Dive Brief:

• PG&E Corp. reported second quarter income of $402 million, or 83 cents per share, compared with $267 million in the same period last year.
• Operating earnings for the second quarter rose more than $100 million, largely because of the utility's 2014 general rate case.
• The earnings are a marked turnaround from the first quarter, when the company reported net income of $31 million after it was hit with a $1.6 billion fine related to the 2010 San Bruno explosion.

Dive Insight:

PG&E's earnings rose significantly, but the company still cut guidance on uncertainty regarding the timing of its 2015 gas transmission rate case. But the irony there is that the utility's 2014 generate rate case was largely behind its stronger operational earnings.

Second quarter earnings from operations were $442 million, or 91 cents per share, up from $324 million a year ago.

"The largest factor contributing to this quarter-over-quarter increase was the timing of the final decision in the 2014 General Rate Case (GRC), which was received in the third quarter last year," the utility said in a statement. Rate base growth from the case also contributed, though it was offset by "lower cost recovery due to the timing of the company's pending Gas Transmission rate case."

A final decision will likely not come until next year, the utility said.

"In light of the revised schedule," the utility updated its 2015 non-GAAP earnings estimate to $2.90 to $3.10 per share, compared with the previous range of $3.50 to $3.70 per share.

Company officials said the utility is continuing to work on simplifying rates and modernizing its grid..

"We're committed to ongoing investment and innovation to meet the needs of our customers and to help California achieve its clean energy, environmental and economic goals," President and CEO Tony Earley said in a statement. "During the quarter, we delivered strong operational performance and took steps to mitigate the impact of California's drought and wildfires on our operations this summer. On the regulatory front, we saw progress toward simplifying rate structures and we filed our longer-term plans for continued grid modernization to meet our customers' evolving needs to integrate solar, utilize storage and adopt other innovations."

Earlier this year PG&E opted not contest the record fine associated with the San Bruno explosion, a $1.6 billion cost that hit earnings significantly. In the first quarter the company's results included $584 million for items "management does not consider part of normal, ongoing operations," chief among them the fines. The utility reported first quarter net income of $31 million, or 6 cents per share, compared with $227 million the year before.