Northern California utility finds latest CEO in Michigan

SAN RAMON, Calif. (AP) — Embattled Northern California utility PG&E Corp. has lured away the top executive at Michigan's largest power provider to steer its effort to restore a reputation tarnished by years of neglectful conduct that culminated in a series of deadly wildfires.

Patricia “Patti" Poppe will leave her job as CEO of CMS Energy Corp. to take the same position at PG&E effective Jan. 4. Her hiring, announced Wednesday, comes nearly five months after the San Francisco company emerged from one of the most complex bankruptcy cases in U.S. history, an ordeal triggered by the death and destruction in wildfires ignited by PG&E's fraying electrical grid.

She will replace interim CEO Bill Smith, who filled the void after Bill Johnson stepped down from the job just 14 months after PG&E hired him amid promises that better days were ahead for the nation's largest utility.

PG&E still faces the daunting task of trying to upgrade its electrical equipment at an estimated cost of $40 billion while also trying to avoid causing more wildfires during hot and windy weather conditions by deliberately turning off the power for extended stretches in parts of a service territory that includes Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Northern California wine territory and Yosemite.

Poppe, 52, will confront the challenge after having helped CMS Energy improve its safety record since become that company's CEO in 2016. But she will be tackling a much bigger job now, given that PG&E provides service to about 16 million people while CMS services about 7 million people.

“She's the perfect fit," PG&E Chairman Robert Flexon said Wednesday during a conference call with reporters. Investors signaled they liked the pick by driving PG&E stock price up nearly 9% Wednesday to its highest level since the company ended...