Pacific Gas & Electric Company will be penalized $45 million for its role in one of the largest and most destructive wildfires in California history under a settlement recently reached between the utility and state regulators.
The Dixie Fire, which burned nearly 1 million acres and destroyed more than 1,300 homes, ignited on July 13, 2021, after a Douglas fir tree fell and struck energized conductors owned and operated by PG&E. The fire became the first known wildfire to burn across the Sierra Nevada.
The California Public Utilities Commission announced the settlement Thursday and said the fine includes $40 million in shareholder funding for an initiative to transition some of the utility's paper records to electronic records.
The initiative “will support public safety by enabling more accurate recording of information and immediate knowledge of the condition of PG&E assets, thereby improving the timeliness of inspections and preventive maintenance, and assisting the CPUC in conducting future audits and investigations,” the regulatory agency said. .
PG&E will also pay $2.5 million in fines to the California General Fund and $2.5 million to tribes affected by the Dixie Fire. PG&E will distribute those payments to the Greenville Rancheria and Maidu Summit Consortium, a nonprofit organization that represents several Mountain Maidu tribes and organizations, the CPUC said.
Flames from the Dixie Fire crest a forested hill
(Noah Berger/Associated Press)
The agreement was reached under a relatively new enforcement tool known as an administrative consent order, which was established in 2020 to “better serve Californians through streamlined enforcement actions” rather than a more formal investigation, according to the CPUC.
In its own report submitted to the agency shortly after the Dixie Fire began, PG&E said a worker responded to a power outage in the Feather River Canyon area of Plumas County around 7 a.m. that day, but did not He was not able to reach the site until after 4:30 pm. Once there, he found two blown fuses and a tree leaning on a power line conductor. A fire burned at the base of the tree that soon got out of control.
PG&E officials said Thursday that the utility accepts that a tree that fell on its power line caused the fire, but denies any fault or negligence.
“PG&E believes we are acting as a prudent operator. There is no evidence that PG&E knowingly and willfully ignored a known risk regarding the ignition of the Dixie Fire. “We follow the requirements of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) when inspecting, maintaining and operating our system,” reads a statement from the agency.
“We share our regulators' commitment to improving safety,” the statement said.
The utility said it will not seek rate recovery for settlement expenses, meaning the costs will not impact customers. However, “the settlement does not preclude PG&E from receiving fire-related cost recovery, including from the State Wildfire Fund.”
In this long exposure photo, embers illuminate the hillsides as the Dixie Fire burns near Milford in Lassen County, California, on August 17, 2021.
(Noah Berger/Associated Press)
This is not the first time PG&E has been blamed for its connection to a wildfire in California. In recent years, the power company reached a $150 million settlement with the CPUC for its role in the Zogg fire, which killed four people, and a $125 million settlement for its role in the Kincade of 2019, among other agreements.
In 2019, PG&E filed for bankruptcy to protect itself from tens of billions of dollars in potential liabilities due to its role in previous state fires. It emerged from bankruptcy in 2020 with officials promising improvements, including plans to bury 10,000 miles of power lines in high-risk areas where high winds, downed trees and other factors can spark fires. Only about 600 miles have been buried so far, officials told the Times in November.
Last year, PG&E avoided criminal prosecution for the Dixie Fire as part of a separate settlement agreement with six Northern California counties in which it did not admit any wrongdoing. The utility agreed to pay about $55 million over five years in civil penalties, among other conditions.
The CPUC's five-member committee approved the settlement agreement at a meeting Thursday. Commission Chair Alice Busching Reynolds noted that “this is not the only action taken by us or other government agencies regarding the fire. “
“Taken as a whole, and viewed in light of broader circumstances, I support this negotiated settlement agreement and its related resolution,” he said.
Busching Reynolds said PG&E has since instituted a power line safety program to detect problems on distribution lines, such as downed trees, which then de-energizes them. Unfortunately, he said, “this program was not in place to prevent the Dixie Fire.”
The fire, which was contained on Oct. 21, 2021, cost the state $637 million to extinguish, CPUC officials said. It was the second largest wildfire on record in the state.
