4 months ago
SACRAMENTO: Utility giant Pacific Gas and Electric will pay US$45 million in penalties for its involvement in the Dixie Fire, the second-largest wildfire in California’s history, according to state regulators, reported Xinhua.
On Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved a settlement agreement between the commission’s Safety and Enforcement Division and Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), the state’s largest utility.
Under the settlement agreement, PG&E will allocate US$40 million in shareholder funding to make hard copy records into an electronic system, improving “the timeliness of inspections and preventive maintenance,“ said CPUC’s news release.
The company will also pay US$2.5 million in fines to the California General Fund and US$2.5 million to tribal communities impacted by the fires, said the news release.
The 2021 Dixie Fire started on July 13, 2021 and was ignited after a Douglas fir tree fell and struck the equipment owned and operated by PG&E.
Burning for over 100 days, the wildfire scorched nearly 404,000 ha across five counties in Northern California before its full containment on Oct. 25, 2021. It destroyed more than 1,300 structures, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the state’s firefighting agency.
The utility company must also submit an implementation plan for the new record-keeping project and annual reports for ongoing oversight regarding progress.
In recent years, PG&E has been involved in several multi-million-dollar settlements related to destructive wildfires.
Last year, the CPUC fined PG&E US$150 million for its role in the 2020 Zogg Fire, which caused four deaths and one injury and destroyed 204 structures.
In 2021, the company was fined US$125 million for the 2019 Kincade Fire in Sonoma County, which burned more than 31,108 ha and destroyed nearly 374 structures.
In 2020, PG&E pleaded guilty to 85 counts, including involuntary manslaughter and unlawfully starting the 2018 Camp Fire. The blaze was California’s deadliest, killing 85 people and destroying thousands of structures. - Bernama, Xinhua
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