CALIFORNIA’S Public Utilities Commission president Michael Picker said yesterday that the state’s biggest power utility could be broken up.

Mr Picker’s statement followed hard on the heels of a record $1.6 billion (£1.09bn) in fines for the Pacific Gas & Electric Co (PG&E), punishment for a 2010 gas pipeline explosion that killed eight people in a San Francisco suburb.

PG&E said it would accept the penalty without appeal and pledged to make its operations safer.

Chief executive Tony Earley released a statement saying the utility was “deeply sorry” for the explosion. “The lessons of this tragic event will not be forgotten,” he claimed.

Federal investigators blamed both safety failings by the utility and lax oversight by state regulators for the disaster.

The penalty was the largest against a utility in state history. But commission members said that the utility had continued to rack up safety citations since the blast.

Mr Picker said he would ask commission staff to evaluate splitting up PG&E operations, which combine gas and electricity supply to 9.7 million customers.

“I’m asking the question. We’ll have to answer it,” he said.

The commission will also investigate whether to go after bonuses and stock options given to PG&E executives, and it will launch an investigation into the utility’s “culture of safety.”

The penalty requires PG&E shareholders to pay $850 million (£580m) toward gas transmission safety improvements.

It also orders PG&E to pay $300m (£205m) into the state’s general fund.

by Our Foreign Desk