Cal Fire’s official investigation isn’t over, but Pacific Gas and Electric has concluded that it was at least partly to blame for the Camp Fire in Butte County in November, which killed 86 people. In a financial filing yesterday, PG&E laid out the evidence from the transmission tower where the fire began, and the financial consequences…
The company believes it is probable that its equipment will be determined to be an ignition point of the 2018 Camp Fire…
On November 14, 2018, the company observed a broken C-hook attached to the separated suspension insulator that had connected the suspension insulator to a tower arm, along with wear at the connection point. In addition, a flash mark was observed on Tower :27/222 near where the transposition jumper was suspended and damage to the transposition jumper and suspension insulator was identified…
Based on these facts, the company is including a $10.5 billion pre-tax charge related to third-party claims in connection with the 2018 Camp Fire in its full-year and fourth-quarter 2018 financial results…
The company has taken a total of $14.0 billion in pre-tax charges related to the 2018 Camp Fire and the 2017 Northern California wildfires to date, which reflects the lower end of the range of estimated losses the company faces from such wildfires. The charges represent a portion of the previously announced estimate of potential wildfire liabilities, which could exceed more than $30 billion.
The bottom line: PG&E’s management and auditors believe there is “substantial doubt” about its and its parent corporation’s “ability to continue as going concerns”.
The disclosures come a day after a story appeared in the Wall Street Journal that reported PG&E knew about problems on that particular transmission line, but delayed fixing them for several years.
If indeed there is evidence that PG&E was negligent, or even simply made poor choices, the company faces a triple whammy. It’ll be blood in the water for the predatory bar, which no doubt expects to get the shark’s share of $30 billion plus, and it’s sure to test, if not break completely, the patience of the federal judge who is supervising PG&E probation, which stems from an earlier criminal conviction for deadly safety lapses.
And then there’s the ongoing bankruptcy proceeding, which PG&E hopes will keep it in the electric and gas business in northern California. The more money that goes toward civil damages and criminal penalties though, the less there will be to keep the lights and heat on. That’s not just a problem for PG&E – increasingly, it’s looking like a problem that the California legislature will have to solve.