"SAN FRANCISCO - Pacific Gas & Electric Corp must pay a record $1.6 billion in penalties stemming from a natural gas pipeline explosion in 2010 that killed eight people near San Francisco, California's chief utility regulator ordered on Thursday.

The penalty levied for the deadly rupture in San Bruno, California, marks the largest ever imposed by the five-member state Public Utilities Commission, dwarfing a $38 million fine against PG&E for a 2008 natural gas explosion near Sacramento, according to the agency.

Commission President Michael Picker said the order also ranks as one of the biggest utility sanctions in U.S. history."

Ann Saphir reports for Reuters April 9, 2015. [2]