Government Energy Policy, Business and Technology

PG&E Bankruptcy Drives Plans for Catastrophe Fund to Cover Wildfire Costs

GreenTech Media: Pacific Gas & Electric’s wildfire liability-driven bankruptcy reorganization has been playing out in the political arena this week. The utility’s plan for a new CEO and a revamped board of directors has come under fire from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers, who say it favors the interests of PG&E investors over its customers, state clean energy policies, and most importantly, improving wildfire safety.

But despite the fractious and challenging politics, California will likely need to undertake significant legal and regulatory reforms to solve the problem that brought PG&E to insolvency, and could threaten the state’s other investor-owned utilities — reducing their exposure to covering the costs of California’s increasingly frequent and devastating wildfires.

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