DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
PG&E Corp.'s (PCG) second-quarter earnings rose 32% on
one-time gains as costs of producing electricity and natural gas
fell and results were just shy of Wall Street's average
expectations.
California has seen unemployment rates rise above the national
average while home-foreclosure rates are among the nation's
highest. The utility has worked to stem unpaid bills, including
helping customers with payment plans.
Profit rose to $388 million, or $1.02 a share, from $293
million, or 80 cents a share, a year earlier. The latest quarter
included a net 19 cents in tax- and divestiture-related gains.
Revenue fell 11% to $3.19 billion amid lower natural-gas
prices.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently were expecting
earnings, excluding items, of 84 cents a share on revenue of $3.51
billion.
Gross margin rose to 20.5% from 16.3% on slumping fuel
costs.
The parent of California utility Pacific Gas & Electric has
been looking for ways to boost development of renewable energy to
meet government mandates. In July, its Pacific Gas & Electric
unit signed a power purchase agreement with Sempra Energy's (SRE)
merchant-generation unit to take the power from a 48-megawatt solar
farm under development in Nevada. The project is expected to be
completed by 2011.
Shares of PG&E, which also reaffirmed its earnings forecasts
for 2009 through 2011, were inactive premarket. The stock is up
5.3% the past year.
-By Mike Barris, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2330;
mike.barris@dowjones.com;