Utility won’t appeal penalty

Regulators issue punishment over pipeline explosion.

SAN FRANCISCO — California regulators approved a record $1.6 billion penalty Thursday against Pacific Gas & Electric Co. for a 2010 gas pipeline explosion that killed eight people and destroyed more than three dozen homes in suburban San Francisco.

The punishment comes as the state’s top utility regulator, Public Utilities Commission President Michael Picker, said he has called for a larger review into whether the state’s biggest power utility should be broken up to improve safety.

PG&E, meanwhile, said it would accept the penalty without appeal and pledged to make its operations safer.

PG&E CEO Tony Earley released a statement saying the utility was “deeply sorry” for the explosion. “The lessons of this tragic event will not be forgotten,” he said.

Federal investigators blamed both safety failings by the utility and lax oversight by state regulators for the disaster.

The penalty was the largest against a utility in state history, but members of the commission might not be done penalizing PG&E.

They said the utility has continued to rack up safety citations since the San Bruno blast, and Picker said he would ask commission staff to evaluate splitting up PG&E’s operations, which now combine gas and electricity, and serve 9.7 million customers across Northern California and the Central Valley.

“I’m asking the question. We’ll have to answer it,” Picker said.