PG&E Corp. (PCG) named an El Paso Corp. (EP) veteran to the
natural-gas pipeline leadership team at its Pacific Gas &
Electric Co. unit.
The company, which has been faced continued costs related to the
2010 San Bruno, Calif., natural-gas pipeline explosion, appointed
Jesus Soto Jr. as PG&E's senior vice president of gas
transmission, operations, engineering and pipeline integrity
starting May 29. He most recently was vice president of El Paso's
pipeline group.
PG&E has been the subject of negative public discussions,
penalties, claims and lawsuits since the fatal 2010 pipeline
explosion in San Bruno.
Nick Stavropoulos, executive vice president of gas operations,
on Monday said, "We have already made excellent progress in turning
our operations around, and there is still more to do." Stavropoulos
said he is confident Soto "will play a major role in meeting this
challenge."
Consumer advocates and state lawmakers have publicly criticized
the utility for its proposal to make customers pay for most of a
$2.2 billion pipeline safety overhaul to comply with new state
pipeline safety rules that were developed after the San Bruno
explosion. Consumer advocates have argued that PG&E should pay
for more of the work because it should have done much of it in
prior years.
The utility has argued, by contrast, that the work is required
under new rules and shouldn't be mixed together with work that is
directly related to the pipeline explosion.
Shares were up 4 cents at $43.48 in recent trading.
-By Tess Stynes, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2481;
Tess.Stynes@dowjones.com