there are no financial penalties for damages that have ever been levied on pg&e over the last few years. their actions have really had a solid impact on our budget. we have not been able to recoup costs for all of the lost customers that have opted out under false pretenses, nor have we been able to recoup costs for the legal battles we have been drawn into. commissioner mirkarimi: i would almost correct the statement there is no disincentive. the incentive is all the private utilities. >> thank you. commissioner campos: again, just to echo the comments welcoming the members of the commission for being here, just a question on the three-year rule. i think what the senator indicated makes a lot of sense. we need to seek a change in the law, if possible. i am also wondering if there is any legal recourse in terms of challenging the legality of that within the puc or in court. i am just wondering if the attorney's office has any thoughts on that, or if lafco has that. >> i am from the city attorney's office. the three-year waiting period for customers to switch back is a tariff rule that w

a couple of months ago, one of our customers was in the process of opting out, was told by pg&e that there was no switching rule and that they could switch back and forth at any time. we got on the phone with their call center and even asked for a supervisor and they did not know. so yes, there are customers opting out under false pretenses, and we do not believe the three-year rule is appropriate. >> secondly, according to your testimony, the meetings that took place between pg&e, were those local officials duly appointed? >> you are referring to the meetings with -- >> where you decided in closed meetings with pg&e, local officials. were those officials appointed, elected? >> in most cases, elected. >> so those officials per elected and appointed? as the members of the board of supervisors know, we are all regulated through the back likin act. their private meetings going on that are not transparent or open to the public. do we know what the result was from those meetings? >> in some cases, the elected officials reported after words or ask questions of staff to confirm information t

there have also been a number of challenges on the operations front, as far as pg&e handling the billing for us. it is a conundrum to have a competitive be responsible for handling your billing, a lot of your customer interface. so there have been some challenges on that front. for example, customers on the balanced payment plan, paying an equal amount every month, they were being charged double for generation for the first four months of service because our private utility could not figure out how to deoucouple those rates. there are also continuing issues on the bill. the rate factors shown on the customer's bill are the bundled rates. our customers are no longer considered bundled customers. they're only paying half of the generation church, so they should have an unbubdndled rate. despite these difficulties, we have not seen the opt out rate get high enough to where it is impacting us. it came in driver we projected, right around 20%. -- right where we projected, right around 20%. it is unfortunate that customers had to go through this sort of thing though. budget-wise, we've been ab

inactive for more than 4.5 years. >>> pg&e should use different techniques to test underground gas lines, that's the opinion of some pipeline experts at this week's hearing on deadly explosion in san bruno. they say the method most used by pg&e is less effective than others. >>> and the san jose unified school district may have to slash money for adult education programs to reduce cost. it's one six districts involved in the metropolitan education district, one of six. the "mercury news" says met road tocasion would have to close two of its three schools if san jose unified reduces its share. >>> a controversial chemical found in plastic bottles is discovered on our currency. some studies have linked bpa to cancer, diabetes and infertility. it's been banned from baby bottles around the world. the advocacy group say for chemicals healthy families says it tested cash first of all over the u.s. its scientists found trace amounts of bpa on 21 out of 22 bills. >>> turns out even one cigarette is one too many. that's the word from the surgeon general. she says social smoking or second hand smoke could be enough to block the arteries and trigger a heart attack. on

. >> tesoro blamed a preous outage on pg & e. the cause of today's outage is not yet known. >>> ktvu's john sasaki in union city with more on what was a very close call. >> reporter: late last night, two friends were working on this car when out of nowhere three masked men walked up and demanded their money. >> they started punching my friend. and then my friend ran inside and they cornered me over here. and they started beating me up. >> reporter: fearing for their safety, the friends who call themselves brother didn't want their faces or names on tv. >> i showed them i didn't have anything. i pulled out my pockets. he hit me in the face and i tried to push him off, that's when he stabbed me twice. >> reporter: he showed us his wounds. >> i am just glad my brother ran inside, because the babies were inside. >> i know when the gun went off, they ran. >> reporter: you think any of them was hit? >> we don't know that. which is why we put requests out to hospitals to let us know if anyone comes in with injuries. >> reporter: but the

