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California utility company PG&E Corp is exploring filing some or all of its business for bankruptcy protection as it faces billions of dollars in liabilities related to fatal wildfires in 2018 and 2017, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The company is considering the move as a contingency, in part because it could soon take a significant financial charge for the fourth quarter of 2018 related to liabilities from the blazes, the sources said.
A bankruptcy filing is not certain, the sources said. The company could receive financial help through legislation that would let it pass on to customers costs associated with fire liabilities, the sources said. But that is just a possibility, they said, so bankruptcy preparations are being made.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Magic Oddball on Monday January 07 2019, @10:34PM
The catastrophic October 2017 NorCal fires hit a part of the state that isn't densely forested by a longshot, and IIRC the Malibu region hit in 2018 was similarly non-forested. All but one of the investigations of the 2017 fires has finished with the conclusion that PG&E was responsible [sfgate.com]; the investigation into the 2018 fires so far appears to be heading in the same direction [sfgate.com]. So it's inaccurate to say that it's just as likely that PG&E wasn't at fault, especially if you throw in that negligence of their major gas lines had resulted in explosions that burned down a neighborhood in 2010 and a sheriff's gun range in 2015 [sfgate.com].