PG&E says Dixie Fire will cost $1.15 billion – and is being probed by federal officials
PG&E Corp. says the Dixie Fire will cost the utility at least $1.15 billion — and has triggered a federal investigation.
Already under investigation by Cal Fire in connection with the second-largest wildfire in the state’s history, PG&E said in a regulatory filing Monday that it has received a subpoena by the U.S. attorney’s office in Sacramento over its potential role in the mega-fire. The Dixie Fire burned 963,309 acres over a three-month span and destroyed much of the small Plumas County community of Greenville.
The disclosure to the Securities and Exchange Commission comes as other legal woes pile up on California’s largest utility. The Shasta County district attorney has filed criminal charges over last year’s Zogg Fire, which killed four people in a rural area west of Redding. PG&E also is under indictment in connection with the 2019 Kincade Fire, which prompted evacuations in Sonoma County.
The company has previously disclosed that civil damages from the Kincade Fire could reach $600 million or more. Now PG&E is saying that damages from the Dixie Fire could hit at least $1.15 billion, and that figure is in “the lower end of the range” of PG&E’s calculations, according to the SEC filing.
The fire destroyed 1,329 homes and other buildings across the northern Sierra.
A string of major wildfires, capped by the lethal Camp Fire in late 2018, drove PG&E into bankruptcy in 2019. The company emerged from bankruptcy a year later, agreeing to pay $13.5 billion in damages to wildfire victims across Northern California. Under pressure from Gov. Gavin Newsom, the company also overhauled its leadership and operational structure, but has struggled to improve its wildfire safety record despite spending billions on enhanced tree-trimming programs and other measures.
Although no definitive finding has been made, Cal Fire believes the Dixie Fire was ignited by a tree falling on PG&E power equipment near the Cresta Dam in the Feather River Canyon. Two weeks after the fire started, PG&E heightened the settings on circuit breakers in fire-prone areas, a move that led to automatic blackouts when tree limbs or animals came into contact with power lines. The company said the program, if it had been in effect earlier, probably would have prevented the Dixie Fire.
But after more than 500 unplanned blackouts and an outcry from customers, the company has begun dialing back the settings somewhat to reduce the scope and duration of the outages. PG&E says the circuit breaker settings will be returned completely to normal after the fire season is deemed over.
Last week the head of the Public Utilities Commission scolded the company for the way it implemented the program, saying it should have communicated better with customers.
This story was originally published November 2, 2021 at 8:28 AM.