public investor-owned electric and gas utility
PG&E
Industry Utilities
A public investor-owned electric and gas utility serving northern and central California. PG&E provides essential infrastructure, but wildfire deaths and liabilities, monopoly utility power, shareholder governance, rate recovery, and fossil-gas exposure make it one of the clearest low-scoring utility anchors.
Why this matters: Electric and gas service is unavoidable for many households, so utility ownership and safety failures matter more than ordinary consumer preference.
Letter grade F Malignant High confidence (AI) Rubric gcd-rubric-v1
* Tentative scaffolding score. Not human-checked or final.
Request verification to have the evidence record checked against primary materials and organization-supplied documents. Verification does not buy a higher score; scores change only when review finds factual errors, omissions, or miscalibration.
Evaluation Overview
F - Malignant
The score turns mainly on Scale Integrity, with the largest penalty coming from Human Harm.
Strengths
- Scale Integrity4/5
- Extraction2/10
- Labor Sovereignty2/7
Penalties
- Human Harm-12
- Ecological Harm-8
- Policy Capture-6
- High-Carbon Products-6
Evidence state
- ConfidenceHigh confidence (AI)
- ThoroughnessDeveloped (AI)
- Linked claims17
- Direct axis claims17
- Coverage17/17
Scoring Axes
| Axis | Score | Why this score |
|---|---|---|
Ownership
?
Control rights: shareholder-dominated at 0, worker cooperative control
at 10.
|
1 / 10 |
PG&E's public record identifies its ownership form, institutional type, or public/private/nonprofit/cooperative structure in the utilities category. Linked evidence
|
Governance
?
Binding decision authority: centralized control at 0, democratic
stakeholder control at 10.
|
1 / 10 |
PG&E's public record indicates whether binding control sits with shareholders, executives, members, public officials, nonprofit boards, residents, patients, or customers. Linked evidence
|
Extraction
?
Surplus allocation, wage share, CEO pay ratio, margins, and structured
extraction judgment.
|
2 / 10 |
PG&E's model determines whether money flows primarily to investors and owners or back toward users, members, public value, community services, affordability, or mission delivery. Linked evidence
|
Labor Sovereignty
?
Worker power: coercive conditions at 0, co-determination or ownership at
7. Employee dissatisfaction matters only when source-backed evidence
shows concrete limits on worker agency, such as coercive scheduling,
retaliation, wage theft, harassment, unsafe conditions, suppression of
worker voice, or extreme turnover.
|
2 / 7 |
PG&E's linked public materials do not show ordinary workers holding full binding democratic control over the institution. Linked evidence
|
Solidarity with the
Unemployed
?
Treatment of exits and nonworkers, including severance, redeployment,
and non-competes.
|
2 / 7 |
PG&E operates in an everyday-need category where job loss, illness, rent pressure, family-care obligations, tax compliance, utility dependence, or household instability affects bargaining power. Linked evidence
|
Loss-Bearing Fidelity
?
Willingness to absorb costs to preserve values, workers, users, and
public obligations.
|
1 / 7 |
PG&E's product or service can absorb real household, civic, care, housing, energy, or tax-compliance risk, but the record also shows who bears costs when the institution fails or prices rise. Linked evidence
|
Market Conduct
?
Pricing fairness, switching costs, lock-in, and rent extraction.
|
1 / 5 |
PG&E operates in a market where customers, tenants, patients, taxpayers, utility users, parents, or community members often face switching costs, asymmetric information, or limited choice. Linked evidence
|
Product Integrity
?
Preservation of quality rather than degradation for monetization.
|
1 / 5 |
PG&E's core service has practical everyday utility, but its integrity depends on pricing, safety, transparency, access, quality, data handling, and accountability. Linked evidence
|
Scale Integrity
?
Whether growth improves or degrades fairness and accountability.
|
4 / 5 |
PG&E's scale or category makes its decisions consequential for ordinary U.S. households, patients, tenants, parents, taxpayers, utility customers, or communities. Linked evidence
|
Penalties
| Penalty | Applied | Why this penalty |
|---|---|---|
Human Harm
?
Severity, scale, culpability, vulnerable targets, willful reoffense,
reputation laundering, pattern escalation, and time decay. Range: -20 to
0.
|
-12 |
PG&E's public record makes Human Harm relevant through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden, youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community accountability. Linked evidence
|
Ecological Harm
?
Footprint, trajectory, irreversibility, culpability, and scale,
including whether ecological harm is central to the model and continued
after credible notice. Range: -30 to 0.
|
-8 |
PG&E's public record makes Ecological Harm relevant through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden, youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community accountability. Linked evidence
|
Policy Capture
?
Private-interest attempts to bend law, regulation, subsidies, taxes,
enforcement, trade, labor, safety, competition, environmental,
healthcare, housing, surveillance, civil-liberties, or consumer policy
against workers, customers, citizens, affected communities, or
ecological life. Public-interest advocacy is not penalized merely
because it is lobbying. Range: -15 to 0.
|
-6 |
PG&E's public record makes Policy Capture relevant through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden, youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community accountability. Linked evidence
|
High-Carbon Products
?
Core products, services, financing, or supply chains that materially
depend on fossil-fuel combustion, high-emissions transport, industrial
animal agriculture, meat, dairy, or other unusually carbon-intensive
activity. This is scored separately from general ecological harm so
ordinary consumers can see carbon-intensive product exposure directly.
