In PG&E's world in context of this comment thread. Dividends are any payout amount that was not captured in the regulatory framework. Salary is a captured expense. Bonuses are paid from a pool when a surplus is created, or rather a profit is made, or more bluntly when dividends are earned.

Legally, you're correct. PG&E has been operating counter to those rules for a while.

http://investor.pgecorp.com/news-events/press-releases/press...

https://www.kqed.org/news/11737336/judge-pge-paid-out-stock-...