INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The potential liabilities PGE faces from fires in 2017 and 2018 are estimated at more than $30 billion.First, more than a decade ago, severe
weather bankrupted an electric company in New Orleans
Then it helped take down one in Houston
Now, in California, it has pushed PGE Corp
to brink, in biggest warning yet about financial risks of climate change.The utility giant's critics contend it's hurtling toward
bankruptcy court because of its own negligence and arrogance
But for many months, PGE has pointed to culprit of a shifting climate that led to devastating wildfires and, now, crushing liabilities
It's "a real wake-up call" for businesses across country, said Ian Monroe, chief executive officer of socially responsible investment firm
Etho Capital.Whatever their exact cause, California fires -- and utility's response -- have turned PGE into a poster child for
A bankruptcy would make it largest company to seek protection while blaming effects of a warming planet for situation.Some experts don't see
any sector as safe, as likelihood of what used to be improbable weather disasters grows."Climate is increasingly being connected to all
sorts of potent natural events, and it magnifies intensity of events that companies running businesses are facing," said Dan Reicher, a
fellow at Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance at Stanford University
"The question is, if your service is out because of a hurricane, to what extent can you point to climate change as a cause That's for
courts and public opinion."The most directly vulnerable are utilities like PGE, long viewed as safe and steady investments
Hurricane Katrina bankrupted an Entergy Corp
unit in New Orleans when its customer base was decimated, and 60 inches of rain dumped by Hurricane Harvey did same to already struggling
But there's a long list of those at risk, including farmers, homebuilders and insurers; Merced Property and Casualty Co., a small
California insurer, deteriorated due to losses from 2018 Camp Fire, leading state's regulator to take control of it.In August, Federal
Reserve Bank of Richmond said in its Economic Brief that higher summer temperatures could hurt a variety of sectors
The evidence of warming "challenges long-standing assumptions that economic damage from climate change would be confined largely to
agricultural sector or to developing nations," according to a summary of report.As PGE plans for a bankruptcy filing, it's unclear what
role its climate-change argument will play in court
The company aggressively made its case in California that it was dangerously exposed to what Geisha Williams, who quit as CEO over weekend,
called "climate-driven extreme weather." It used that as part of its unsuccessful bid to overturn a legal doctrine known as inverse
condemnation, which holds California utilities responsible for wildfire damage caused by their equipment, whether or not they acted
negligently.State officials didn't disagree that hot and dry summers were fueling ever more explosive blazes, but that didn't get company
The potential liabilities PGE faces from fires in 2017 and 2018 are estimated at more than $30 billion; state Department of Forestry and
Fire Protection has blamed more than a dozen of 2017 blazes in part on company's power lines and other equipment.Gov
Gavin Newsom and legislature have signaled that they aren't keen on using state funds to bail out company, whose stock has crashed
Its bonds, which were trading above face value before Camp Fire erupted in November and claimed more than 86 lives, and its most liquid PGE
bonds, 6.05 percent notes due in 2034, fell 3.125 points to 77.25 cents on dollar as of 11:20 a.m
in New York, according to Trace.When extraordinary wildfires raged in California's Napa and Sonoma counties in 2017, attitude was that it
was a "terrible scenario but a one-off," said Michael Wara, director of Stanford University's climate and energy policy program
Then, "when Camp Fire happened, it was, 'Oh no, this is normal.' And now, they're insolvent."(This story has not been edited by
TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
