Gavin Newsom rejects PG&E bankruptcy plan, demands ‘radically restructured’ California utility
As the wildfire raged and thousands of Northern Californians endured one blackout after another in late October, a furious Gov. Gavin Newsom said he would insist on a thorough makeover of PG&E Corp.
He wasn’t bluffing.
In a stunning rebuke to the embattled utility, Newsom late Friday rejected PG&E’s plan to compensate wildfire victims and exit bankruptcy.
In a letter to PG&E Chief Executive Bill Johnson, the governor declared that the company’s proposal doesn’t position it “to provide safe, reliable and affordable service.”
“The resolution of this bankruptcy must yield a radically restructured and transformed utility that is responsible and accountable,” he wrote. Among other things, he demanded an entirely new slate of directors who are subject to state approval, and a structure that would allow PG&E’s operating license to be transferred “to the state or a third-party when circumstances warrant.” He also took issue with its financing plan, saying it relied too heavily on borrowed money and would hinder its ability “to make billions of dollars in safety investments.”
Just a week ago, PG&E announced what it believed was a breakthrough that would ease its way out of bankruptcy: a $13.5 billion settlement agreement with lawyers for more than 70,000 wildfire victims. It appeared the deal would stymie a hostile takeover plan launched by PG&E’s bondholders.
But the utility wasn’t home free after all. Now it will have to overhaul the proposal, and quickly.
According to AB 1054, which creates a $21 billion insurance pool to help utilities pay for damages from future wildfires, PG&E needs to exit Chapter 11 by June 30 in order to participate in the fund..
AB 1054 says PG&E’s bankruptcy plan, besides compensating fire victims, must include a ramped-up program for preventing new fires, as well as other changes in how it does business. Newsom said PG&E’s proposals “do not comply with AB 1054.”
Responding to Newsom’s rejection, PG&E insisted its plan “is the best course forward for all stakeholders. We’ve welcomed feedback from all stakeholders ... and will continue to work diligently in the coming days to resolve any issues that may arise.”
Newsom began publicly demanding a restructuring of PG&E following a series of deliberate “public safety power shutoffs” in October, in which the utility blacked out hundreds of thousands of Northern California homes during severe windstorms. Despite the shutoffs, PG&E equipment has been linked to the ignition of the Kincade Fire in Sonoma County, which prompted the evacuation of 190,000 people.
When Johnson argued in October it might take a decade to harden PG&E’s grid to the point that deliberate blackouts would no longer be needed, Newsom reacted with anger: “It doesn’t take a decade to fix this damn thing,” he said at one point in late October.
He promised to force the utility to “do something radically different,” and teased out the possibility of a state takeover.
PG&E’s new ally: Wildfire victims
Newsom cited the October fire and blackouts in his letter to the CEO.
“PG&E’s recent management of the public safety power shutoffs did not restore public confidence,” he wrote. “For too long, PG&E has been mismanaged, failed to make adequate investments in fire safety and fire prevention, and neglected critical infrastructure.”
But PG&E’s $13.5 billion agreement with wildfire victims, announced Dec. 6, altered the landscape considerably. PG&E now had a powerful and sympathetic ally — the roughly 70,000 victims of the 2015 Butte Fire, the 2017 wine country fires and last year’s Camp Fire, which destroyed most of Paradise and killed 85 people.
The deal includes settlements with victims of the Ghost Ship disaster in Oakland and the 2017 Tubbs Fire, the deadliest of the wine country fires, even though state investigators cleared PG&E in the Tubbs Fire.
PG&E had previously made deals to pay local governments $1 billion and reimburse fire victims’ insurance companies to the tune of $11 billion.
PG&E filed an amended bankruptcy reorganization plan late Thursday encapsulating all of the settlements. It said its plan is “fully financeable” and has the backing of a group of hedge funds that control much of the company’s stock.
“We believe our plan is the best solution for all constituencies, and we look forward to bringing these complex proceedings to their conclusion,” Johnson said in a prepared statement announcing the new bankruptcy plan. “In the meantime, we continue to make meaningful changes and additional investments throughout the company to reduce the risk of wildfire and help us continue to deliver safe, reliable energy to our customers.”
Competing plans’ renewed life
The utility also released statements of support from, among others, renowned environmental advocate Erin Brockovich, who made her reputation crusading against environmental problems caused by PG&E decades ago and led a demonstration at the state Capitol shortly after the Camp Fire, demanding greater state oversight of the utility.
She called PG&E’s bankruptcy proposal will “fairly and justly compensate wildfire victims in a timely manner” and commits the company to fire safety.
PG&E had been on the defensive for months after a group of bondholders made their own alliance with wildfire victims and mounted a hostile takeover bid for the utility. The bondholders, led by Wall Street hedge fund Elliott Management, insisted their takeover plan is still better for California and said PG&E’s proposal would burden the company with billions in new debt.
With Newsom rejecting PG&E’s plan, the bondholders’ effort gets new life.
In addition, a consortium of local officials led by San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo has been trying to engineer a customer-owned buyout of PG&E. Liccardo says a customer-owned structure would save money for ratepayers and free up more money for wildfire safety and grid reliability.
Liccardo applauded Newsom’s decision to reject PG&E’s plan, saying, “We’re ready to get to work to ensure that our residents get what they deserve: a safe, reliable, responsive utility.”
This story was originally published December 13, 2019 at 7:19 PM with the headline "Gavin Newsom rejects PG&E bankruptcy plan, demands ‘radically restructured’ California utility."