PG&E To Pay $125 Mln Fine For Sparking 2019 Kincade Wildfire

(RTTNews) - PG&E (PCG) was slapped with a $125 million penalty by California's energy regulator for sparking the Kincade wildfire, which burned more than 77,000 acres and destroyed 374 structures in Sonoma County in 2019.

The California Public Utilities Commission's Safety and Enforcement Division proposed the penalties and permanent disallowances against the company for violations related to the Kincade wildfire.

As per the proposed settlement, PG&E would pay a $40 million penalty to California's General Fund and incur an $85 million permanent disallowance for cost recovery for the permanent removal of abandoned transmission facilities within its service territory.

The CPUC noted that the proposed settlement would address the violations through shareholder-funded permanent removal of multiple abandoned transmission facilities within PG&E's service territory.