SAN FRANCISCO: Public utility Pacific Gas & Electric is aggressively courting the media after an electrical transformer exploded in downtown San Francisco.

On August 19, an underground transformer exploded in the city's financial district, throwing a manhole cover 30 feet into the air, buckling the sidewalk, and shattering windows at a nearby shopping center. The explosion also started a small fire, and sent one woman to the hospital.

Initial concern was that the explosion was a terrorist attack. But fear turned to ...