Critics of public sector inefficiencies have long declared that “government should be run like a business.”

A business such as, say, Pacific Gas & Electric?

The current wildfire crisis in California should serve as an object lesson in the folly of expecting private enterprise to operate in the service of the public interest. It’s common to hear ordinary taxpayers grousing about the DMV as a proxy for all that’s burdensome and irritating about bureaucracy.

[We] reached new levels of reliability and won recognition from our industry for our emergency response efforts.
ANTHONY F. EARLEY JR. IN 2015, WHEN HE WAS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF PG&E
But the electricity shutoffs across the state, aimed at reducing the chance that a spark from utility equipment will start a fire, are the handiwork of our private utilities, artifacts of their failure to spend more money on their infrastructure rather than shareholder dividends.

Federal Judge William Alsup of San Francisco, who is overseeing PG&E’s probation after its criminal conviction in connection with the 2010 gas line explosion that killed eight in San Bruno, implicitly acknowledged as much in an order last January. In his order, Alsup tasked the company to “remove or trim all trees that could fall onto its power lines” as well as “identify and fix all conductors that might swing together and arc ... under high-wind conditions,” among other steps that the company had been expected to take under existing law. Alsup observed that California fire authorities blamed PG&E for 18 wildfires in 2017 and referred 12 of them for possible criminal prosecution.

He wrote of the imperative to “protect the public from further wrongs” by PG&E and “deter similar wrongs from other utilities.” Alsup further noted “PG&E’s history of falsification of inspection reports.” PG&E argued that the order was so broad it would interfere with its operations.

In July, Alsup further criticized the company for spending on campaign contributions “even quite recently” and distributing $5 billion in shareholder dividends prior to filing for bankruptc