PG&E to Pay $125 Million Over California Wine Country Fire

(Bloomberg) -- PG&E Corp. has reached a settlement agreement with California regulators over the 2019 Kincade Fire north of San Francisco, which state investigators say was sparked by a unused power line the utility should have removed. 

Under the proposed settlement, PG&E would spend $85 million removing all or portions of 70 power lines that are no longer energized. The utility would not be able to recover those costs from customers, according to a filing Tuesday. PG&E would also pay $40 million to the state’s general fund.

PG&E reported the proposed settlement the same day that investigators with the California Public Utilities Commission released their report on the fire, which destroyed 374 buildings and injured four people. The investigation found that PG&E had left energized a power line that it no longer needed, and that a jumper cable on the line was not properly anchored, allowing it to sway in the wind. The jumper cable broke during strong winds, sparking the blaze.

California fire investigators had already blamed the jumper cable for starting the fire, which broke out Oct. 23, 2019, and eventually became the largest in the state that year. The Sonoma County district attorney filed criminal charges against PG&E in April over the fire.  

The CPUC is expected to vote Dec. 2 whether to approve the agreement. PG&E, in an emailed statement, said that it disagreed with investigators’ allegations that the company had violated safety rules but believed the settlement “will assist in allowing all parties to move forward from the fire.”

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