Utility fined $25.6 million for recordkeeping violations.

• Position: REGULATORY ACTION - PG&E - Brief article

California regulators hit PG&E with a $25.6 million fine for many recordkeeping violations that resulted in the San Bruno natural gas explosion that killed eight people in 2010.

The state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) voted unanimously to punish the utility for failing to keep accurate records on its aging natural gas pipeline system, the East Bay Times reported.

In June, PUC Administrative Law Judge Maribeth Bushey noted that PG&E was guilty of widespread deficiencies in its recordkeeping.

"These inaccurate records were relied on for locating and marking underground facilities in anticipation of excavation," Bushey wrote in the proposed ruling. "The inaccurately mapped and consequently inaccurately marked facilities led to excavators damaging the distribution system in several instances."

Six incidents, from September 2010 to March 2014, prompted regulators to open a formal probe into PG&E's recordkeeping. Most of the incidents resulted in leaks and service interruptions. In one incident, natural gas leaked into an empty home that...