PG&E agrees to $45M penalty to settle action over 2021 Dixie wildfire

Paul Godfrey
·3 min read
UPI
Massive smoke plumes billow from the Dixie fire above the Plumas National Forest, seen from Oroville, California, 70 miles away from the fire on Thursday, July 22, 2021. PG&E agreed Thursday to pay $45 million in fines and remediation for its failings in the state's second-largest-ever wildfire. File Photo by Peter DaSilva/UPI

Jan. 26 (UPI) -- PG&E has agreed to pay a $45 million penalty to settle an action brought by California's public utilities regulator for its part in the Dixie Fire in 2021, which burned through five counties in the north of the state and took three months to extinguish.

Most of the money, $40 million, will go to digitizing the company's inspection and service records with the aim of boosting "the timeliness of inspections and preventive maintenance," the California Public Utilities Commission said Thursday in a news release.

The remaining $5 million comprises $2.5 million in fines destined to go into the general state budget and $2.5 million for tribal communities affected by the fire that broke out when PG&E power lines in Plumas County were struck by a falling tree in July 2021.

The deal was agreed after an investigation by the agency's Safety and Enforcement Division found violations and issued an Administrative Consent Order requiring PG&E foot the bill to correct the issues and ensure failings are not repeated.

PG&E said in a statement that it was "committed to making it right and making it safe for our customers and hometowns" and had already settled claims by the affected counties and many individuals and families.

However, the company remained unapologetic insisting it had adhered to CPUC's inspection, maintenance and operating regime and that there was no proof it "consciously and willfully disregarded a known risk with regard to the ignition of the Dixie Fire."

Dixie, the second largest fire in the state's history, razed more than 1,300 buildings and homes and burned through almost a million acres in Butte, Plumas, Lassen, Shasta and Tehama counties, according to the California Forestry and Fire Protection Department.

In June 2022, PG&E pleaded not guilty to four involuntary manslaughter charges from the Zogg fire in Shasta County in 2020 with the CPUC in May ordering it to pay a $155 million penalty for its involvement. It paid another $45 million to settle with the county with the money going to help rebuild communities devastated by the fire.

The company also faced a federal criminal probe for the alleged part its equipment played in the Mosquito Fire in 2022 and legal action by at least two counties affected by it.

It paid $125 million penalty for the Kincade Fire in 2019 and another $106 million penalty for violating guidelines during Public Safety Power Shutoff events in 2019.

Those led the company to file for bankruptcy in 2019.

PG&E subsequently pleaded guilty in 2020 to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter related to the 2018 Camp Fire.

PG&E has consistently stated that money to cover penalties is taken from shareholder funds in line with state rules that prohibit utilities from passing on the costs to customers.