NorCal Fire Victims Nearing End Of Rental Insurance, May Get Special Help From PGE
Written by 991KBU on May 2, 2019
California’s electric industry continues to be rocked by recent wildfires.
Up north … people are running out of insurance coverage for their rentals and have not yet finished their homes.
And the power company up there realizes … they have to pay for housing these people.
Pacific Gas and Electric is now asking to create a 105 million dollar fund to help fire victims with housing or other living expenses.
P G and E is on the hook because its power lines burned down Santa Rosa … Paradise and other cities.
Lawsuits over the blazes could take years to play out in court.
But the victims are running out of insurance now.
And one expert says the really horrific situation is in Butte County … where Camp Fire victims are living in tents and trailers.
Malibu residents burned out by the Woolsey Fire are now about one fourth into their rental coverage.
They also face the worry that clearance … permitting and construction will take nore than two years.
The northern California utility is now creating a fund to handle year three.
And to the south of us … San Diego Gas & Electric is now heading to the U S Supreme Court to get off the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in 2007 wildfire costs.
The San Diego power company is arguing that it is constitutional for California to impose strict liability on private utilities without ensuring they can recover their costs.
San Diego Gas and Electric’s shareholders are going to have to pay for the 2007 fires …. because their power lines caused them,
Even though the power lines were not operated negligently.
That’s called strict liability … and the law in California is that since power companies have the right to put their power lines anywhere … they are strictly liable for damages.
But the California Public Utilities Commission has ruled that the costs for that cnnot be placed on ratepayers … but must be borne by the shareholders of Sempra … the profit making company that owns SD G and E.
Any decision from the high court would ripple well beyond SDG&E.
Southern California Edison are suspected of causing recent wildfires that killed at least 46 people and caused billions of dollars in damage.
Critics calls this a last minute Hail Mary pass.
And the likelihood that the U.S. Supreme Court will take up the case is limited.
The high court generally receives more than 7,000 petitions a year, and agrees to hear between 100 and 150 of those petitions.
