PG&E; Bonuses Protested

Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which is operating under Bankruptcy Court protection, said it paid $57.4 million in bonuses Friday to about 6,500 nonunion employees, drawing protests from a consumer advocacy group.

The San Francisco-based utility, a subsidiary of PG&E; Corp., paid the bonuses to most of its nonunion employees -- from executives to clerical workers -- for meeting 2002 performance goals, including financial and operations objectives, spokesman Ron Low said.

The utility posted 2002 operating earnings of $797 million on operating revenue of $10.51 billion, compared with operating earnings of $914 million on operating revenue of $10.46 billion in 2001.

The utility paid $64 million in bonuses last year to nonunion employees for meeting 2001 goals.

Pacific Gas & Electric’s 13,000 union employees do not receive annual incentive bonuses but instead get annual pay raises under negotiated contracts, Low said.

The Utility Reform Network, a San Francisco consumer group, said managers should not be rewarded for a year marked by storm-related power outages as well as a slowdown in progress toward resolving the bankruptcy case, filed in April 2001.