SAN FRANCISCO--Pacific Gas and Electric Company announced today that it has been recognized with the Climate Action Champion Award by the California Climate Action Registry for demonstrating exemplary leadership in addressing climate change in California. PG&E joined the Registry as a charter member in 2002 to work with other stakeholders to address climate change issues.

"Working to preserve and improve the environment is one of PG&E's core values and the Registry has become a valuable forum for important discussion relating to climate change," said Gordon R. Smith, president and chief executive officer of Pacific Gas and Electric Company. "In 2003, our energy efficiency programs saved enough energy to power more than 80,000 homes and avoided nearly 300,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions."

Over the past three decades, these energy efficiency programs have also kept a cumulative total of approximately 50 million tons of carbon dioxide--the most common greenhouse gas--out of the atmosphere. PG&E is currently working with the Registry to inventory its greenhouse gas missions.

"Climate change is an important environmental issue in California," said Diane Wittenberg, president of the California Climate Action Registry. "With leadership from companies like PG&E in finding cleaner ways to operate, we can hope that future generations of Californians won't need to worry about climate change."

The California Climate Action Registry is a non-profit public/private partnership that serves as a voluntary greenhouse gas (GHG) registry to protect, encourage, and promote early actions to reduce GHG emissions. It was created to help entities measure their greenhouse gas emissions and establish baselines against which any future emissions reductions requirements may be applied. More than 40 major companies, cities, government agencies and NGO's measure and publicly report their GHG emissions through the Registry.

For additional safety tips and information about Pacific Gas and Electric Company, please visit our website at www.pge.com

Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E)

Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E)

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, incorporated in California in 1905, is one of the largest combination natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, the company is a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation. There are approximately 20,000 employees who carry out Pacific Gas and Electric Company's primary business—the transmission and delivery of energy. The company provides natural gas and electric service to approximately 15 million people throughout a 70,000-square-mile service area in northern and central California. Pacific Gas and Electric Company and other utilities in the state are regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission. The CPUC was created by the state Legislature in 1911. PG&E's Environmental Leadership Pacific Gas and Electric Company recognizes that the choices we make about the way we produce and deliver our products and serve our customers can have a direct impact on the environment. That is why we are committed to raising the bar on environmental stewardship—not only in the utility industry, but for U.S. industries, in general.

More from Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E)