Wildfires: Utility blocked from charging ratepayers for wildfire costs
By a 5-0 vote the commissioners, who are appointed by Gov.
As a result, the commissioners ruled,
"There's no dispute that each of the fires was caused by SDG&E and that SDG&E did not meet its burden to act as a prudent manager," said Commissioner
Over the past three months, California's three largest utilities --
And they have said it's not fair that courts have found utilities must face strict liability if their power lines, transformers or other equipment causes wildfires that can burn thousands of homes and kill dozens of people, even if they were not negligent, a legal concept known as "inverse condemnation."
On Thursday,
"SDG&E strongly disagrees with today's decision. The CPUC got it wrong," said
But consumer groups and some elected officials have argued that letting
"I am relieved that the CPUC made the right decision to shield ratepayers from being burdened with the costs of the 2007
Hill, chairman of a key state
"If the commission had sided with the utility companies, it could have set a dangerous precedent for the future of disaster cost recovery," Hill said.
In one of the worst disasters in modern
Last month, according to a review of emergency radio traffic by the
"Extreme weather and catastrophic wildfires pose real risks to our entire state,"
"The estimate does not account for uninsured losses, interest, attorneys' fees, fire suppression costs, evacuation costs, medical expenses, personal injury and wrongful death damages or other costs,"
The
Investigators from
The Witch and Guejito fires combined to burn 197,000 acres. They killed two people, injured 40 firefighters and destroyed 1,141 homes and 239 vehicles. The Rice fire burned 9,472 acres and destroyed 206 homes. It was caused by a dead tree limb falling on power lines.
The PUC ruled that
After the fires,
In August, two PUC administrative law judges disagreed with the utility's claim that the fires were beyond its control. The judges,
PUC commissioners agreed Thursday, upholding their ruling, although the PUC chairman,
"The result here is quite clear. We can't apply a standard that provides an incentive for a utility to act imprudently or unreasonably," said Commissioner
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