The California Public Utilities Commission assessed its largest ever penalty, telling PG&E to pay $1.937 billion over the utility’s role in 2017 and 2018 wildfires.
Last summer CPUC opened a formal investigation into PG&E’s maintenance, operations, and practices of the electric facilities involved in igniting Northern California wildfires in October 2017 and November 2018, including the Camp Fire.
In March, PG&E agreed to plead guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter for its role in causing the Camp Fire and pay approximately $4 million in fines.
CPUC explained that the penalty imposed on Thursday consists of $1.823 billion in disallowances for wildfire-related expenditures — $198 million more than the original settlement agreement — as well as $114 million in system enhancement initiatives and corrective actions. The vote was unanimous, according to the Bay Area News Group.
Regulators said that corrective actions include:
“As we work to harden the system and mitigate public safety power shutoffs, I was pleased to see the inclusion of a request for information in the settlement intended to identify non-diesel generators capable of meeting a range of use cases, including planned outages and temporary microgrids,” said CPUC Commissioner Genevieve Shiroma.
For that shareholder-funded system enhancement initiative, PG&E said it will work to identify non-diesel generators that could meet use cases including planned outages, unplanned outages, and temporary microgrids for public safety power shutoff events. If the request for information identifies a solution that’s ready for deployment, the utility said it will commit commercialization funds of up to $10 million to acquire the product or products.
But the utility still has a way to go in hardening its system. Greentech Media reported that, as of March 31, the PG&E had only completed 32% of its planned tree trimming and removal, and had installed just 16% of the grid-sectionalizing devices needed to localize and minimize power outages.
Michael Wara, head of Stanford University’s Climate and Energy Policy Program and a member of the governor’s Wildfires Blue Ribbon Commission, told the news outlet that an extraordinarily mild winter is increasing fire risks.
“Last fire season was a pretty light fire season, and it had a very late start,” he said. “We’re now headed into a fire season that’s likely to be much more severe, and with an earlier start.”
On Thursday, PG&E urged customers in high fire threat areas to make sure the utility has their contact information so that they can reach out ahead of a public safety power shutoff.
