PG&E’s Peter Darbee, who has been at the heart of the predatory stance of the company recently, has announced that he will be resigning:

PG&E Corp.’s embattled chief executive, Peter Darbee, will retire at the end of the month, the company reported today.

His departure follows a year in which the company and its subsidiary, Pacific Gas and Electric Co., have been rocked by a series of controversies and crises, most notably the deadly explosion of a natural gas pipeline in San Bruno. Consumer advocates and several public officials had called for Darbee to step down.(SF Chronicle)

As if all that mayhem wasn’t enough, let’s toss in the $46 million boondoggle that he lead his shareholders on to kill public energy choice in Californian in the form of Prop 16.  

Oh, and speaking of PG&E, it turns out that they have no idea what condition their pipelines are in, how much pressure they can sustain, and possibly, where they are.  

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. told California regulators Thursday that it will never find documents for some of its older gas pipelines, and that if the state doesn’t accept “assumptions” about some pipes, the company will have to spend five years shutting them down and testing them with high-pressure water.

In a filing with the California Public Utilities Commission, PG&E said it cannot satisfy a state order to come up with “traceable, verifiable and complete” records on all 1,800-plus miles of its pipeline in and around urban areas.

The commission issued the order after it was revealed that PG&E’s records incorrectly described as seamless the San Bruno pipeline that exploded Sept. 9, killing eight people and destroying 38 homes. Federal metallurgists have concluded that the pipe failed at a seam weld, but PG&E never conducted inspections that might have detected the problem weld.(SF Chronicle)

The argument that PG&E makes against public power choice are really two-fold.  One, that they, as a private corporation subject to market forces, could provide energy more cost effectively.  And two, that they could do it safely.  As San Francisco ratepayers look at their bills, and then look at the San Bruno disaster, what arguments still exist for the antipathy to public power.

Look at the Sacramento Municipal Utilites District (SMUD) or any other public power agency, and you will see an organization with better accountability (and rates).  PG&E is simply another middleman for a utility, one that really isn’t necessary.  

Darbee’s exit was necessary in the wake of San Bruno, though his $30+ million exit package won’t really make it seem as a kick out the door so much as a vacation.  But, really, this is just some shuffling, it seems unlikely that any real change can happen here.  But, perhaps I should be more optimistic.  With that, I welcome my new power overlord, PG&E board member Lee Cox.