some experts in tuesday's legislative hearing suggest more complex testing methods instead of the ones pg&e typically uses. the cause of the san bruno blast is still under investigation. >>> governor-elect jerry brown is calling california's budget crisis a worse problem than ever. that was his message yesterday at a budget forum in sacramento. about 200 state and local government officials attended the meeting. brown projects the deficit for the next fiscal year will be $28 billion. >> it goes back probably more than a decade. but i'm determined to do everything i can to get us back on the track. >> brown expects the solutions to be painful. he predicts the budget problem will stretch until 2016. that's a year after his upcoming term ends. >>> there is a slight twist in the wikileaks drama this morning. the berkeley city council is considering a resolution that would declare private first class manning a hero suspected of leaking classified documents to the wikileaks website. the city council will vote on it on tuesday. >>> we have just learned the payment processor for wikileaks is plan

pg&e have stalled you. i am hoping you will be able to resuscitate. onequestion i have for you is that often come it is asserted that our pursuit of municipalization is a liberal fang, a progressive thing. we are often castigated or relegated by others to -- who try to slot us as being in a less-minded way of thinking about municipal is asian region municipalizat -- about m unicipalization. you were leading the pack. you should speak to that. people in san francisco hear it from others who want to mutate the debate as to what this means. when we hear it from other counties who are not necessarily like san francisco, i think it is important to share some insight. >> thank you. i will. let me mention that i appreciated participating in the aforementioned senate hearing last month. mr. chairman, you represented this group of very well. it was the first time i had a chance to listen to you speak. you did announce standing job in speaking to the vision and the issues we have been challenged with. yes. the central san joaquin valley is not a liberal hotbed. it

i would say there is a bit of a shell game going on, and the pg&e characterization is an understatement of the complexity here. there were two questions basically. first, the purpose of the visitacion valley community facilities and infrastructure fee and fund was to "mitigate the impact from residential development on public infrastructure in visitacion

we are not put it all off on pg &e, because we know that there are many issues, but this power plant was the number one largest single standing source of air and water pollution in bayview hunters point. for obvious reasons, we wanted to make it go away, but we started -- we decided that we were going to plant our feet and go after them, as we said, one goliaths at a time. >> the power plant issue, both potrero hill and bayview, you never hear one mentioned without the other. the spokesman did together to make sure they are getting rid of their power plants, and they look at which one was the worst, and the bayview one was the worst, and we got rid of that. >> the oldest power plant in the country. 77 years old, and we finally got it tore down by fighting. others tried to take the credit, but the community pushed the power plant down. >> i have a child suffers from the effects of this power plant and from the other pollutants. my job was to take it where it really counts. that is what we did. we formed mothers for environmental justice of on the hill because these guys were up at the

erin brockovich put the spotlight on pg&e's $333 million settlement with hundreds of people living in over contaminated drinking water. new studies show cancer levels there have not elevated from 1988 to 2008. still, some believe the toxic chemical chrome yum 6 is in their water supply and may be spreading. >>> youtube's biggest hit of the year in 2 minutes. eyewitness news at 6. ,, [ bell rings ] what are you doing, friending somebody? yeah. you got time for that? you got time to earn more on your savings, online at capitalone.com. that's new school banking, baby! instead of earning squatootski... your savings will be earning three times the national average. now, let's review. capital one interestplus savings... at three times more. go to capitalone.com. what's in your wallet? music makes a great gift. i like rock, hip-hop, country... and you are telling me this, why? i...uh...thought you might be my secret santa? no. i'm giving for skunk. uh, i can hear you. no. not you. the other skunk. [ female announcer ] safeway is the place to stock up on itunes gift cards. right now, save $6

some experts at tuesday's legislative hearing suggests more complex testing methods instead of the ones pg&e typically uses. the cause of the san bruno blast is still under investigation. >>> 4:36. the city of berkeley proposing a resolution that would declare the suspected wikileaks source a hero. private first class bradley manning is suspected of leaking classified information to the wikileaks website. while the federal government calls manning a criminal, the author of the resolution calls manning a patriot who deserves a medal. >> things that have come out, including collateral murder show americans committing war crimes, and nobody is prosecutorring the war criminals. -- prosecuting the war criminals. >> these things weaken america's position and it makes america look weak to people who are not necessarily open to negotiation. they think in terms of strength and weakness. >> a city commission has already approved the resolution. the city council will vote on it tuesday. >>> the websites for mastercard and visa are up and running again today after falling victim to cyber attacks. as p

