Dive Brief:
- Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) is facing up to about $3.6 billion in fines, as well as an obstruction of justice charge, related to the 2010 San Bruno explosion.
- In an interview with the Contra Costa Times, PG&E CEO Anthony Earley said those fines would not bankrupt the utility.
- The CEO's stance is a change of direction from last year, when the utility signaled excessive fines could lead to a filing for bankruptcy.
Dive Insight:
PG&E may wind up wading into the capital markets in search of financing, but billions of dollars in potential fines will not bankrupt the utility, CEO Earley told the Contra Costa Times. To raise funds, the utility could sell stock to the public. He added that the federal obstruction charge now faced by the utility had caught him by surprise.
California regulators recently approved a rate increase for PG&E, the utility's first general rate increase since the the deadly San Bruno explosion almost four years ago.
Ratepayer advocates were pleased to hear the utility would be able to avoid bankruptcy. The Times quoted Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, as saying "that is a more responsible message than what PG&E had given Wall Street earlier, when they were threatening to file for bankruptcy if they received the maximum fines."