PG&E focuses on core business to climb out of bankruptcy

When things are going wrong for a company, it makes sense to focus on what you do best...that's exactly the strategy Pacific Gas & Electric is taking to get out of bankruptcy:

The state's largest utility is on the rebound with a focus on its core business — providing power at regulated rates in Northern and Central California — while trying to bolster its financial health, improve service and secure enough electricity for customers.

A lack of power supplies in 2000 and 2001 helped trigger the energy crisis "and drove both us and [Southern California] Edison to financial distress, drove us completely to our knees," Peter A. Darbee, the new chief executive of the company's San Francisco-based parent, PG&E Corp., said Friday at an investor conference in New York.

It was "a situation we don't want to revisit and are committed to ensuring never happens again," Darbee said in his first appearance before analysts and investors since being named CEO in December.

That's similar to the legacy air carriers who are now focusing on the long-haul and international markets where they face less competition from low-cost carriers.