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posted by takyon on Monday January 07 2019, @06:43AM   Printer-friendly
from the fire-sale dept.

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.

Also at NPR and Bloomberg.


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  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Monday January 07 2019, @01:22PM (2 children)

    by VLM (445) on Monday January 07 2019, @01:22PM (#783151)

    Not disagreeing with any of that, but I'd also throw the regulators on the pyre, as its the sole purpose of their jobs to ensure this stuff gets done correctly.

    PGE is, or was, a hyper regulated public utility, not some kind of unregulated hipster food truck or robber baron railroad from 150 years ago.

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Monday January 07 2019, @03:15PM (1 child)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 07 2019, @03:15PM (#783198) Journal
    I wonder if Northern California would have power, if PGE was exactly regulated per law? For me, a warning sign of hyperregulation is that the business in question can't function at all, if regulation were fully enforced. Regulators have to look the other way on a regular basis. Or perhaps the enforcement of regulation wasn't as important to California as the passing of regulation?
    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @07:45PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 07 2019, @07:45PM (#783322)

      If it wasn't for their gas lines (which they had a spate of blow up here in Sacramento a few years back..) Sacramento County would be SMUD only. And you know what? We like it that way. SMUD has managed to keep electricity prices down compared to the nearby PG&E counties for DECADES.

      They may be on the decline now, but given PG&E's questionable maintenance of their gas lines here, I am not sure if anyone really wants them handling their electricity either. Maybe with the current financial circumstances it will be time to politically revisit the requirement to have gas lines plumbed to your house. Eliminating those and moving to solar would make a huge difference for a lot of people in the region, bills-wise.