SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific Gas & Electric said Monday it will plead guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the 2018 fire in Northern California that killed 84 people and decimated three towns. The utility said in a statement it will also admit to a single count...
PG&E Reaches Bankruptcy Deal With Newsom
SACRAMENTO — Pacific Gas & Electric and Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a deal Friday for the nation's largest utility to emerge from bankruptcy triggered by massive liabilities from wildfires. The governor’s office announced that PG&E agreed to overhaul its board and operations, and in addition it agreed to a process...
PG&E's $23B Bankruptcy Financing Package Approved by Court
BERKELEY — Pacific Gas & Electric on Monday won court approval to raise $23 billion to help pay its bills over destructive California wildfires after Gov. Gavin Newsom dropped his opposition to a financing package designed to help the nation's largest utility get out of bankruptcy. The milestone reached during...
PG&E Won't Disconnect Late Payers During Coronavirus Crisis
PG&E customers who are behind on their power and gas bills won't have their service disconnected because of nonpayment, the company said Friday. The decision is in reaction to the  COVID-19 pandemic, PG&E said. Applies to Residential, Business Customers This suspension of disconnections will apply to residential and commercial customers and...
Wildfire Victims Fear They'll Be the Last Ones Paid by PG&E
SAN FRANCISCO — A $13.5 billion settlement between victims of California's catastrophic wildfires and the utility blamed for causing them was supposed to bring some peace and hope to people still reeling from the devastation. Instead, the deal has sparked confusion, resentment, suspicion and despair as the victims, government agencies,...
PG&E CEO Assures Utility's Safety Issues Are Being Fixed
SAN FRANCISCO — PG&E Corp. CEO Bill Johnson blamed negligence by the company's past management for a cascade of catastrophes that killed nearly 140 people as he tried to persuade California regulators Tuesday that he is steering the utility to make safety its top priority. Johnson, who was brought in...
What's 2nd Worst Thing That Can Happen on Valentine's Day?
A PG&E official has come up with a one-liner worthy perhaps of Chris Rock ahead of Valentine's Day on Friday. "What's the single worst thing that can happen on Valentine's Day? Getting dumped," says Walt Posey, the company's director of electric operations safety. Listen to this article: "But a close...
Victims: PG&E Still Has Rickety Power Line Near Paradise
SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific Gas & Electric is still operating a rickety power line near the one that ignited a 2018 wildfire that wiped out the Northern California city of Paradise and killed 85 people, according to an expert inspection conducted as part of a legal claim. In an inspection...
Walters: Is PG&E Seizure a Real Threat or a Bluff?
Scott Wiener must be a glutton for punishment. Just last week, the Democratic state senator from San Francisco failed, after repeated attempts and many revisions, to win Senate approval of his ambitious bill to force local communities to accept more multi-family housing. Four days later, Wiener took on another, equally...
PG&E Clears Another Bankruptcy Hurdle With Debt Refinancing
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge on Tuesday approved a settlement that moves Pacific Gas & Electric closer to getting out of bankruptcy, but the troubled utility still must navigate nettlesome obstacles being put up by the state of California. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali signed off on a deal...