Chairman, CEO and President Peter Darbee is expected to retire at the end of the month. He will leave with a $35 million retirement package.
"Going forward, we have to regain the confidence that in some cases we've lost over the past year from some of our customers, regulators and others," said Brian Hertzog, a spokesman for the parent company's utility division, PG&E Co. "Mr. Darbee thinks new leadership is the best way to do that."
PG&E says that Lee Cox will serve as interim chairman, and a new permanent chief will be announced in the weeks ahead.
Consumer advocates said Darbee's resignation was long overdue, and railed against a corporate structure that will direct some ratepayer money to pay for a portion of Darbee's pension.
Earlier this month, the company's chief operating officer and senior vice president of engineering and operations also announced they were resigning.
In the meantime, the NTSB has yet to determine a cause of the explosion that killed eight people and destroyed nearly forty homes in September. The blast ignited a fire that raged for an hour and 40 minutes and sent dozens of people to the hospital for burn treatment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
