’t like to go into Chapter 11, reorganize and come out unregulated?” More : sfgate.com |