PG&E pledges to shake up board in bid to placate California
Source: AP
By MICHAEL LIEDTKE
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pacific Gas and Electric is pledging to overhaul its board of directors in an attempt to avoid a potential takeover attempt by the state of California and prove the nation’s largest utility is turning over a new leaf as it works through its second bankruptcy in less than 20 years.
The promise to shake things up came late Friday as the San Francisco-based company filed its latest blueprint for getting out of bankruptcy court by June 30. But to make that deadline, PG&E still must win over Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has been insisting for months that the company must make more radical changes to a corporate culture that has repeated lapses in safety and played a role a series of catastrophic wildfires that drove the utility back into bankruptcy last year.
Newsom had become so exasperated with the PG&E’s direction that earlier this week he vowed to follow through on a threat to launch a government-led takeover bid unless the company bowed to a series of demands he laid out in a Dec. 13 letter and has reiterated in the past two weeks. The list includes Newsom’s insistence that it replace its entire 14-member board of directors, including CEO Bill Johnson, and come up with a plan that lessens its debt load so it can pay for $40 billion to $50 billion in anticipated improvements to its outdated electrical grid.
PG&E appears to be starting to bend to Newsom’s will, but it’s still not clear if the company is willing to go far enough to appease him. In its announcement and court filings, PG&E pledged to “refresh” its board before it emerges from bankruptcy, but didn’t say whether it will comply with Newsom’s insistence to oust the entire board. All but two of the current 14 directors have joined the board since last April.
FILE - This Dec. 16, 2017, file photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department shows flames burning near power lines in Montecito, Calif. Pacific Gas and Electric is promising promising to overhaul its board of directors in an attempt to avoid a potential takeover attempt by the state of California and prove the beleaguered utility is turning over a new leaf as it works through its second bankruptcy in less than 20 years. The promise to shake things up came late Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, as the San Francisco company tries to emerge from bankruptcy by June 30. (Mike Eliason/Santa Barbara County Fire Department via AP, File)
Read more: https://apnews.com/d2b62cde3830fbbc18c4692ecbf193c5
= new reply since forum marked as read
How do you make amends for having power distribution grids that start fires..
and burn people alive?
PG&E..changing directors? What a crock of shit...Boeing is trying to change
pubic opinion too...Lets see how that works out....
