June 28, 2019
The CPUC has issued a decision approving a “stress test” methodology that SCE could use to get a ratepayer-funded bailout for the Thomas Fire even if it is deemed to have acted imprudently and caused the fire. In an unexpected, but welcome, move, the CPUC prohibited PG&E for using this stress test to recover costs from the Napa-Sonoma Fires.
“‘This is a big blow for PG&E,’ said April Rose Maurath Sommer, the executive and legal director of the Wild Tree Foundation, which was involved in the regulatory proceedings. ‘That aspect of the decision is very good.’ She said the stress test could still potentially be used by Southern California Edison, whose equipment state investigators have said sparked the 2017 Thomas Fire.” -San Francisco Chronicle, PG&E probably barred from new path for raising rates because of 2017 fires read more