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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday January 30 2019, @02:41PM   Printer-friendly
from the using-larger-fonts dept.

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

PG&E files for bankruptcy. Here's why that could mean bigger electricity bills

PG&E Corp., which owns California's largest electric utility, filed for bankruptcy protection Tuesday in anticipation of huge legal claims, starting an unpredictable process that could take years to resolve and is likely to result in higher energy bills for the millions of Californians who depend on Pacific Gas & Electric for power.

PG&E said a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, which allows the company to continue operating while it comes up with a plan to pay its debts, was the only way to deal with billions of dollars in potential liabilities from a series of deadly wildfires, many of which were sparked by the company's power grid infrastructure.

"Through this process, we will prioritize what matters most to our customers and the communities we serve — safety and reliability," interim Chief Executive John R. Simon said in a statement. "We believe that this process will make sure that we have sufficient liquidity to serve our customers and support our operations and obligations."

Energy experts say PG&E's rates probably will increase when the utility emerges from Chapter 11 protection because bankruptcy inevitably makes it more expensive for a company to borrow money and creates large legal and other bankruptcy-related costs. The utility passes such expenses along to its customers.

"It's almost impossible to see a way out of this that doesn't have some short-term cost increases," Ralph Cavanagh, co-director of the energy program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a recent interview.


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 30 2019, @04:38PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 30 2019, @04:38PM (#794109)

    Agreed. The shareholders of a publicly traded company have no say in what happened. They are victims, not villains. The ones responsible are those that decided to break safety code laws.

    The question is to what extent are safety code violations responsible and to what extent can this be a cause of lighting strikes and natural disasters outside of their control. I haven't really dug into it but has anyone else read into it?

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  • (Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday January 30 2019, @06:32PM

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Wednesday January 30 2019, @06:32PM (#794168) Journal

    The question is to what extent are safety code violations responsible and to what extent can this be a cause of lighting strikes and natural disasters outside of their control. I haven't really dug into it but has anyone else read into it?

    These are the fire codes in question. Can't say I'm familiar with them at all, though. [ca.gov]