PG&E; Replaces Chief Financial Officer

PG&E; Corp. hired former investment banker Peter Darbee as chief financial officer and treasurer as it tries to control expansion costs and boost its lagging stock price. Darbee, 46, was co-head of Goldman Sachs Group’s energy and telecommunications group, before working in CFO positions at SBC Communications Inc.’s Pacific Bell and most recently at Advanced Fibre Communications Inc. He replaces Michael Rescoe, 46, who joined PG&E; two years ago but is leaving to pursue other opportunities, the company said. Analysts said San Francisco-based PG&E; needs the experience of an investment banker to control the cost of financing an expansion that began several years ago, when deregulation threatened to end its monopoly on electricity sales in Northern California, analysts said. PG&E;’s shares closed down 6 cents at $27.75 on the NYSE.