PG&E Reports $1.6 Billion Loss on Fire-Related Impairment Charges

By Micah Maidenberg 

PG&E Corp. recorded a $2.5 billion impairment related to fires that helped push the embattled utility into bankruptcy.

San Francisco-based PG&E on Thursday said it recorded the pretax charge in connection with claims related to wildfires in 2017 in northern California and the 2018 Camp fire, which killed 86 people and destroyed the town of Paradise.

The utility said the $2.5 billion charge reflects a previously announced deal with insurance companies over fire claims.

PG&E reported a net loss of $1.6 billion, or $3.06 a share, on $4.43 billion in operating revenue for the third quarter.

PG&E, which serves wide swaths of California, said last month it may take it as long as a decade to bolster its electric system enough to significantly lower the need to cut power to customers to reduce fire risks.

Mayors of San Jose, Oakland, Sacramento and more than a dozen other municipalities in California want to buy out PG&E and convert it into a cooperative. The company opposes that idea.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 07, 2019 09:26 ET (14:26 GMT)

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