The nickname for
Pacific Gas & Electric Company, the largest
public utility and
electric company in
California. Operates mostly in
Northern California including
San Francisco. The other major public Utility in California is
Southern California Edison which, obviously, operates mostly in
Southern CaliforniaThe company has often been despised by a lot of people because of its actions, going back to the 1960s when it was considered to have so much control over the state legislature that bumper stickers appeared reading "Welcome to California, owned and operated by PG&E". Some of the dislike included in some people's opinion, a lack of concern for environmental issues, such as storing Hexavalent Chromium in underground tanks, causing groundwater pollution as claimed by the movie Erin Brockovich.
NEWS FLASH: On April 7, 2001, PG&E filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy as a result of losses of over $9 billion from the misapplication of electric power deregulation.