PG and E Bankruptcy Will Affect Claims Against So Cal Edison

The bankruptcy of Pacific Gas and Electric is of direct consequence to Malibu fire victims.

Southern California Edison is by some indications just a few steps behind P G and E … the other major investor owned utility in califrnia.

P G and E last week refused to pay a 1.2 million dollars settlement it owes to a group of survivors of the 2015 Butte Fire in Calaveras County … according to the Sacramento Bee newspaper.

P G and E’s bankruptcy is shaping up as an ugly free-for-all that will hurt investors … wildfire victims … and ratepayers.

The California Public Utilities Commission… California legislature and the governor have a lit hand grenade int heir laps.

They are reviewing possible changes to the utility that include selling part of the company or turning it into a government-run operation.

The impact on Southern California Eidson has already begun.

Wall Street analysts have already cut Edison’s bond rating to junk bond status.

That means Edison will have to pay more money to borrow … at a time it faces 10 to 15 billion dollars in damages for the loss of life and property in Malibu … Ventura and Santa Barbara.

If PG and E does go bankrupt … its wildfire survivors will get something.

But the New York Times quotes experts who say it will not be 100 cents on the dollar.

And it will likely set a pattern for how the state and the courts handle Malibu … and Southern California Edison.

—

Meanwhile, another major fire on that horrible day in November has been traced to Southern California Edison power lines.

The Ventura County Star Power lines have been blamed for likely starting a brush fire in Newbury Park … hours before the Woolsey Fire broke out.

This was a comparatively small fire … called the Roadrunner Fire.

It broke out one hour before the Hill Fire … and 80 minutes before the Woolsey Fire.

But it diverted a significant number of Ventura County firefighters … in th eminutes before the two bigger fires broke out.

The Ventura County Star reports that a Cal Fire investigator determined the probable ignition source for the fire was an electrical malfunction in th epower lines,  an electrical malfunction in the power lines, according to a report released to The Star in response to a public records request.

——