PG&E fined for Carmel house explosion in March

Thursday the California Public Utilities Commission issued a $10.85 million citation PG&E for the March natural gas explosion in Carmel.

The CPUC also opened a formal penalty consideration case against PG&E relating to record keeping of the utility’s gas distribution infrastructure.

The fine cited PG&E’s failure to take the necessary safety steps where work was underway on March 3rd. The citation also said the utility company failed to adequately equip the construction crew with the tools necessary to stop the uncontrolled flow of natural gas, leading to the explosion of an unoccupied home at 3rd and Guadalupe Streets.

The Safety and Enforcement Division determined that PG&E violated a federal regulation and Public Utilities Code that requires steps to be taken to ensure safety in any actual or potential hazard to life or property.

PG&E has 10 calendar days to pay or contest the citation, which must be paid with shareholder funds.

You can look at the citation at: http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/PUC/safety/Pipeline/citations.htm.

Separately, commissioners voted to open a formal penalty case related to PG&E’s safety record keeping for its natural gas distribution service and facilities.

The case will review and determine whether PG&E’s record keeping practices for its gas distribution system have been unsafe and in violation of the law.

A statement released by PG&E spokesperson, Donald Cutler said:

“The safety of our customers, employees and the communities we serve is always our top priority and we are pleased that the CPUC allowed us to get back to the important natural gas safety work in Carmel. We have just received the Citation and notification of the formal case and are reviewing them. We have made significant enhancements to our protocols to address public concerns and CPUC recommendations.”

Gas safety record keeping refers to, but is not limited to, PG&E’s acquisition, maintenance, organization, safekeeping, and efficient retrieval of data that the CPUC finds is necessary and appropriate for PG&E to make good and safe gas engineering decisions.

The decision to open the case was made by the CPUC after reviewing six PG&E natural gas distribution system incidents which included the Carmel explosion.

Within 30 days PG&E must submit a report contesting any facts asserted in the Safety and Enforcement Division incident reports.

“This issue is very concerning; it’s a strong indication that, while PG&E has been making progress in upgrading their gas system, the progress is still very uneven,” said Commissioner Michael Picker.

“PG&E is a very large operation, but we at the CPUC need to be able to assure California residents that every part of PG&E’s operation is as safe as it can be. The staff actions here – our form of a prosecutorial indictment – indicate that PG&E needs to do more,” Picker continued.

The city of Carmel has held several town hall meetings and requested that PG&E halt pipeline project work until more investigation into the incident was done.

Work resumed the first week in November.