Amanda Peri, an inspector with Cal Fire Shasta Trinity Unit, searches through debris to determine what material the roofs of homes that burned down were made from in the town of Greenville, California as a result of the Dixie fire, on Aug. 8, 2021. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
OAKLAND, Calif. — PG&E is facing the prospect of a state penalty and fines in connection with a huge and destructive wildfire that the utility caused in Northern California, regulators said Monday.
The state Public Utilities Commission is eyeing a $45 million penalty against PG&E due to the utility’s role in causing the Dixie Fire that scorched portions of five California counties in 2021.
The Dixie Fire cost $1.15 billion and roared through sections of Plumas, Butte, Lassen, Shasta, and Tehama counties.
The wildfire began under a PG&E transmission line near State Route 70 and Cresta Dam after a rotting tree fell onto the utility’s power lines.
The Dixie blaze erupted in the Feather River Canyon not far from the origin of a fatal blaze in 2018 known as the Camp Fire.
The PUC proposed a penalty with three components:
— $40 million penalty for capital expenditures to transition records to an electronic format.
— $2.5 million payment to California indigenous tribes affected by the blaze.
— $2.5 million fine paid into the state’s general treasury.
“We accept CAL FIRE’s finding that a tree falling into our powerline caused the fire. However, PG&E believes we acted as a prudent operator,” a PG&E spokesperson said in a comment emailed to this news organization. “There is no evidence that PG&E consciously and willfully disregarded a known risk with regard to the ignition of the Dixie Fire.”
The Dixie Fire destroyed more than 1,300 buildings. One firefighter was killed in the battle to contain and control the blaze.
The five-member state PUC is slated to consider the proposed settlement at a Nov. 16 voting meeting.
PUC staffers said PG&E customers won’t have to bear the cost of the penalty through higher monthly bills.
“PG&E would pay a $45 million shareholder-funded penalty” under the proposal issued on Monday by the PUC’s enforcement staff, the regulators stated.
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