on the bay bridge. why it's being called somewhat mysterious. >> why pg&e lobbied for a gas pipeline inspection method that critics call deficient. that story coming up. >> and six people are shot. whoever is responsible still on the loose this morning. we'll hear from a family member of some of the victims coming up next. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, goodrich. >>> good morning. thanks for joining us. it is thursday, december 23rd. i'm robert lyles. juliette goodrich has the morning off. >> and i'm sydnie kohara. good morning, everyone. your time coming up on 6:30. we begin with a developing story out of san pablo. >> crews are on the scene of an apartment fire. you are looking at live images from chopper 5. still, a very active scene at 23rd and standard avenues. that is in san pablo. we are being told that an apartment in the complex that you see there is on fire. we don't know at this moment the extent of the damages. we also do not know if there were people inside the apartment at the time of the fire. we're still gathering information. this is something we're going to track throughout the morning and certainly atte

on that pipeline happened. the "san francisco chronicle" reports that pg&e led the campaign to use the direct assessment inspection that was several years back when congress passed a new law requiring regular gas line inspections. one advantage for pg&e was that the utility didn't have to pay millions to upgrade its system. pg&e uses direct assessment on three-quarters of its inspections and direct assessment was used on the san bruno pipeline 10 months before it ruptured and did not identify any problems. the national transportation safety board investigating the deadly explosion has not come up yet with a cause but says it's looking into a weld on a pipe seam that failed. critics say direct assessment is not designed to check for weak welds, it's designed to check for corrosion. pg&e defends its use of direct assessment but also says it didn't know the san bruno pipeline had the kind of seam weld that it had. since the san bruno explosion, pg&e has been under fire to try to improve inspections along its lines. two other methods considered more likely to identify bad welds but also considered more expensive inclu

. >> i think you are giving too much power to the hollywood movies especially crappy ones. >> pg&e has done more to help people than erin brokovich or her scare mongering. she has gone on to sue avon. >> you can't say it is a frivolous lawsuit. >> i can. "red eye" brought to you by pg&e. >>- q. i i have -- >> i have no relatives at pg&e. >>> from stupid lies to silly lawsuits. they said no way to her mecca vaca. they are suing a middle school after it denied a muslim teacher three weeks unpaid leave to make a religious pilgrimage. in 2008 they requested the lengthy leave to perform the pilgrimage to saudi arabia which every adult muslim tries to do once in a lifetime. after the district turned her down, twice, she resigned. she filed a complaint with the u.s. equal employment opportunity commission which ended up at the justice department. the feds said they failed to accommodate the religious practices and she chose her job and her faith. they are asking the school to reinstate her with back pay and damages. speaking of pill grem midge -- pilgrimage, i make one. we have tape. >> i can

pg&e. that is raising a new batch of questions. since the explosion pacific pass and electric maintained it was seamless but found it was riddled with welds smchl seams welded only on outside of the pipe. and this jackie spear says she does not believe they were inspected by the utility. >> i want to make sure that this law is being followed by cpuc and pg&e. >> and to date i don't believe it has. >> do you think it's given a pass? >> the california public utilities commission does not return our repeated requests for information but pg&e president admitted the utility is undertaking a review. >> we've been taking steps to reassure customer that's they can have confidence in pg&e's system. >> residents in the san bruno neighborhood are not reassured. >> we'd like to note truth of the situation and reality of it. that is very distressing news. >> chris jackson says regulators should have checked on pg&e. >> there is we pay our state to do this. >> the head of the engineering department says the pipe had been proper lynn suspected. >> there is no difference in regulations between seamless pipes and those that have seam autos congress woman spear asked to all attend a

