PG&E Wants to Pull the Plug on Electrification Project at CSU Monterey Bay

Source: KQED |  By Laura Klivans

The lines sprawl below ground unnoticed, starting out large, then branching like limbs of a tree, reaching nearly every home. We pay for them, and we probably never think about them. For most Californians, the maze of gas pipelines beneath our feet allows us to heat our homes and water, dry our clothes and cook our food. But all these functions can be done another way, too: with electricity. And maintaining two systems — gas and electric — is costly and incompatible with California’s climate goals.

But the turn came as a “complete surprise,” said Hayley Goodson, a managing attorney at The Utility Reform Network, one of the project stakeholders. “PG&E has been saying for years that it costs less for gas ratepayers to do the electrification project.” Goodson said the reasons PG&E cited for dropping the project have all been known for months and argued it came down to financials. “It’s hard not to think that PG&E just doesn’t want to do the right thing for its ratepayers if they can’t earn a profit from it,” Goodson said.