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Bloomberg
PG&E Corp rose after a California lawmaker requested a bill to help the state’s largest utility absorb liabilities from this year’s fatal wildfires.
Kellie Smith, an adviser to assemblyman Chris Holden, said she is drafting legislation that could be introduced as early as December 3. It may serve as a framework for lawmakers to consider relief for PG&E from the billions of dollars it faces in potential liability for death and property damage in Northern California’s Camp Fire, the deadliest in state history.
“He is concerned about the instability of the utility and the adverse effect it could have on ratepayers, and the ability to deliver services at a reasonable cost,†Smith said by telephone.
Holden, who helped shepherd a bill that passed earlier this year to help California utilities cope with wildfire costs, was out of the country and unavailable for comment on the pending legislation.
Other proposals may also emerge, and Michael Picker, president of the agency that regulates the giant utility, has publicly raised the possibility it may consider breaking up the company.
The blaze, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco, has consumed about 151,000 acres, destroyed thousands of homes and commercial buildings and killed at least 79 people, with about 700 missing. Damages may exceed $15 billion, according to Citigroup Inc.
Northern California is forecast to get as much as 7 inches (18 centimeters) of rain this week, which will help tamp down the blaze and clear smoke that’s been poisoning air across Northern California.