For years, Gov. Jerry Brown defended Michael Peevey, the embattled president of the California Public Utilities Commission.

The commission, which regulates California’s massive energy and telecommunications industries, had come under scrutiny for back-channel communications with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. following a gas line explosion that killed eight people in San Bruno in 2010.

Brown was unwavering, telling the the San Jose Mercury News as recently as August that Peevey was “a very effective leader” who “tries to do the right thing.”

“He gets things done,” Brown said. “He’s promoted renewable energy in a way that I don’t know that anybody else could have.”

But on Thursday, as critics held a news conference in San Francisco to demand his ouster, Peevey said he will not seek reappointment when his term expires at the end of the year, extricating Brown from an increasingly difficult position.

Peevey’s announcement came after revelations this week that he privately told a PG&E executive in 2010 that he expected the utility to spend at least $1 million opposing a ballot measure seeking to undo provisions of Assembly Bill 32, California’s landmark greenhouse gas reduction law.

Peevey also told the official that he expected PG&E and other companies to contribute $100,000 each for a celebration the PUC was hosting for its 100th anniversary, according to an email written by the former PG&E vice president, Brian Cherry.

The emails were released by PG&E on the same day the company announced it had been notified by the U.S. attorney’s office in San Francisco that it has begun an investigation into private communications with the PUC.
Peevey, a former president of Southern California Edison Co., has long-standing ties to Brown and Democratic politics in California. The husband of Democratic state Sen. Carol Liu, Peevey was first appointed to the commission in 2002 by then-Gov. Gray Davis, Brown’s chief of staff when he was governor before. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Peevey to another six-year term in 2008.

Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group that has been critical of Peevey, said earlier this week that “the problem with the governor (Brown) is that he’s tremendously loyal to people who are dirtbags, and Peevey is a dirtbag and always has been.”

Peevey said in a prepared statement Thursday that he planned to announce his exit at a regular commission meeting next week “but instead I am moving the announcement to today to state that I will not seek reappointment to the CPUC when my term expires at the end of this year.”

“Twelve years as president is enough,” he said.

http://www.sacbee.com/2014/10/09/6773218/michael-peeveys-announced-exit.html#mi_rss=Latest%20News

“Rebuild the PUC” is the next step:

http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/CPUC-head-Michael-Peevey-to-step-down-5812009.php