reporter: but taylor says he would like something else. >> i wish pg&e would, you know, figure this out because it's not -- i'm not the only one>> reporter: even though they say it gives anywhere from 20 to 30 smartmeter complaints every week, pg&e contends those meters are close to 100% accurate. hey, if you have a consumer problem, we would love to help, 1-888-5-helps-u. allen? >> thank you. >>> we have the forecast. roberta was saying it's going to be like... >> on saturday. that's on saturday. >> showers on saturday. >> everybody has to understand we have two different systems coming in. the first one on saturday. and it's going to be hit and miss scattered showers and sunday more robust system. in fact we'll play it out for you right now. looking out towards the transamerica building all 856 feet of it in all its glory. official sundown at 4:50. sun-up tomorrow morning at 7:08. today's hi-5 2 in concord, 61 degrees in half moon bay. .2" of rain in sonoma. light precipitation to the north of the cloverdale area that's it. but as you head out for this friday night grab an umbrella. you just may need it especially north of t

on her. about.>>reporter who was living young without pg&e confirm theility shut ovicene unit he on decembe pg&e sp not say the ser discg concerns t bneighbor acros fi department off usrs overloon cordfrom neighbo unit w he caus king detector in th several o residents ur-plex were escape ha a b an >> i t s the fiout. so i bac i up ot out. >> other wo ed they jumrom the secor. family friend sof the surviving in the cus of imm iiego. he's be deported one of the littlerlsivedll i r him to be releasedeet her.reporter: so girl is children hos oakland d for smoketion. offiold meat nill be delayed indefinite until prplacement that little girl about for th part is urgoneg paying the uti bill to conta tr to arran for a tor fort financiae. i 7 n >>> thursd night. a weue stuck rock hard place. if p a trip toe, how yought have to ta big detour.sign of the tim noble top s it longer >>ccu-weather f centerlla ornt eve3q hey stainbusters, another stain missedanother shirt ruined. good thing the experse of spray n' wash is in our new resolve in wash stain remove just add to the wash. the stainseekers will find pene

pg&e will reduce the pressure in two 30-inch pipelines. one runs from mall pee douse to fremont. pg&e has already reduced pressure in its transmission lines on the peninsula because of concerns a pressure serge may have played a role in the san bruno last. >> in light of san bruno, we have been checking the system relentlessly for leaks and we have reduced the pressure on our own initiative to i believe sure they are safe. >> being e says -- pg&e says residential customers will not be effected. >>> trying to ease california's budget deficit. 74-year-old dennis ferguson right there sent the state of california a check for $10,000 as repayment for unemployment benefits he received 46 years ago. he says that money helped him go back to school and become successful. california's treasurer bill locker says that money will go toward education. >>> we have new information on a home invasion robbery in mountain view that left an elderly man severely beaten. >>> and i'm paul chambers live in oakland after a mother and her children are displaced after a fire. >>> if you are driving in marin

&e are expected to work on a timetable for future proceedings. >>> also opponents of pg&e's smartmeters plan to attend today's meeting of the california public utilities commission. they want more studies on the potential health risks. pg&e says the frequencies are minimal but the utility may still seek a compromise. >>> you might be lucky today and get free bart tickets. the agency is handing out 120,000 of them encouraging holiday shoppers to ride the rails. initial being given out at stations in berkeley -- they are being given at at stations in berkeley, oakland and san francisco. >>> the high-speed rail authority may decide on whether to go lead with the first part of the track. the federal government wants that part to be in the central valley to be easier to build but there is opposition to the 65-mile route being considered because it would not directly connect any major cities. ♪ [ music ] >>> the uc-berkeley graduate freed from an iranian prison is taking to youtube to help free her fiance and friend. sarah shourd wrote a piece of time while in solitary confine

i would say there is a bit of a shell game going on, and the pg&e characterization is an understatement of the complexity here. there were two questions basically. first, the purpose of the visitacion valley community facilities and infrastructure fee and fund was to "mitigate the impact from residential development on public infrastructure in visitacion valley, including libraries, streets, and so on." i would appreciate if the supervisors paid attention. the question is, what, in fact, is a mitigation of an impact of development? is that a legitimate use to underground existing wires? i do not oppose undergrounding, i think it is great. it should happen everywhere, but is that an appropriate use, especially when the library is hurting for operating funds and cannot provide service in the fifth district while park branch is closed? that deprives the community a years of service. the other issue is what is happening with the money. can the developers pay it? what is happening with page 1-1. the public library is intending to use $2 million in a proposed ordinance to reimburse their pres

