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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: 1) by khallow on Monday January 07 2019, @02:49PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Monday January 07 2019, @02:49PM (#783190) Journal

    From an investor's standpoint, their stock is a fantastic example of how even stodgy old utility stocks aren't foolproof.

    PG&E was a bad bet from 2000 on due to the California electricity crisis (for which it almost went bankrupt) and has huge pension liabilities. Even the wildfire angle isn't new, they had the same problems in previous years. Anyone still invested hasn't been paying attention for a long while.

    That's the thing about stodgy stocks, they're not foolproof, but you can see the end coming a long ways off.