The California Public Utilities Commission has fined Pacific Gas and Electric Co. $5 million for failing to inspect and repair a transmission line in Sausalito between 2009 and 2018.
The citation stated that the utility found 22 “high-priority safety hazards that should have been identified” when it did conduct an inspection of the Ignacio-Alto-Sausalito lines in March 2019. These 22 deficiencies “posed an immediate risk to the safety of PG&E’s transmission facilities and to the electric power supply for the city of Sausalito,” the document said.
Public Utilities Commission regulations require such high-priority deficiencies to be resolved within 30 days since they are considered an immediate rick to safety and reliability. PG&E failed to comply with that requirement, regulators said.
The deficiencies involved 21 transmission towers and included rusted and damaged tower parts, joints, and worn C-hooks. A worn PG&E C-hook that failed is believed to have sparked the Camp Fire in 2018, which destroyed the town of Paradise and killed 85 people.
Fred Hilliard, fire marshal for the Southern Marin Fire Protection District, said news of the fines came as surprise to him. Hilliard said the fire department plays no role in inspecting local power lines.
“We’re not trained to look at power lines,” Hilliard said. “Honestly, we wouldn’t even know what to look for.”
Asked if she was aware of the defective towers, Sausalito Mayor Jill Hoffman responded in an email, “Information I have is that main transmission line repairs were made last year on towers located above Sausalito in Golden Gate National Recreation Area.”
Hoffman didn’t say when or how she learned of the faulty PG&E towers; she added however, “As a northern California community with significant risk, Sausalito has and is communicating the need for undergrounding of its system to PG&E staff.”
According to the PUC, when PG&E moved to correct the deficiencies it divided the 21 towers into two groups. PG&E built “shoo-fly” lines to temporarily bypass eight of the towers, and completed corrective actions on them in September 2019.
The PUC stated that PG&E began correcting the deficiencies on the other 13 towers in June 2019 and didn’t complete the work until April 14, 2020.
The citation stated that the PUC’s safety and enforcement division had found PG&E guilty of similar violations at other locations in the state no fewer than five times since May 2019.
The PUC also announced Monday it was also fining PG&E $2.5 million for failing to adequately inspect more than 54,000 distribution poles in 2019, and ordered PG&E to correct its inspection procedures for Cellon-treated wood poles.
The 54,000 distribution poles were examined by utility in 2019 as part of its Wildfire Safety Inspection Program, but the inspection criteria failed to meet all of the PUC’s inspection requirements.
The PUC said its directive having to do with Cellon-treated wood poles, “relates to an incident in which a distribution pole failed in a customer’s backyard in Danville, Calif. In 2020.” PG&E subsequently notified the PUC that its inspection procedures for Cellon-treated wood poles failed to accurately assess pole integrity and identify potential internal dry rot.
Terrie Prosper, a PUC spokeswoman, said PG&E has 30 days to appeal or pay the fines. Prosper said if collected the money would be deposited into the PUC’s general fund.
Jennifer Robison, a PG&E spokeswoman, declined to comment on the allegations contained in the citations. Robison wrote in an email, “PG&E is reviewing the citations and will respond by the CPUC’s deadline.”
Five of the 10 most destructive wildfires in California since 2015, including the Camp Fire, have been linked to PG&E equipment. The investor-owned utility’s equipment caused over 1,500 fires from June 2014 to December 2017, according to The Wall Street Journal.
In September 2018, the Legislature passed a law that permits utilities to raise electricity rates to cover some of the cost of wildfire liabilities. In January, PG&E sought bankruptcy protection to shield itself from tens of billions of dollars in possible wildfire liabilities.