from his 13 minute tv confession of infidelity back in february to going winless on the pg&e tour for first time ever in his career news about tiger dominated sports this year. coming in second place on the survey the new orlean saints winning the super bowl and the giants came in number five. >>> it is 6:56. one more time over to sal this hour to check on traffic. >> all right. we are going to look at these live pictures we have. 80 westbound looks okay. also this morning commute on the teleplays -- on the toll plaza looks lighter than usual. the san antonio onramp is shut down because of a serious crash. >>> cloudy light rain takes us into today. look for cloudy skies, light rain picking up more tonight. it looks like friday, sunday, and tuesday will be your rain days. >> okay. the rain causing a lot of trouble on the highways this morning. look at these picture. this could be the wettest weekend in years. >>> many people are braving the wet weather to get a holiday meal at a well-known san francisco church. stay with us on ktvu. wi i-cl av csts. e earsin e earsst cl.

pg&e approval. that is what we want to get going on. that is the first thing to do. if it does, we have a potential program and we will be back to you if it shows promise about ways to initiate it. commissioner mirkarimi: no action is required, correct? public comment on this item? >> i told the journal and i would mention that one thing that would be really blood would be to carve out the ability to deliver 50% local hiring in terms of doing this project. some of the things you might think about, you can talk to any of the commission members, you can talk to the city program, and you talk about whatever you're going to do. people would really like to be a part of that. i think definitely just think about how you can commit to doing 50% local hiring on this project, a lot of people will be even more exciting -- excited about it. folks that are really hungry to be involved in green jobs, years of all them dirty power plants, for example. i'm just thinking out loud for you. it might be good here whenever you propose to us. it would be a really good thing to hear from y

by putting both bills on to one month, utility put her into a higher paying tier. pgventually adjusted her bill by $177. >> we wanted to obviously, as we've done with this customer. we did make an err. >> this is one of many apologies pg&e has issued of late. >> when some customercall with us questions we weren't as responsive as we should have been. that is unacceptable. >> so we have reached out and apologized to them. >> we certainly want to apologize to the custome >> a doctor is a business professor at golden gate university. pg&e gets good marks for offering a apology. >> there is something loveable about an alogy. >> but apologies only go so far and coany needs to get it act together. >> if the company makes the same mistake over and over again, ultimately they are insincere. >> it didn't put an end to her problems. it was the issue of the past due reminder notice that threatened to cut off her power if it was not paid. that threat was lifted but she also wanted a full explanation of how her refund was determined. she says months went by and no one would give h

and maureen kelly went to what side where she thought pg&e crews clean up after the storm. >> i am on highway 84, were you concede pg&e crews jostled arriving to restore power. here you could see the cause of around 8:00 a.m. this tree fell down taken a high-voltage power line with that. now the whole row was shut down for a time, until the crew get out your the energize the lined up the tree. now people in the area who live in this house who have been without power since that happened, the residents should be getting their power back on and a few hours after the crew is able to restrain new power lines. these workers say this is one of several incidents is that they're responding today. in woodside maury kelley kron4 news. >> here in downtown san jose, the use slip passing guadalupe rivera is anything but to date. this is the guadalupe river as a possible release the park avenue in downtown san jose. along the walkway there are some concerns that there could be some flooding here but so far so good. as much as 6 in. of rain in the higher elevations of the santa cruz mountains were it

. >> open fire dartment says the investigation into this event, one by pg&e, the other by the city building department. and meantime donna myles who lives right there is wondering whether she and her great grandchild can move back into that house. as far as mr. spencer, a relative out here this morning tells me he is not doing well. last listed in critical condition. live in oaknd, terry mcsweeney, actn 7 news. >> terry, thas very much. tonight peninsula assemblyman jerry hill plans to talk about a pipeline safety bill he's introducing being held in san bruno. it's the first forum since the pg&e explosion and fire that killed eight and destroyed 37 homes in september. his' measure increases oversight on pipeline safety inuding the way utilies spend money. it makes the state public utilities commission seup rules requiring installation of valves that can automatically close during a pipeline rupture. >> bett days ahead for california's economy. the report says a revived housing market and november's ballot measure allowing budgets to be passed with a silarel majority could make the state mor

