PG&E Files Chapter 11

Electronic News, April 9, 2001

PACIFIC GAS AND ELECTRIC Co. Friday filed a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 protection with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California. "We chose to file for Chapter 11 reorganization affirmatively because we expect the court will provide the venue needed to reach a solution, which thus far the state and the state's regulators have been unable to achieve," said Robert Glynn, chairman of the San Francisco-based utility unit of PG&E Corp.

(nyse: PCG), in a statement. "The regulatory and political processes have failed us, and now we are turning to the court." Impact? At least one industry sector, fabless semiconductor companies, said they were not worried by the news. Most of them outsource energy-sensitive manufacturing to overseas foundries, said Debbie Scoggin, vice president of marketing at the Fabless Semiconductor Association, Dallas. "The main sources of manufacturing are in Taiwan and international, so it is not as large a concern for the fabless segment," Scoggin said. "It hasn 't really affected the fabless semiconductor companies, which are the companies we represent. I can see that as a concern for the manufacturers, not so much for the fabless semiconductor companies, because they are not relying on the electricity for their manufacturing." PG&E will continue working to keep the lights on, PG&E's Glynn said. "Our objective is to move through the Chapter 11 reorganization process as quickly as possible, without disruption to our operations or inconvenience to our customers. Throughout this crisis our 20,000 employees have been and remain committed to providing safe and reliable service to the 13 million Californians who depend on us to deliver their gas and electricity."