November 3, 2024
PG&E penalized $45 million in Dixie hearth settlement with CPUC
Pacific Fuel & Electrical Firm will likely be penalized $45 million for its involvement in one of many largest and most damaging wildfires in California historical past below a settlement reached lately between the utility and state regulators.

The Dixie hearth, which burned practically 1 million acres and destroyed greater than 1,300 properties, ignited July 13, 2021, after a Douglas fir tree fell and struck energized conductors owned and operated by PG&E. The blaze turned the primary recognized wildfire to burn from one aspect of the Sierra Nevada to the opposite.

The California Public Utilities Fee introduced the settlement Thursday and mentioned the penalty contains $40 million in shareholder funding for an initiative to transition a number of the utility’s hard-copy information to digital information.

The initiative “will help public security by enabling extra correct recording of knowledge and speedy consciousness of the situation of PG&E’s belongings, thereby enhancing the timeliness of inspections and preventive upkeep, and aiding the CPUC in conducting future audits and investigations,” the regulatory company mentioned.

PG&E will even pay $2.5 million in fines to the California Common Fund and $2.5 million to tribes affected by the Dixie hearth. PG&E will distribute these funds to the Greenville Rancheria and Maidu Summit Consortium, a nonprofit representing quite a few Mountain Maidu tribes and organizations, the CPUC mentioned.

Flames from the Dixie hearth crest a forested hill

(Noah Berger / Related Press)

The settlement was reached below a comparatively new enforcement software often known as an administrative consent order, which was established in 2020 to “higher serve Californians by streamlined enforcement actions” in lieu of a extra formal investigation, in line with the CPUC.

In its personal report submitted to the company quickly after the Dixie hearth began, PG&E mentioned a employee responded to an outage within the Feather River Canyon space of Plumas County round 7 a.m. that day, however that he was not capable of attain the location till after 4:30 p.m. As soon as there, he discovered discovered two blown fuses and a tree leaning into an influence line conductor. A fireplace was burning on the base of the tree, which quickly grew uncontrolled.

PG&E officers on Thursday mentioned the utility accepts {that a} tree falling onto their energy line brought about the fireplace, however it denies any fault or negligence.

“PG&E believes we acted as a prudent operator. There is no such thing as a proof that PG&E consciously and willfully disregarded a recognized danger with regard to the ignition of the Dixie hearth. We adopted the California Public Utilities Fee (CPUC) necessities when inspecting, sustaining and working our system,” learn an announcement from the company.

“We share our regulators’ dedication to enhance security,” the assertion mentioned.

The utility mentioned it is not going to request fee restoration for the settlement bills — that means the prices is not going to have an effect on prospects. Nonetheless, “the settlement doesn’t preclude PG&E from receiving value restoration for prices associated to the fireplace, together with from the state’s Wildfire Fund.”

In this long exposure photo, embers light up hillsides as the Dixie fire burns near Milford.

On this lengthy publicity picture, embers gentle up hillsides because the Dixie hearth burns close to Milford in Lassen County, Calif., on Aug. 17, 2021.

(Noah Berger / Related Press)

It isn’t the primary time PG&E has been held accountable for its connection to a California wildfire. In recent times, the electrical firm reached a $150-million settlement with the CPUC for its position within the Zogg hearth, which killed 4 individuals, and a $125-million settlement for its position within the 2019 Kincade hearth, amongst different agreements.

In 2019, PG&E filed for chapter safety to defend itself from tens of billions of {dollars} in potential liabilities as a result of its position in earlier state blazes. It emerged from chapter in 2020 with officers promising enhancements, together with plans to bury 10,000 miles of energy traces in high-risk areas the place robust winds, downed timber and different components can result in fires. Solely about 600 miles have been buried to date, officers informed The Occasions in November.

Final 12 months, PG&E averted legal prosecution for the Dixie hearth as a part of a separate settlement settlement with six Northern California counties by which it admitted no wrongdoing. The utility agreed to pay about $55 million over 5 years in civil penalties, amongst different phrases.

The CPUC’s five-member committee accepted the settlement settlement in a gathering Thursday. Fee President Alice Busching Reynolds famous that “it’s not the one motion taken by us or by different authorities companies with respect to the fireplace. “

“When taken as an entire, and seen in gentle of the broader circumstances, I do help this negotiated settlement settlement and its associated decision,” she mentioned.

Busching Reynolds mentioned PG&E has since instituted an influence line security program to detect issues on distribution traces — comparable to fallen timber — which then de-energizes the traces. Sadly, she mentioned, “this program was not in place to stop the Dixie hearth.”

The hearth, which was contained on Oct. 21, 2021, value the state $637 million to suppress, CPUC officers mentioned. It was the second-largest wildfire on document within the state.