PG&E; to Trim 3,000 Jobs in Restructuring : Utilities: The San Francisco firm says cuts will be over three years. Savings will be passed on to consumers in the form of lower rates.

Pacific Gas & Electric Co., the San Francisco-based electric utility, announced a companywide restructuring Monday that will trim 3,000 jobs, or about 11% of its work force.

The company said the cost savings from the changes--estimated at $200 million a year by 1995--will be passed on to PG&E; customers in the form of lower rates, the company said.

The reorganization eliminates PG&E;’s engineering and construction unit and changes other units to focus on customer services. The staff reductions will take place over three years and will be paid for by the savings reaped during that period. PG&E; plans no charge against its earnings because of the cutbacks.

“The entire changing nature of the work . . . will have to be reflected in the workplace,” said Stanley T. Skinner, PG&E; president and chief operating officer. Skinner said the move was prompted by broad industry changes and the continuing recession in California.

Residential and commercial building in PG&E;’s service territory is “substantially below historical levels,” Skinner said.

Also, in recent years, state and federal laws have required electric utilities to meet their additional power needs through energy conservation and purchasing power from independent producers instead of building new power plants.

As a result, utilities are facing increased competition from these same independent producers for the utilities’ key industrial and commercial customers. Since 1980, PG&E; has lost an estimated $300 million to $400 million in power contracts from its industrial customers alone.

“The basic philosophy of the business in recent years is not ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ It’s to fix it, fix it, fix it,” said Mark D. Luftig, senior utility analyst with Kemper Securities Inc.