so pg&e trimming crews are good preventative maintenance, let's stay on. we see potential bombs with trees and power lines, you should get pg&e a caller reported for the storm hits. this weird lights stay on. in severance is go, stanley roberts kron 4 >> news> this year is going to see lots of fresh power with this new storm. at rob joins us live from blue canyon and it's already stop in there. hi rob. >>, i've been coming up tutto a lot of years, while i have seen so i can remember seeing so much snow this early. about a foot in half of snow right here at blue canyon at about 5,000 ft.. were here along interstate 80, these are day-trippers' all travelers headed back west berlin lyric rather throw we found sugar bowl ski resort that's one of the first resort to come to. let's take a look of the snow there we were not they have out base at zero hundred and 13 in. of snow. it is true to 5 in. last night, 35 tonight to. they have had 60 in. of snow since last thursday's. the most anyone could remember a long time. it told me that 3200 people on the slopes toda

aboard a ship on the third installment that reunites old friends and enemies as they embark on a journey. rated "pg." >> do you mean ravishing? >> grab him. >> one kiss turns johnny depp's life upside down. the tourist is an average guy in europe, but when a woman sets her sights on him, angelina joely is involved in a experience and uses depp as a pawn after her. rated pg 13. mark wahlberg takes a beating inside and the ring in the fighter. christian bale and amy adams lost hopes on the way to a championship title. the fighter is rated "r." >> strange bed fellows. >> ruffle brand does shakespeare. the adaptation of the final masterpiece is held with julie pay more. she casts in the role of prospera. they control the inhabit ants of a magical island. rated pg 13. that's the box office preview, nbc news. >>> it's beginning to look more like christmas. they flip the switch on the holiday lights at kaiser center last night. it is the second year at that site. the effect made possible by the uptown district association. much more ahead today in the bay. here's what's coming up. real estate rip offs and

. >> open fire department says the investigation into this event one by pg&e, the other by the city building department. and meantime donna myles who lives right there is wondering whether she and her great grandchild can move back into that house. as far as mr. spencer, a relative out here this morning tells me he is not doing well. last listed in critical condition. live in oakland terry mcsweeney, action 7 news. >> terry thanks very much. tonight peninsula assemblyman jerry hill plans to talk about a pipeline safety bill he's introducing being held in san bruno. it's the first forum since the pg&e explosion and fire that killed eight and destroyed 37 homes in september. his' measure increases oversight on pipeline safety including the way utilities spend money. it makes the state public utilities commission set up rules requiring installation of valves that can automatically close during a pipeline rupture. >> better days ahead for california's economy. the report says a revived housing market and november's ballot measure allowing budgets to be passed with a similarel majority could make

police protestors and pg&e. one bay area community taking action into their own hands. >> it feels like shock and awe when they come in with eight trucks. >> the extreme lengths some people went to, to keep smartmeters out of their homes. ,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,, >>> good morning. windy for your morning commute and black ice on the roads. i'll tell you what roads are affected coming up. >>> will a foreign group be allowed to design build and maintain part of the new doyle drive in san francisco? that's the subject of a hearing today. an alameda county judge temporarily blocked the deal last week. the "chronicle" reports caltrans thinks it could save millions of dollars with the public-private partnership. but the state's legislative analyst says it would be more expensive. >>> in just a few minutes, a major dui crackdown begins if the east bay. officers in alameda county will serve more than 800 dui warrants. the effort involves eight law enforcement agencies and gets under way at 6:30. >>> efforts are being increased to

and she got the blanket i took it from her, we ran and put it on top of him put pathing him out. >> and pg&e says a gas leak inside of the house fueled the explosion. >> and legislative forum on the pipeline explosion in san bruno is just getting underway. it's the first held by state lawmakers since the explosion and fire that killed eight people at z.destroyed 37 homes in september. the peninsula assemblyman is announcing a bill increasing oversite on safety and the way you it tilts spend ratepayer money. and there is is a long time santa claus is not feeling jolly tonight. he was fired for telling a joke. but jant may be saying ho, ho, hos in another, more welcoming place. >> reporter: interest this story is something out of miracle on 34th street. as everyone knows santa has a lot of helpers all over the world so he can hear as many of the childrens christmas wishes as possible. well, the jant here at this macy's was fired saturday for apparently offended not children, but an adult couple. >> they came and sat on my knee. i said have you been good this year? oh, yes. santa. i said that

