What does the settlement mean?
The settlement is an agreed-upon plan for ending the bankruptcy. If the settlement is approved, PG&E will fund a trust for Wildfire victims and certain public entities, for $13.5 Billion. All victims’ claims against PG&E will be converted to a claim against the trust fund. PG&E will be allowed to
KGO’s Pat Thurston asked me about the Kincade Fire, the Camp Fire, the North Bay Fires, the PG&E Bankruptcy, the CPUC, and more. We took calls and she asked me to stay for a second hour.
KRON4’s Sanaz Tahernia asks me how we got into this situation, how long will it last, and what can be done about it. (14 minutes.)
I told the New York Times that PG&E filed bankruptcy not because it needed to but because it wanted to “use the bankruptcy rules to their benefit to limit their liability to victims.” And they have it as front page news today.
But it was back in January I told KRON4 the same thing. I
What’s today’s “motion for relief from stay” all about?
The dispute about PG&E’s total liabilities.
When it filed bankruptcy, PG&E said its liabilities as a result of the 2017 and 2018 wildfires totaled at least $30 billion. Yet, PG&E now proposes to resolve all wildfire claims by funding a trust for wildfire claimants of substantially
PG&E now accepts responsibility for the Camp Fire. PG&E says that it wants to pay claimants for what they’ve been through, and that it wants to set aside $14 billion for that purpose. But here’s the catch: in order to be paid, victims must file papers with the bankruptcy court by October 21. If you
PG&E Chief Financial Officer Jason Wells appeared in Bankruptcy Court to answer questions under oath. It was his second time. The first time, I asked him about the bonus PG&E paid to CEO Geisha Williams as she was shown
Scott Deveau and Mark Chediak of Bloomberg report that PG&E is likely to sign Bill Johnson as its new CEO. Bill Johnson was most recently CEO of the Tennessee Valley Authority, the large southeastern public utility. Critics are glad Johnson is now gone from the TVA because, they say, he consistently favored corporate interests over
PG&E has asked the bankruptcy judge to approve an employee bonus program that rewards employees more for boosting PG&E’s bottom line that for making the electrical safe. We object.
This week PG&E appeared in bankruptcy court to answer questions under oath put to it by wildfire survivors and other creditors. PG&E and its lawyers resisted answering some questions and, in one instance, outright refused to do so even after being directed to answer by the United States Bankruptcy Trustee. (So much for PG&E’s commitment
