SACRAMENTO >> The state auditor, in a scathing report on Thursday, said the California Public Utilities Commission has failed to guard against the appearance of being improperly influenced by interested parties, and has failed to fully disclose an array of key communications with utilities such as PG&E.
The PUC, according to the audit, failed to ensure that the public was fully aware of communications it conducted with Southern California Edison and the University of California.
“These unreported communications have cast doubt on whether a multibillion-dollar settlement protects
ratepayers and on the appropriateness of the CPUC’s selection of the University of California for a $25 million contract,” the state auditor wrote in the report. The settlement was connected to the controversial San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in San Diego County.
The audit recommended that the state Legislature pass a law to create new standards for the PUC’s five commissioners to recuse themselves from proceedings when their impartiality is reasonably questioned.
What’s more, the auditor called for the creation of new rules that require commissioners to publicly report private discussions with any parties to its proceedings.
“Here we have yet another well-researched, unbiased, outside report saying that the PUC is in desperate need of reform,” said state Assemblyman Mike Gatto, a Southern California lawmaker who has been one of leaders in reform efforts.
The PUC has come under increasing criticism in the wake of a fatal explosion in San Bruno caused by PG&E. A federal probe determined that the blast was caused by a lethal combination of shoddy maintenance and flawed record keeping on the part of PG&E and lazy oversight by the PUC.
The disclosure of tens of thousands of emails painted a picture of a PUC with cozy ties to PG&E and other major utilities that it’s supposed to regulate, including Southern Cal Edison and Sempra Energy.
Gatto had led a major reform effort of the PUC that would have begun a process to strip the state regulatory agency of its authority to oversee telecommunications and transportation companies, including Uber and Lyft. Had it succeeded, the PUC would eventually been forced to focus primarily on gas and electricity providers such as PG&E. Those reforms failed to pass the Legislature in the final hours of its session on Aug. 31.
“Reforms are badly needed at the PUC,” said state Sen. Jerry Hill, whose San Mateo County district includes San Bruno. “The PUC has gotten too big to succeed.”
