This isn’t the first time Pacific Gas & Electric Co. PG&E has been penalized for their improper safety training and regulation that caused the Dixie fire when a tree falling on their equipment caused the 2nd biggest fire in California’s history. The first two times were the Zogg and the Kincade fire, where the former had $150 and the latter had a penalty of $125 million. Due to the repeated offense and damages to locals and the state, the 3rd penalty was fined them with $45 million.
What Caused the Fire?
The Dixie fire was caused by a tree falling on one of the PG&E’s equipment near Cresta Dam. The equipment was energized conductors that they own and regularly operate. This fire started in Plumas County and later spread to Butte, Tehama, Shasta, and Lassen, covering over 963,000 acres. The fire became one of the largest in the state’s history and took almost three months to contain.
What will be the Penalty Used For?
Following is the breakdown of the state of California penalties to PG&E.
- There was damage to thousands of records of different departments. Hence, $40 million will be used to shift hard copy records into online digital records.
- PG&E denies that it had any faults or partake in this per se but will oblige as it will support a new improved initiative.
- Several indigenous tribes were heavily affected by these fires, and they will now receive $2.5 million as compensation to restore their culture.
- This compensation will be done through the Maidu Summit Consortium and the Greenville Rancheria, both nonprofit organizations acting as a support coalition.
- Finally, they will also pay the California General Fund $2.5 million because of their negligence and the damage it caused the state.
The transition from hard to electronic record keeping is part of the overall narrative to improve record keeping and adequately train their safety officers to follow regulations. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) requires them to submit a plan to the CPUC’s committee on how they will implement these changes. The report will be forwarded to the Safety and Enforcement Division (SED).
The SED committee will have every right to demand a more detailed plan to refine the follow-ups on future dates and may ask for changes if necessary.
This initiative will help the local community know more about how not to cause similar disasters and train and inform several officials, too. This initiative will encourage operators and officials to inspect preventive maintenance and its Quality Control.
What was The Official Statement of PG&E about the Dixie Fire?
The utility company realized there needed to be better safety protocols being followed wherever their equipment is used and somewhat accepted the reason behind the Dixie fire. They believed they have been vigilant in always following what CPUC requires from companies, no matter whether they are maintaining, inspecting, or operating any of their systems on-site.
Their most recent statement regarding the Dixie fire “Regarding the settlement agreement with the CPUC’s Safety and Enforcement Division (SED), we share our regulators’ commitment to improve safety.” They added, “We do not contest three of SED’s allegations involving recordkeeping or process violations which are unrelated to the cause of the fire, and as part of the agreement, we will fund an initiative to transition to electronic records for our electric distribution patrols and inspections.”
They said, “However, PG&E believes we acted as a prudent operator.” Because they did accept that “Cal Fire’s finding that a tree falling into our powerline caused the fire.” They further elaborated that “There is no evidence that PG&E consciously and willfully disregarded a known risk concerning the ignition of the Dixie fire” and that “We followed the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) requirements when inspecting, maintaining and operating our system.”
What Happened With the 2 Previous Fires?
During the Kincade Campfire and neighboring areas, the executives and directors of PG&E were fined, and they accepted it to settle for $117 million. That time, the fire was caused due to their rickety electric grid. These fires caused more than 100 deaths, and about 25,000 homes and businesses had been destroyed. The company allowed the aggrieved parties to file cases against the higher-ups in the company due to so much damage.
This acceptance is because the directors and executives were paid millions while the company filed for bankruptcy due to the cases filed against them.
Liability insurance covered them; they were paid millions during their terms and board member positions. While thousands lost their homes and livelihoods, they raked millions.
Whether due to their policies or the operators’ negligence, they are responsible for these issues because PG&E isn’t a small company that could forego these mistakes. The company now serves over 16 million customers and is one of the biggest in the nation. While these 2 were the biggest fires caused by their equipment, overall, they have been responsible for over 30 wildfires since 2017.
From these outcomes, they made a statement regarding these scenarios, stating that “another step forward in PG&E’s ongoing effort to resolve issues outstanding from before its bankruptcy and to move forward focused on our commitments to deliver safe, clean and reliable energy to our customers, and to continue the important work of reducing risk across our energy system.”