Audit: California Utility Didn’t Spend $50M For Safety

An audit says Pacific Gas and Electric Co. did not use $50 million intended to improve its gas pipeline network in the decade leading up to a deadly explosion in a San Francisco Bay area suburb.

The audit by Leawood, Kan.-based Overland Consulting for the California Public Utilities Commission was reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.

According to the Chronicle, PG&E from 1999 to 2010 regularly failed to use all the money it collected from ratepayers to fix and maintain small gas lines that deliver natural gas to homes and businesses.

PG&E spokeswoman Brittany Chord says the utility disputes some of the findings and has spent more than it received from customers in recent years for system improvements.

The 2010 blast in San Bruno killed eight people.