PG&E bankruptcy could mean price hikes, unpaid fire lawsuits While the filing wouldn't make the lawsuits against PG&E disappear, it would consolidate them into a single proceeding before a bankruptcy judge, not a jury. That could buy the company time and prevent excessive jury verdicts. Bankruptcy also makes it easier for a company to take out new loans and sell off assets. (Manufacturing)
Who could benefit when biggest utility falls apart? Two major players on the California utility scene could benefit from a PG&E breakup or selloff while keeping customers supplied with the energy they need. Those are investor Warren Buffett’s Oregon-based PacifiCorp, owned by Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway investment firm, and San Diego-based Sempra Energy, parent of both the Southern California Gas Co. and San Diego Gas & Electric Co. (Orange County Register)
Erin Brockovich urges California to stop PG&E bankruptcy Consumer activist Erin Brockovich, who famously took on Pacific Gas & Electric Co. in the 1990s, urged California lawmakers Tuesday not to let the utility go bankrupt because it could mean less money for wildfire victims. “I’m mad. I think we should all be mad,” Brockovich said as she stood outside the Capitol in Sacramento alongside people who lost their homes to destructive fires. (TRIB LIVE)
PG&E secures $5.5B in credit, braces for anticipated 2-year bankruptcy PG&E has secured $5.5 billion in credit as it braces for a bankruptcy process that the embattled California utility believes will last two years. The company, California's largest utility, is facing at least $30 billion in liabilities related to wildfires in 2017 and 2018. (CNBC)
Cost of California wildfire proposals? $150 billion in year one, says PG&E PG&E Corp. estimates it would cost as much as $150 billion this year alone to comply with a federal judge’s proposal to prevent wildfires. California’s largest investor-owned utility said U.S. District Judge William Alsup’s plan for it to trim branches and inspect and repair thousands of miles of power lines would cost about five times as much as PG&E’s forecast liabilities for wildfires that scorched the state in 2017 and 2018 and would have to be funded by ratepayers. (Fortune)