“Jake from State Farm?” “Nope, Jake from PG&E.” That’s often how introductions go when meeting strangers at my kids’ school or picking up lunch near our headquarters in Oakland. They almost always make a joke about Jake from State Farm, but then pretty quickly want to know what I do at PG&E.  I usually say, “Well, PG&E wants to be a good neighbor, too,” and that’s my job as Vice President of the Bay Area Region."

If I could gauge the reaction from strangers as a barometer of how PG&E is doing with our customers, I’d say we’ve come a long way in the past few years but have more work to do. 

Rebuilding trust

In the wake of affordability and electric reliability challenges, my team and I are committed to rebuilding customer trust. We have a dedicated Regional Service Model team who live and work in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo or San Francisco counties. That’s the Bay Area Region. We are here to improve awareness of the issues impacting you and your loved ones, problem-solve those issues and ultimately deliver better outcomes.

For example, recently a customer in Castro Valley was initially hesitant about us relocating their gas service because it would impact their newly paved driveway. Another customer in San Leandro initially didn’t want us to move their gas service from under the house. In both cases, we were able to work with our gas operations team, who created alternative plans that were just as safe and made everyone happy.

As we deliver those outcomes, it gives us an opportunity to tell our story of progress and rebuild trust, often one customer at a time.

Reducing impacts of power outages

When I stepped into this role last February, the strongest winter storm to hit the region in several years caused power outages for over 300,000 of our Bay Area Region customers. I was so impressed with how all of our teams worked together across departments to respond safely and deliver for our customers during such a challenging time. The Regional Service Model and our focus on emergency preparedness and planning allowed us to resolve individual customer issues, communicate effectively, and make the necessary repairs to restore power safely.  Their hard work and dedication were truly inspiring to see in action.

My team and I are listening and speaking to customers every single day — from San Carlos to Fremont to Pittsburg — sometimes in the same day. I’ve gained insights into reliability challenges across the Bay and these conversations have created lasting impacts. 

Before and after presenting at city council meetings in Danville and Pleasanton, I heard directly from elected officials and their constituents about their reliability concerns, and it’s been eye-opening. It’s given me a deeper understanding of the specific needs in these pockets across the Bay Area that will help us sharpen our focus on reducing the impacts of power outages in our 2025 workplans.

We’re part of your community

There is so much diversity across the Bay Region, it’s clear to me that we need to think differently about how we serve our communities. Oakland has different needs than San Francisco. Half Moon Bay is a world apart from Discovery Bay. It’s important for us to understand the unique needs and nuances of our customers across our service territory.

Being born and raised in California and having lived in our vibrant and diverse Bay Area region for the last 25 years continues to inspire me every day. It's an honor to play my small part in supporting my coworkers and our customers, whom I’m proud to call my friends, neighbors and loved ones.

If you live or work in Contra Costa, Alameda, San Francisco or San Mateo Counties and would like to give me your thoughts about how we’re doing, please reach out to my team at BayAreaRegion@pge.com and follow me on LinkedIn.