PG&E chief to retire as California utility nears end of its bankruptcy case

Bill Johnson, who became the face of PG&E Corp. as the troubled utility navigated through bankruptcy, will retire as chief executive June 30, the state’s deadline for the utility to secure approval of its Chapter 11 reorganization plan.

The announcement Wednesday came a little more than one year after California’s largest utility hired Johnson to steer the company through what has been a tumultuous Chapter 11 proceeding. Despite its chaotic moments, however, PG&E appears to be on track to finalizing its plan by the state’s deadline.

PG&E said William “Bill” Smith, a PG&E board member since last year and the former president of AT&T Technology Services, will become interim CEO.

Johnson, who had run the Tennessee Valley Authority, joined PG&E a few months after the embattled utility filed for bankruptcy. He quickly became one of the most recognizable figures in California, pleading PG&E’s case at the Capitol and the Public Utilities Commission.

Johnson led a delegation of company executives and board members to Paradise, site of the disastrous 2018 Camp Fire. He sparred with Gov. Gavin Newsom over the massive blackouts PG&E engineered last October in an effort to reduce wildfire risks, as well as the company’s reorganization plan.

Eventually, he secured Newsom’s approval for PG&E’s exit plan after agreeing to ramp up the company’s wildfire safety efforts and putting in place a process that could force PG&E to put itself up for sale if it fails to finish its bankruptcy plan by June 30.

PG&E has offered to pay $13.5 billion to the 80,000 victims of the Camp Fire and the 2017 wine-country fires to cover uninsured losses. The victims are due to finish voting on the plan May 15. Their approval would all but guarantee PG&E would meet the June 30 deadline set by the Legislature when it created an insurance pool designed to help buffer utilities from liabilities from future wildfires.

“I joined PG&E to help get the company out of bankruptcy and stabilize operations,” Johnson said in a prepared statement. “By the end of June, I expect that both of these goals will have been met.

This story was originally published April 22, 2020 at 7:57 AM.