Dive Summary:

• Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E) proposed rate increase is to offset the cost of safety improvements to its pipelines; the first wave of the improvements calls for $2.2 billion.
• Assemblyman Jerry Hill, whose district includes a neighborhood in which eight people were killed during a PG&E pipeline blast in 2010, is calling for state’s Public Utilities Commission to reject the proposal on the grounds that customers shouldn’t have to pay for the utility’s “decades of neglect.”
• A PG&E spokeswoman said the increase would amount to an average of $2 per household and will help the company reach its pipeline safety goals.

From the article:

A state lawmaker on Monday pressured the California Public Utilities Commission to reject a proposal by PG&E to increase rates for customers in order to pay for pipeline safety improvements.

Assemblyman Jerry Hill, whose district includes the San Bruno neighborhood where a 2010 gas pipeline blast killed eight people and destroyed dozens of homes, called on the CPUC to make a ruling on a fine that would hold PG&E responsible for the blast instead of passing on costs to customers. ...