Are utility companies — and the government — ready for the next attack on the grid?

Apr 14, 2023
A dramatic 2013 attack on California’s electricity system prompted security upgrades. Reviews are underway after recent similar assaults.
Attackers took down 17 transformers at Pacific Gas & Electric's Metcalf Transmission Substation in 2013. No arrests were ever made.
Lily Jamali/Marketplace

What's behind California's spiking natural gas prices?

Feb 8, 2023
Ratepayers report their bills are double or even nearly triple what they paid last year.
California Governor Gavin Newsom is calling for a federal investigation into the factors behind the state's natural gas price spike. Above, a natural gas plant in El Segundo, California.
Mario Tama/Getty Images

PG&E's criminal probation comes to an end

Jan 25, 2022
What does it take to hold corporations accountable?
Despite the rap sheet PG&E has racked up over the last several years, the U.S. Attorney in San Francisco chose not to ask for an extension of its probation.
Justin Sullivan/ Getty Images

PG&E ties compensation of victims to its future through stock

Apr 1, 2021
PG&E equipment caused the Camp Fire and other deadly blazes. What does it mean for victims when the settlement depends on profitability?
Victims of wildfires caused by PG&E equipment wonder how owning the company's stock will compensate them for their lost and damaged homes.
Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

What might PG&E — and its customers — get from partnering with Tesla?

Jul 30, 2020
They've broken ground on a battery facility that could help the utility meet state energy storage requirements.
The more efficient storage facility should make it cheaper for PG&E to produce energy, which should, eventually, trickle down to ratepayers.
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

PG&E due in bankruptcy court

Nov 19, 2019
PG&E's power grid infrastructure has been blamed for wildfires in 2017 and 2018.
A fallen PG&E utility pole lays on a property burned during the Kincade Fire in Healdsburg, California on Oct. 28, 2019.
Philip Pachecho/AFP via Getty Images

California mayors want customers to run PG&E

Nov 5, 2019
Several California cities are pushing for a public takeover of the investor-owned utility.
A fallen PG&E utility pole lays on a property burned during the Kincade Fire in Healdsburg, California on Oct. 28, 2019.
Philip Pachecho/AFP via Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

PG&E blackouts have Californians scrambling for generators

Oct 28, 2019
The planned outages by California’s PG&E left hundreds of thousands without power this fall, and at least one company is benefiting.
A restaurant in Sonoma, California during the planned power outage by Pacific Gas & Electric in early October, 2019.
Brittany Hosea-Small/AFP via Getty Images

Massive power shut-off would cost businesses in California

Oct 8, 2019
As the risk of wildfire and natural disasters increase with climate change, power disruptions could become more common.
Towers carrying electrical lines in south San Francisco.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

California utility is reportedly considering bankruptcy after wildfires

Jan 7, 2019
California lawmakers are back in session after a holiday break, and a new governor is in place. One of the sticky issues all those folks might have to confront is what to do about the troubled utility Pacific Gas and Electric. The investor-owned utility provides gas and electricity to more than 5 million Californians. And […]