FRESNO, Calif., May 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- In honor of Cinco de Mayo this weekend, PG&E and its Latino Employee Resource Group (ERG) will celebrate with Hispanic communities by participating in several Cinco de Mayo festivals in Northern and Central California. The utility's volunteers will share important information on gas and electric safety, energy efficiency and financial assistance programs.
"Community Cinco de Mayo festivals provide the perfect venue for PG&E to reach our customers with information that helps them be safe and save on their energy bills," said Jesus Soto Jr., senior vice president of gas transmission operations at PG&E and one of the sponsoring officers for the utility's Latino ERG. "As community energy experts, we're excited to help Hispanic communities across Northern and Central California celebrate this important day and provide them with a wide variety of energy solutions."
PG&E volunteers will be available to answer questions and provide information about various PG&E programs at the Festival del Cinco de Mayo this weekend at Fulton Mall in Fresno and the Roseland Cinco de Mayo Festival this Sunday in Santa Rosa, and members of the utility's Latino ERG will host a Cinco de Mayo fundraiser in Sacramento to support its annual scholarship program.
PG&E has served and engaged with California's Hispanic communities for more than 100 years. They, in turn, have played a major role in determining how the utility delivers services to its customers.
To improve access for non-English speaking customers to safety information and the utility's programs, PG&E has a Spanish Customer Service Line (1.800.660.6789) and added a Spanish website (www.pge.com/espanol) in 2006. In addition, the utility posts a Facebook message in Spanish every Monday to share useful information on how to be safe, save energy and manage energy bills.
This direct outreach not only helps critical material reach members of the community, it also provides economic benefits to a range of Hispanic owned businesses and organizations. PG&E's total spending with Hispanic-owned business enterprises in 2012 reached an all-time high of $461 million, an increase of $51 million over 2011. PG&E recently announced that it achieved an all-time high of over $2 billion in spending with diverse suppliers in 2012, accounting for 38.8 percent of its total procurement spend.
At PG&E, more than 15 percent of employees have identified themselves as Hispanic or Latino. PG&E established its Latino Employee Resource Group (ERG) in 1983. With six chapters in San Francisco, San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Fresno, Sacramento and Stockton, the Latino ERG aims to enhance an inclusive culture within PG&E, offer career development to its members, provide community support and award scholarships to stellar students. More than 450 employees joined the group, which is open to all employees regardless of their ethnic background.
These efforts reflect PG&E's longstanding commitment to reach its diverse customers in the communities where they work and live. For information on PG&E's diversity and inclusion efforts and the company's supplier diversity program, visit www.pge.com/about/company/diversityinclusion/.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation's cleanest energy to 15 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/about/newsroom/ or www.pgecurrents.com.
SOURCE PG&E