words, if we get some of these folks to do the energy of it, they figure out where they can save on their pg&e bill and other energy costs the hope to reduce their costs. what we're trying to do it is in sent them to develop -- incent them to do that. >> the problem is that the low hanging fruit is easy to get. if there is no cost to energy efficiency, that is fine. but a lot of things that will have to be implemented will cost money to do and will need funding from various sources to get that done. the bigger things -- if i go to one of my owners and say, "you have to replace his compressor now, and the compressor is going to be $20,000 to replace, but is quick to say this over the next few years," where are they going to get the $20,000? this gives them sources' where they can get funding. but a time frame of five years is more realistic to finance that. supervisor chiu: thank you. >> jim lazarus, san francisco chamber of commerce. we participated on behalf of our members in this process over a period of many months. i would urge you to vote the ordinance out as submitted to the committee

this week she plans on meeting with pg&e and regulatory authorities to discuss the process of inspections to make sure that pg&e is following the law when it comes to inspections. in san bruno, kimberly terry nbc bay area news. >> back to the weather and monte francis, he is in san francisco with more on the rain and wind-related problems throughout the bay area today and tonight. hello, monte. >> reporter: good evening, dianne. it's not raining right now. caused quite a few problems earlier in the day, at least right now 1,800 pg&e customers are without power across the bay area. >> an evening downpour in downtown san francisco caught a few people off guard but judging by the empty streets it seems that many people decided to spend the stormy weekend inside enjoying the comfort and dryness of their own homes. >> we need rain, too. a few days of rain is fine, it's good. it's okay. >> i don't really like it too much because i don't know i just don't like getting wet all of the time. >> reporter: for some the wet weather was more than just a nuisance. in the north bay, a falling tree knocke

the first one as pg&e to reduce the maximum allowable operating pressure on each pipeline in high consequence area by 20 percent. especially pipelines install before january 1, 1962. examine the is integrity of the pipelines through hydrostatic pressure test, a camera, x-ray machines, and a camera called smart pig. pg&e must have authorization before repressor arising any pipelines. some residents say the safety measures are win or lose situations. especially for those who were not affected by the explosion. >> if they have to reduce the pressure on the lines it will increase them in another area. it will be another community that will have the same problem we had. it's great they have to do that. there is a need for gas. >> meeting was and regulators next week to discuss these recommendations. as well as the need to do a thorough inspection spirit ridgy kumar kron 4 news. >> of vigil last night for this young man 17 year-old justice was stabbed to death wednesday near the intersection of cedar and perch in the work. jonathan blum attended. >> thank you for giving us this opportunity to come

on that list. >> reporter: it happened more than a decade ago. the real erin brockovich came here and won a $333 million settlement against pg&e for ground water contaminationf dozens of hinckley residents. now brockovich is back. what did you think when you were here 10 years ago, 20 years ago? >> 20 years ago? don't tell me, please. >> reporter: that you would be back here again dealing with this? >> no, no. it's groundhog day. >> reporter: brockovich is back in hinckley because the environmental nightmare that originally brought her here is also back. >> i shamefully say that i thought the plume was being managed and controlled and there was superior oversight by agencies and it doesn't appear that that happened. >> reporter: the plume is an underground sea of toxic hexavalent chromium, or chromium iv, used in the 1950s and '60s at this pg&e natural gas compression plant to prevent results. the compound, known to cause health problems, leaked from containment ponds and began showing up in the ground water in private wells of hinckley residents many of whom attended a special meeting at the elementary school. >> i think that i personally was poisoned by t

