PG&E Names El Paso Veteran To Gas Pipeline Team

PG&E Corp. (PCG) named an El Paso Corp. (EP) veteran to the natural-gas pipeline leadership team at its Pacific Gas & Electric Co. unit.

The company, which has been faced continued costs related to the 2010 San Bruno, Calif., natural-gas pipeline explosion, appointed Jesus Soto Jr. as PG&E's senior vice president of gas transmission, operations, engineering and pipeline integrity starting May 29. He most recently was vice president of El Paso's pipeline group.

PG&E has been the subject of negative public discussions, penalties, claims and lawsuits since the fatal 2010 pipeline explosion in San Bruno.

Nick Stavropoulos, executive vice president of gas operations, on Monday said, "We have already made excellent progress in turning our operations around, and there is still more to do." Stavropoulos said he is confident Soto "will play a major role in meeting this challenge."

Consumer advocates and state lawmakers have publicly criticized the utility for its proposal to make customers pay for most of a $2.2 billion pipeline safety overhaul to comply with new state pipeline safety rules that were developed after the San Bruno explosion. Consumer advocates have argued that PG&E should pay for more of the work because it should have done much of it in prior years.

The utility has argued, by contrast, that the work is required under new rules and shouldn't be mixed together with work that is directly related to the pipeline explosion.

Shares were up 4 cents at $43.48 in recent trading.

-By Tess Stynes, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2481; [e-mail]