SACRAMENTO, Calif., Nov. 2, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- PG&E's threat to delay $2 billion in infrastructure investments, including electricity connections for 25,000 customers, amounts to bailout blackmail aimed at pressuring California lawmakers to weaken wildfire liability laws, Consumer Watchdog said today.
The utility announced the 2027 cuts immediately after lawmakers declined to grant additional wildfire liability limitations. Now PG&E is blaming the Legislature for financing problems and warning that housing developments, renewable energy projects, and other customers will face delays.
"PG&E is trying to blackmail the legislature into a bailout with threats that amount to crying wolf," said Jamie Court, Consumer Watchdog. "PG&E cannot breach its duty to serve without financial consequences for its ability to upstream profits to shareholders and its ability to get rate hikes it has already applied for. This is a short-term tactic to get a legislative bailout."
Consumer Watchdog pointed to these developments to show PG&E was "crying wolf" and that the proposed cutbacks appear not to be as severe as stated and to be a short-term pressure tactic to secure a legislative bailout.
- A letter from PG&E CEO Patti Poppe to the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee undercuts the company's warnings of up to six-month delays in interconnections. Poppe acknowledged that PG&E currently completes new service connections in an average of 118 days, well below the California Public Utilities Commission's (CPUC) 182-day target. She also confirmed that even with the proposed delays, PG&E expects to continue meeting applicable state energization requirements. In other words, new connections now take 4 months, the state benchmark is 6 months, and PG&E intends to meet the benchmark.
- PG&E has a legal duty to serve its customers and if it fails to meet that duty it can be prevented from upstreaming dividends to its holding company and the holding company must finance the services it fails to provide. Consumer Watchdog and Every Fire Survivor's Network recently wrote state officials about this duty. (CPUC Decisions D.02-01-039)
- PG&E's proposed spending reductions are already drawing challenges. On October 23, the CPUC's Public Advocates Office filed a motion arguing that PG&E's $2 billion reduction makes its proposed 2027 revenue requirement overstated and it needs to file a new plan. The office called for the CPUC to protect customers from paying rates based on work the utility no longer plans to perform. At the same time, the CPUC is currently considering up to $456 million in interim rate recovery for PG&E beginning January 1, 2027, before the commission reaches a final decision on the utility's general rate case.
- Consumer Watchdog also questioned how much of the $2 billion in deferred work PG&E actually needs to finance. Under PG&E's own construction requirements, developers and customers requesting new service are required to cover applicable connection costs, including engineering, administration, construction materials, installation labor, and work necessary to connect new facilities to the grid. Applicants must pay applicable advances before construction begins and can hire qualified contractors to build infrastructure themselves. Renewable energy developers are also responsible for initially financing certain interconnection facilities and grid upgrades under generator interconnection agreements, although some advances are later reimbursed. PG&E has not publicly provided a project-by-project accounting identifying how much of the deferred work is already funded or financially secured by applicants.
- PG&E's financial history makes its latest claims even harder to reconcile. In 2019, the company filed for bankruptcy under the weight of billions of dollars in wildfire liabilities yet continued investing billions in its infrastructure without a major collapse in capital spending. Now, outside bankruptcy, PG&E claims it must delay $2 billion in planned investments because of wildfire liability uncertainty, even as it plans to spend another $11.4 billion on capital projects in 2027.
"PG&E cannot have it both ways," said Alex Nagy, Organizing director for Consumer Watchdog. "On one hand the utility claims it cannot afford to complete planned infrastructure projects, but on the other, it still seeks rate increases based on spending forecasts that no longer reflect its plans. PG&E continued investing during one of the worst financial crises in its history. The company has yet to demonstrate why its financial circumstances today require delaying essential connections that it continued to fund even during bankruptcy."
The company's statements raise serious questions about a short-term pressure tactic intended to secure a legislative bailout.
Consumer Watchdog said California should not reward threats to delay electricity service with another wildfire liability bailout. PG&E must meet its obligations to customers, and the CPUC must enforce them.
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SOURCE Consumer Watchdog
