PG&E Plan to Use Wildfire Funds on Ads Sparks Critics’ Fire

Source: NBC Bay Area  |  By Jaxon Van Derbeken

PG&E recently acknowledged that it intends to have customers pay for an ongoing $6 million ad campaign, calling it “safety communications.” But critics say the utility shouldn’t be allowed to tap funds earmarked to help prevent wildfires on what they consider blatantly promotional commercials. In the ad campaign that began last year, PG&E’s CEO Patti Poppe says that “to make our power system safer and more reliable…we’re transforming your local utility from the underground up.”

“It’s outrageous to charge customers for promotional advertising that only promotes the utility,” said Katy Morsony, an attorney with the ratepayer advocacy group TURN. “The number one thing that people complain to me about regarding their utility,” she continued, “is that they see all these PG&E advertisements and they assume that they, as customers, are paying for them – and they ask me, are they paying for them?”