The largest utility in the U.S. has filed for bankruptcy as it faces billions of dollars in potential damages from wildfires in California.
Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. filed documents in a U.S. court Tuesday seeking Chapter 11 reorganization. The move comes despite state investigators determining last week that the utility's equipment was not to blame for a 2017 fire that killed 22 people in Northern California wine country.
The company cited hundreds of lawsuits from victims of that blaze and others in 2017 and 2018 when it announced this month that it planned to file for bankruptcy.
It's already facing lawsuits over a November blaze in the town of Paradise that killed at least 86 people and destroyed 15,000 homes, though its cause is still under investigation.
A bankruptcy filing would not affect electricity or natural gas service but allow for an “orderly, fair and expeditious resolution” of potential liabilities from the wildfires, the company has said on its website.
PG&E said it was committed to helping those affected by the wildfires and could not speculate on any changes to customers’ bills, noting that the California Public Utilities Commission sets electric and gas rates.
The utility also filed for bankruptcy in April 2001 near the height of an electricity debacle marked by rolling blackouts and the manipulation of the energy market.
PG&E emerged from bankruptcy three years later but obtained billions of dollars in higher payments from ratepayers.
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