You're arguing against a straw man. I agree with you: PG&E has acted terribly. The attempted executive bonuses (currently being denied by a court) and stock buybacks ($250MM in F'18, $395MM in F'17, and $968MM in F'16) are especially egregious. The company should no longer exist.
But PG&E are not the only offenders here. You seem to be arguing that there's regulatory capture (correct me if I'm wrong), but the Public Utilities Commission still exists, and they have the authority to regulate PG&E. If the commission is neglecting its duties, then it should be restructured as well. A president of the commission has been forced out before, and it should probably be done again. If they neglected such an obvious case of greed and mismanagement because of bribery (sorry, lobbying), that should be a criminal case, too.
Public officials can throw PG&E under the bus all they want, but if systematic changes aren't made, we'll be doing this song and dance again in a few years with a different utility.
But PG&E are not the only offenders here. You seem to be arguing that there's regulatory capture (correct me if I'm wrong), but the Public Utilities Commission still exists, and they have the authority to regulate PG&E. If the commission is neglecting its duties, then it should be restructured as well. A president of the commission has been forced out before, and it should probably be done again. If they neglected such an obvious case of greed and mismanagement because of bribery (sorry, lobbying), that should be a criminal case, too.
Public officials can throw PG&E under the bus all they want, but if systematic changes aren't made, we'll be doing this song and dance again in a few years with a different utility.