PG&E 2015 Annual Report Download - page 68

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PART II
ITEM 7.MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
to dier materially from those expressed or implied by
the forward-looking statements, or from historical results,
include, but are not limited to:
đ the timing and outcomes of the 2015 GT&S rate case,
the 2017 GRC, the TO rate cases, and other ratemaking
and regulatory proceedings;
đ the timing and outcomes of the federal criminal
prosecution of the Utility, the pending CPUC investigation
of the Utility’s natural gas distribution record-keeping
practices, the SED’s unresolved enforcement matters
relating to the Utility’s compliance with natural gas-related
laws and regulations, and the other investigations that
have been or may be commenced relating to the Utility’s
compliance with natural gas-related laws and regulations,
and the ultimate amount of fines, penalties, and remedial
costs that the Utility may incur in connection with the
outcomes;
đ the timing and outcome of the CPUC’s investigation of
communications between the Utility and the CPUC that
may have violated the CPUC’s rules regarding ex parte
communications or are otherwise alleged to be improper,
whether additional criminal or regulatory investigations
or enforcement actions are commenced with respect
to allegedly improper communications, and whether
such matters negatively aect the final decisions to be
issued in the 2015 GT&S rate case or other ratemaking
proceedings;
đ whether PG&E Corporation and the Utility are able to
repair the harm to their reputations caused by the criminal
prosecution of the Utility, the state and federal investigations
of natural gas incidents, matters relating to the indicted
case, improper communications between the CPUC
and the Utility; and the Utility’s ongoing work to remove
encroachments from transmission pipeline rights-of-way;
đ whether the Utility can control its costs within the
authorized levels of spending, the extent to which the
Utility incurs unrecoverable costs that are higher than the
forecasts of such costs, and changes in cost forecasts
or the scope and timing of planned work resulting from
changes in customer demand for electricity and natural
gas or other reasons;
đ the amount and timing of additional common stock
and debt issuances by PG&E Corporation, including
the dilutive impact of common stock issuances to fund
PG&E Corporation’s equity contributions to the Utility
as the Utility incurs charges and costs, including fines,
that it cannot recover through rates;
đ the outcome of the CPUC’s investigation into the Utility’s
safety culture, and future legislative or regulatory actions
that may be taken to require the Utility to separate its
electric and natural gas businesses, restructure into
separate entities, undertake some other corporate
restructuring, or implement corporate governance
changes;
đ the outcomes of future investigations or other
enforcement proceedings that may be commenced
relating to the Utility’s compliance with laws, rules,
regulations, or orders applicable to its operations,
including the construction, expansion or replacement of
its electric and gas facilities; inspection and maintenance
practices, customer billing and privacy, and physical and
cyber security;
đ the impact of environmental remediation laws, regulations,
and orders; the ultimate amount of costs incurred to
discharge the Utility’s known and unknown remediation
obligations; and the extent to which the Utility is able
to recover environmental costs in rates or from other
sources;
đ the ultimate amount of unrecoverable environmental costs
the Utility incurs associated with the Utility’s natural gas
compressor station site located near Hinkley, California;
đ the impact of new legislation or NRC regulations,
recommendations, policies, decisions, or orders relating to
the nuclear industry, including operations, seismic design,
security, safety, relicensing, the storage of spent nuclear
fuel, decommissioning, cooling water intake, or other
issues; the impact of actions taken by state agencies,
including the California State Water Resources Board
and the California State Lands Commission, that may
aect the Utility’s ability to continue operating Diablo
Canyon; and whether the Utility decides to resume its
pursuit to renew the two Diablo Canyon NRC operating
licenses, and if so, whether the licenses are renewed;
đ the impact of droughts or other weather-related
conditions or events, wildfires (such as the Butte fire),
climate change, natural disasters, acts of terrorism, war, or
vandalism (including cyber-attacks), and other events, that
can cause unplanned outages, reduce generating output,
disrupt the Utility’s service to customers, or damage or
disrupt the facilities, operations, or information technology
and systems owned by the Utility, its customers, or third
parties on which the Utility relies; whether the Utility
incurs liability to third parties for property damage or
personal injury caused by such events; and whether the
Utility is subject to civil, criminal, or regulatory penalties
in connection with such events;
đ how the CPUC and the CARB implement state
environmental laws relating to GHG, renewable energy
targets, energy eciency standards, distributed energy
resources, electric vehicles, and similar matters, including
whether the Utility is able to continue recovering
associated compliance costs, such as the cost of emission
allowances and osets under cap-and-trade regulations,
and whether the Utility is able to timely recover its
associated investment costs;
đ whether the Utility’s climate change adaptation strategies
are successful;
đ the impact that reductions in customer demand for
electricity and natural gas have on the Utility’s ability
to make and recover its investments through rates and
earn its authorized return on equity, and whether the
Utility’s business strategy to address the impact of
growing distributed and renewable generation resources
and changing customer demand for natural gas and
electric services is successful;
đ the supply and price of electricity, natural gas, and
nuclear fuel; the extent to which the Utility can manage
and respond to the volatility of energy commodity