PG&E CEO Darbee sees ‘09 compensation rise nearly 9 percent to $9.4 million, AP says

Top PG&E executive gets $9.4M in 2009 compensation

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The top executive of energy company PG&E received total compensation of $9.4 million in 2009, an increase of nearly 9 percent, according to Associated Press calculations of data filed with regulators on Monday.

Peter Darbee, PG&E’s chairman, president and CEO, received a salary of $1.1 million in 2009, a 4 percent increase from 2008, and a performance-based bonus of nearly $1.9 million, an increase of 46 percent from 2008, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The bulk of his compensation was in stock awards totaling $6.3 million for 2009, a 2 percent increase from 2008.

For the first time, the incentive plans for PG&E executives included their performance on an environmental leadership index that measures, among other things, how successful they were in getting the company to reduce its energy and water usage and cut the waste that goes to landfills.

PG&E, based in San Francisco, is the parent of Pacific Gas and Electric Co., which provides natural gas and electric service to approximately 15 million people in northern and central California and is one of the largest power companies in the U.S.

For the year, PG&E had net income of $1.2 billion, or $3.20 a share, compared with net income of $1.34 billion, or $3.63 a share, in 2008. Revenue fell to $13.4 billion from $14.6 billion.

The Associated Press compensation formula is designed to isolate the value the company’s board placed on the executive’s total compensation package during the last fiscal year. It includes salary, bonus, performance-related bonuses, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year.

The calculations don’t include changes in the present value of pension benefits, and they sometimes differ from the totals companies list in the summary compensation table of proxy statements filed with the SEC, which reflect the size of the accounting charge taken for the executive’s compensation in the previous fiscal year.