![]() Oregon's public utility commission would have to approve the request. However, the company requested that the commission delay its consideration of the application until the costs of its wildfire-related claims are more fully known. In its filing, PacifiCorp said the application would enable it “to preserve its ability to seek recovery in the future" in case potential future class-action damages “impact the financial stability of the company." Such a move "would result in higher costs to customers,” the filing said. The jury awarded around $90 million to 17 homeowners named as plaintiffs in the case, with damages to be determined later for a broader class that could include the owners of about 2,500 properties, as estimated by plaintiffs’ attorneys. Oregon’s public utility commission approved rate increases for PacifiCorp in 2023 in part so that the utility could cover “non-energy costs,” including wildfire mitigation and vegetation management.Īfter the verdicts were handed down, PacifiCorp filed a request with Oregon's public utility commission asking to potentially defer the costs linked to the lawsuit. But customers are also helping fund those investments. PacifiCorp, meanwhile, says it has invested hundreds of millions of dollars since the Labor Day 2020 fires in Oregon in upgrading its equipment and expanding its weather stations and weather modeling. Only half of the money was paid to victims in cash, while the other half was paid out in PG&E stock, which has since declined in value. PG&E’s bankruptcy settlement with wildfire victims was an eye-popping $13.5 billion. The Camp Fire was the deadliest and most destructive fire in California’s history. Facing billions of dollars in damages stemming from multiple blazes, it filed for bankruptcy in 2019, shortly after its neglected equipment caused a fire that virtually razed the town of Paradise in the Sierra Nevada foothills in 2018. PG&E’s planned upgrades come amid heightened scrutiny of the utility, which serves more than 16 million people over 70,000 square miles (181,300 square kilometers) in central and northern California. The commission, which regulates utility rates, said it expects to make a final decision on the request between July and September. In California, for example, Pacific Gas and Electric has requested to increase its rates for residential customers this year by roughly 18%, partly to bury more than 3,000 miles (4,828 kilometers) of overhead power lines underground, according to a fact sheet from the state’s public utilities commission. While total damages remain to be determined, they are expected to reach into the billions.īecause utilities make money from customers, they often raise revenue for infrastructure upgrades by hiking rates. They killed nine people, burned more than 1,875 square miles (4,856 square kilometers) and destroyed upward of 5,000 homes and other structures. The fires were among the worst natural disasters in Oregon’s history. PacifiCorp said it was disappointed with the jury's decision and that it plans to appeal. And in the end it’s going to bite all of us, because they have to recover that expense.” “How do they pay for that and at the same time try to do grid hardening at a pace that could prevent the need for constant shutting down of the power?” Josh Hacker, chief science officer at Jupiter Intelligence, a company that provides advice on managing climate change risks, said of lawsuit damages. While updating, replacing and even burying thousands of miles of power lines is a time-consuming and costly undertaking, the failure to start that work in earnest years ago has put them on the back foot as wildfires have grown more destructive - and lawsuits over electrical equipment sparking blazes have ballooned. ![]() ![]() West, are increasingly finding themselves in a financial bind that’s partly of their own making, experts say. (AP) - A jury verdict that found an Oregon power company liable for devastating wildfires - and potentially billions of dollars in damages - is highlighting the legal and financial risks utilities take if they fail to take proper precautions in a hotter, drier climate. ![]()
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