pg&e contends those meters are close to 100% accurate. hey, if you have a consumer problem, we would love to help, 1-888-5-helps-u. on the consumerwatch, julie watts, cbs 5. >>> $2.5 million, that's how much pg&e has agreed to pay for causing two bay area wildfires. in august of 2007, the stevens fire torched about 150 acres near the reservoir in santa clara county. about a year before that blaze, the hopper creek fire broke out in napa county burning nearly 400 acres. state lawsuits claimed power lines and electrical transmissions conductors belonging to pg&e were responsible for both fires. >>> a bit of bay area history coming down brick by brick. >> cement by cement? >> why demolition of the transbay terminal is going to take so long. >> history made on the state's highest court. why today's swearing-in was a first for california. >>> and a young woman gets in a beef with her mechanic and not about the job that was done, oh, it's over the junking of her whole car. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, terminal is in full swing. that swing -- is from a wrecking ball. don knapp shows us the day-one destructio >>> demolition is in fu

pg. reese witherspoon play's least that, an athlete whose pastor prime and patti know? she needs george played by paul rudd who has his own problems. >> i will soon run out of money and on the target of a fast federal investigation. >> also stars of when wilson and jack nicholson is rated pg-13. >> full speed ahead bobo. and >> the character yogi bear's back on the big screen with the three movie featuring live-action and animation. jealous some part is losing money so you will be and mobil joined forces with rangers mets to save their home. it features the voices of dan aykroyd in jest and timber like. it's rated pg. checking on the golden gate bridge, a look at the rate on the camera lens the headlights' are southbound into the toll plaza at traffic moving well. stay with us. honey...? [ mom ] yes. honey, i can't find my internet cord. oh, i'll borrow hailey's. you're downloading movies. fast! from here? where is her cord?! we switched to at&t high speed internet and got wireless access. no more cords. wireless, okay, honestly, can i just get a cord, please? dad, the cord's invisible. [ female announcer ] for a limited time, call to get high speed internet for just $1

however, having a buildup of local nobles and efficiencies is one the best hedges against market risk, against the battling pg&e on market price. a couple years ago, some of us advocates pointed out, we need to do a few hundred thousands of work -- a few hundred thousand dollars of work, but we need to do some preparatory work first. i would strongly urge lafco to put that on the next agenda. we need to start that works so that we can get ahead of the game with pg&e, and not be in the situation that we were a couple meetings ago. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. any other public comment? seeing none, public comment is closed. i do not believe we have any action items before us. commissioner campos? supervisor campos: i am wondering with respect to item 2, if we could excuse commissioner avalos who had to be at an event in his district. i just wanted to make sure that we could make that happen. supervisor campos: not a problem. motion from supervisor campos, seconded by supervisor schmeltzer. any action on these particular items? i do not think there is. we will continue these items to the call of the chair. n

on where prices were. it could be more than $200 million, the amount that san francisco would need to guarantee to pg&e. marin has been looking into this because it matters very much to their program. as they have been mentioning at the cpuc, there is really no market for such performance guarantees. one of the perverse outcomes of this rule and mechanism, we are fighting against it, we could foresee there could be conditions where the existence of this bond requirement could be the reason alone that daa cc could terminate. how we intend to structure our program, we do not have exposure to fluctuations in the marketplace, but the mechanisms to cap to the bond amount is based on current prices are. if prices escalate rapidly, the bond amount would escalate rapidly, but there is a disconnect on how likely the cca needs to put their customers back to pg&e. that is a fight that we are taking at the cpuc. lastly, there is an unfair settlement between what are called cogeneration operators, firms that combined heat and power to generate electricity. there is a summit between those entities and utilities, negot

pressure on each pipeline in high areas by 20%, especially for pipelines installed before january 1, 1963 sixty two. second, for them to examine the pipelines through tests, cameras and a robot. lastly, pg&e must haves thization before repressurizing pipelines. some residents say these safety measures are a win or lose situations. >> if they have to reduce the pressure on the line they are going to reduce -- increase them in another area and another community that will have the same problem that we have. it's great they have to do that but there is a need for gas. >> reporter: jackie spear is meeting with federal regulators next week to discuss the recommendations as well as the need to do thorough pipeline inspections. reggie kumar, kron 4 news. >>> music, reading and a lot of good will. a bay area teacher is putting his talents to use to help get books for students in his district. just ahead, how the online superstore amazon is >>> tonight's headlines, wikileaks founder george anderson is free on -- george george -- officials will decide if he will be extradited. he is undercrouteny for releasing cables online. the bush era tax cuts passed the house. the $858 billion tax compromise w