The Latest: PG&E chief pledges to improve communications

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Latest on Northern California power outages (all times local):

7:15 p.m.

California’s largest utility pledged Thursday to improve communications. But it said the difficult decision to pre-emptively cut off power last week could have prevented catastrophic wildfires.

Pacific Gas & Electric CEO Bill Johnson said in letter to state regulators that one area that needs significant improvement is communication with customers.

The utility is under fire for the way it handled the shutoffs starting Oct. 9 to more than 2 million people throughout northern and central California. Its website crashed frequently, leaving customers unable to find critical information.

Johnson and other top executives are expected at an emergency meeting Friday called by the California Public Utilities Commission.

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3:50 p.m.

The California Senate will investigate a California utility’s process for cutting off power to more than 2 million people to prevent wildfires.

In a memo to the Senate Democratic Caucus on Thursday, Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins asked the Senate Energy, Utilities, and Communications Committee to “begin investigating and reviewing what happened and take immediate corrective actions.”

Atkins said an oversight hearing will be scheduled in the next few weeks.

Last week, dry conditions and dangerous winds prompted PG&E to cut power to more than 700,000 customers to prevent its equipment from sparking wildfires.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and other leaders said the outage lasted too long. Newsom has urged the utility to give rebates to affected customers and businesses.