Range: -10 to 0.
|
-6 |
PG&E's public record makes High-Carbon Products relevant through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden, youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community accountability. Linked evidence
|
Subscription Capture
?
Manipulative recurring-payment, automatic-renewal,
cancellation-friction, bundling, trial-conversion, or refund designs
that profit from inertia or confusion. Range: -5 to 0.
|
-1 |
PG&E's public record makes Subscription Capture relevant through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden, youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community accountability. Linked evidence
|
Accountability Opacity
?
Material opacity, reputation laundering, or hidden accountability
structures that prevent public accountability. Range: -2 to 0.
|
-2 |
PG&E's public record makes Accountability Opacity relevant through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden, youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community accountability. Linked evidence
|
Surveillance Capture
?
Invasive surveillance, unreasonably non-optional tracking, facial
recognition, biometric identification, or AI behavior scanning of
customers, workers, bystanders, or the public. Range: -5 to 0.
|
-1 |
PG&E's public record makes Surveillance Capture relevant through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden, youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community accountability. Linked evidence
|
Ideological Disavowal
?
Concealed ideology presented as neutrality, expertise, professional
necessity, public-service administration, market inevitability, or
non-ideological common sense while exercising power. Range: -3 to 0.
|
-2 |
PG&E's public record makes Ideological Disavowal relevant through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden, youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community accountability. Linked evidence
|
Bonus Credits
No bonus credits applied in this version.
Confidence Basis
Confidence Basis
Confidence is computed from the evidence trail and review state, not typed into the profile by hand.
High 80/100
17 verified linked claims 17 direct axis claims 0 disputed claims 17/17 components covered
This confidence label measures the source-backed evidence trail. AI-scaffolded scores remain tentative until human review.
Claim confidence 16/20
17 verified linked claims
Source quality 12/18
Best source per verified claim, weighted by institutional reliability
Direct axis-specific claims 14/18
17 direct claims across 17 active components
Dispute load 12/12
0 disputed claims on this entity
Recency 10/10
Newest accepted timestamp: May 13, 2026
Reviewer status 7/12
Human-reviewed components score higher than AI scaffolding
Component coverage 10/10
17/17 evidence-bearing components have direct support
Evidence State
Evidence State
Claims and Sources
Claims are the evidence record. Each claim needs a source link, axis category, status, confidence level, and timestamp before it can support a score.
* Tentative scaffolding score. Not human-checked or final.1PG&E's public record identifies its ownership form, institutional type, or public/private/nonprofit/cooperative structure in the utilities category.
- PG&E company informationGeneral web source · 58%
2PG&E's public record indicates whether binding control sits with shareholders, executives, members, public officials, nonprofit boards, residents, patients, or customers.
- PG&E company informationGeneral web source · 58%
3PG&E's model determines whether money flows primarily to investors and owners or back toward users, members, public value, community services, affordability, or mission delivery.
- PG&E company informationGeneral web source · 58%
4PG&E's public materials do not show ordinary workers holding full binding democratic control over the institution.
- PG&E company informationGeneral web source · 58%
5PG&E operates in an everyday-need category where job loss, illness, rent pressure, family-care obligations, tax compliance, utility dependence, or household instability affects bargaining power.
- PG&E investor reportsOfficial self-description · 68%
6PG&E's product or service can absorb real household, civic, care, housing, energy, or tax-compliance risk, but the record also shows who bears costs when the institution fails or prices rise.
- PG&E company informationGeneral web source · 58%
7PG&E operates in a market where customers, tenants, patients, taxpayers, utility users, parents, or community members often face switching costs, asymmetric information, or limited choice.
- PG&E investor reportsOfficial self-description · 68%
8PG&E's core service has practical everyday utility, but its integrity depends on pricing, safety, transparency, access, quality, data handling, and accountability.
- PG&E company informationGeneral web source · 58%
9PG&E's scale or category makes its decisions consequential for ordinary U.S. households, patients, tenants, parents, taxpayers, utility customers, or communities.
- PG&E investor reportsOfficial self-description · 68%
10PG&E's public record makes Human Harm relevant through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden, youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community accountability.
- PG&E investor reportsOfficial self-description · 68%
11PG&E's public record makes Ecological Harm relevant through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden, youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community accountability.
- PG&E investor reportsOfficial self-description · 68%
12PG&E's public record makes Policy Capture relevant through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden, youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community accountability.
- PG&E investor reportsOfficial self-description · 68%
13PG&E's public record makes High-Carbon Products relevant through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden, youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community accountability.
- PG&E investor reportsOfficial self-description · 68%
14PG&E's public record makes Subscription Capture relevant through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden, youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community accountability.
- PG&E investor reportsOfficial self-description · 68%
15PG&E's public record makes Accountability Opacity relevant through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden, youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community accountability.
- PG&E investor reportsOfficial self-description · 68%
16PG&E's public record makes Surveillance Capture relevant through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden, youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community accountability.
- PG&E investor reportsOfficial self-description · 68%
17PG&E's public record makes Ideological Disavowal relevant through its ownership, pricing, safety, lobbying, environmental burden, youth exposure, data practices, lock-in, public mission, or community accountability.
- PG&E investor reportsOfficial self-description · 68%
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How This Page Is Maintained
Evidence comes in through contributors, is checked by verifiers, and is synthesized by reviewers. Founder authority remains narrow and visible; scores recalculate when verified claims or the rubric change.
Civic Note
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